Connecting 5 laptops to 1 printer

[Kraven]

Dunno how this fell on my lap but I need to connect 5 laptops to 1 printer.
It needs to be physically wired as wireless printer and HP ePrint is not an option.

The laptops are all connected to the company wireless so the USB and Ehternet ports are free.

Anyone w/ experience on this sort of thing?

Cheers, K

 

[navychop]

The printer should come with directions to do this.

Now, for iPhones and iPads, I use the Printer Pro app. A little awkward, but it works. Copy and paste are easiest.

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[Need]

Could you just connect the printer to one of your company's wireless router's ethernet port?

 

[Kraven]

From my understanding, connect laptop to USB hub. connect printer to USB hub. Install printer driver/software on laptop ?

 

[Kraven]

Cant...I'd be breaching IT security here.

 

[LER]

do all the laptops share a common server that you could run a print queue on?

 

[. Raine]

does the printer have an ethernet port on it? What model/brand printer?

 

[navychop]

Cant...I'd be breaching IT security here.

AH! The REST of the story.

I think your IT is going to have to be cooperative for this to work.

 

[HIFI]

I have no idea how many pages you would need to print at a time or if this would remotely be what your asking about, but I use this at home and it will print wireless from any of our laptops(wireless), our phones, and tablets with no issue. I have it connected to the wireless just like any other device. It does only print in black, but is great.


http://welcome.solutions.brother.co...ll.html?reg=us&c=us&lang=en&prod=mfc7840w_all

Again, not sure

 

[navychop]

That feature has to be activated and made accessible by the IT shop.

 

[mike123abc]

They make network print servers that will do the network print protocols over ethernet and connect an USB printer. Something like http://www.amazon.com/dp/B000FW60FW/?tag=satell01-20

 

[Kraven]

It's an hp 8600 ( yes with an Ethernet port). The 5-6 laptops must be hard wired ( no server, no internet, no wireless.....nada). Security's tight here for a reason.


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[Ramy]

Just connect each laptop to the network with ethernet and install the software that came with the disk. The setup will make the first laptop the main one and then after that all the others will be secondary. Easy. I did it with my network.

 

[king3pj]

Yep we have a huge network printer at work for printing 75-100 page documents. The IT guy set it up for us so I don't know all the details. I do know that it isn't shared from any of our computers though. It shows up just like any other printer and doesn't matter if certain computers are on or off. If you go to printer properties the port just shows up as the printer's IP address instead of USB like the smaller printers we have at our desks.

 

[. Raine]

If it has an ethernet port, it should be able to be setup as a device on the LAN and all the laptops would be able to print with it thru the LAN. How to set it up would depend on what OS is being used. If it's a later version of Windows it's pretty easy, go to add new printer and choose install network, wireless or bluetooth printer. You may have to find a driver, but for HP, Windows would probably find one on it's own. I have two setup like this here.

For the security issue, you could setup the printer and laptops all by themselves on their own LAN, maybe? A router, hub or switch, some cables and the laptops and printer and you'd be good to go. Or, if they have to share a LAN, maybe put them into a different subnet?

 

[navychop]

I have an HP 8600. IIRC you pick wired or wireless, not both. Not at home to check.

Just Add Printer like any other printer. Helps to know the IP address but you can get that from the front panel.

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[. Raine]

I have an HP 8600. IIRC you pick wired or wireless, not both. Not at home to check.

Just Add Printer like any other printer. Helps to know the IP address but you can get that from the front panel.

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Don't think the IP address will show up on the front panel until it's actually setup onto a network. It's either handed out by DHCP or a static one that you have to set yourself in network settings and won't be there until it's connected to the LAN, and then only if it's DHCP or a static one that has been properly setup for it. The MAC address may be on the front panel.

Yeah, wired or wireless only, the first option in the printer setup in Win is to select a local printer, [don't want that one] or select network, wireless or bluetooth, then on the next screen win will search for and should find the printer, in Kraven's case, connected via ethernet. It should show the IP address right there after it finds the printer.

 

[navychop]

Don't think the IP address will show up on the front panel until it's actually setup onto a network. It's either handed out by DHCP or a static one that you have to set yourself in network settings and won't be there until it's connected to the LAN, and then only if it's DHCP or a static one that has been properly setup for it. The MAC address may be on the front panel.

Yeah, wired or wireless only, the first option in the printer setup in Win is to select a local printer, [don't want that one] or select network, wireless or bluetooth, then on the next screen win will search for and should find the printer, in Kraven's case, connected via ethernet. It should show the IP address right there after it finds the printer.

Agreed. But I am under the impression that the printer is already installed.

BTW, now that I'm back home, I checked - mine is the 8500. It can sometimes be difficult to set up. I hope the 8600 fixed the problems.

 

[. Raine]

Agreed. But I am under the impression that the printer is already installed.

BTW, now that I'm back home, I checked - mine is the 8500. It can sometimes be difficult to set up. I hope the 8600 fixed the problems.

Ah, I thought he was trying to set it up.