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General discussion

Printer shareing on a wireless home network

Aug 23, 2009 1:16AM PDT

A general question really. I have a desktop and a laptop, the desktop is running XP pro and the laptop Vista Home Premium. I've finally got the two computers talking to each other, thanks to Network Magic but even though I have a wireless printer (Epson TX700) I've been unsucessful getting the printer to work on the network. I have the printer connected to my desktop USB port and the printer works fine from my laptop but only if the desktop is turned on. I want to be able to print from my laptop even when the desktop is turned off. Is there an other way to connect the printer e.g. into the router and if so what cable would I need. Hope someone can help cos it frustrating.

Discussion is locked

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(NT) Does the router have a USB port?
Aug 23, 2009 1:42AM PDT
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Home network
Aug 23, 2009 7:15AM PDT

Yes it does. I have tried that also earlier on but got no sense from that either. I've never set up a network before so probably just lack of knowledge. Thanks for your interest.

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See if your router . . .
Aug 23, 2009 10:40AM PDT

can use the USB port for a printer. It should be in the router documentation. Did I miss the router make and model?

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Home Network
Aug 23, 2009 12:23PM PDT

Sorry, no you didn't miss it. It D-Link DIR 320. Doc says yes usb can be used for printing.

"Print Server ? Built-in printer server ideal for network printer sharing. Connect printer directly to the router via USB port. The Print Server Setup Wizard with automatic detection of most USB capable printer makes short work of printer setup for the network."

As you can see in this clip from the documentation it should detect the printer, but it doesn't

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I didn't find a DIR-320 . . .
Aug 23, 2009 11:36PM PDT

I did find a DIR-330. This is from the site:

What features are supported by the USB port of the DIR-330?

Please visit http://support.dlink.com/faq/view.asp?prod_id=2787 for complete FAQ and screen shots.

Currently, the state of the USB port on the DIR-330 is inactive. It is reserved for future projects.

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Ah HA!
Aug 23, 2009 11:41PM PDT

It's in Australia! I found this:

Print Server - Windows 2K/XP Print
If you are using Windows XP or 2000 and have problems printing using the D-Link print server software, then you can try printing with LPR.

The setup document is available here:
http://files.dlink.com.au/products/!Print_Servers/network.printing.zip

Step 1 Go to Start > Settings > Printers > Add New Printer
(WinXP - Start > Printers and Faxes > Add a Printer).

Step 2 Select Local Printer.

Step 3 Create a New Port and select Standard TCP/IP port.

Step 4 The printer name/IP address is the IP of the router (192.168.0.1). Leave the port name with the default name.

Step 5 You will get a message saying that additional port information required.

Step 6 Select Custom (WinXP - Select Custom > Settings).

Step 7 Set Protocol to LPR.

Step 8 For the LPR Settings, queue name is lp1 (or lp). It is case sensitive! (LP lower-case). Use "lp" for LPT port or lpUSB0 for USB port. DI-524UP uses lp1 and DI-624S uses lp1 and lp2. If you are using a different print server (e.g. DP-303) you need to enter the name of the port in your print server here. Log into your print server and check the name of the port, it may look like "ps-050b8f-p1"

Check the box to Enable LPR Byte Counting.

Step 9 Select OK > Finish.

Step 10 Continue with the Add Printer Wizard accepting the default values to finish loading the printer drivers.

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Home Network
Aug 24, 2009 11:16PM PDT

It worked great. Thank you. I can now print from my Laptop whether the desktop is on or not and I can also share files between the two computers, instead of running back and forth with a flash drive. Invaluable help, thanks again.

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You're quite welcome . . .
Aug 25, 2009 11:25AM PDT