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General discussion

printer help!

Aug 20, 2010 5:44AM PDT

Hi everybody,
i have a two part question. i am going to college in the fall. i have an hp dv8t laptop and an HP Photosmart C4780 All-in-One Printer. As i am going to be in a dorm, (and since ink etc is so expensive) i would like to limit the number of people who will be able to use the printer to me, my roommate and a few others. i have been looking for a way to essentially password protect my printer (it is wireless and will be connected to the network. ) the school has an internet network that is extended throughout the college so it is the only way to get intenet.
Here are my questions:

1) can i password protect a printer on the campus - wide network?

2) if not i heard you can make your own ad hoc network and password protect the printer on that (but does that mean i would have to disconnect from the internet anytime i printed ?)

3) is there another way that i am missing?

thanks
any help would be greatly appreciated
dan

Discussion is locked

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What I would do.
Aug 20, 2010 5:56AM PDT

1. Buy a USB cable to connect the printer to your laptop.
2. Don't configure the printer to use the college wireless network (see chapter 2 of the user manual how to configure it, so just don't do that).
Then the printer can only be used from your laptop.
3. Tell your buddies to use the guest account on your laptop and put the files they want to print on a USB-stick.

No need to use wireless connection here, I think.

Kees

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Multi user printer
Aug 20, 2010 10:06PM PDT

Yeah Kees I totally agree, the other thing, make them chip in for ink sounds like they will be going through the stuff. Also, hope this is one tough printer as the saying goes, too many cooks spoiled the soup, in this case, maybe the printer.