RoddimusPrime

Long story short there are 6 PC's in the environment, not all are wireless, some are hooked up to a wireless router (or connected into a switch that is connected to the router), and I want to connect an HP Laserjet 4250 to all of them.

What would be the easiest and best way to hook the PC's up? All are running XP and a bit older. I have been looking at wireless print servers from Best Buy such as this one and then HP's internal LAN card or wireless print server which is mucho more expensive. I assume the wireless servers can be networked with the wireless router correct?

Key things are that all computers should be able to print to the LaserJet and that it is not a horrible undertaking to setup. And of course a reasonable price helps as well.

mind0uT

How many router do you have?

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Ramzinho

you got many options really.. and i use my printer for 5 pcs at home and mine which makes them 6.. through an OLD pc hooked up to the router and having windows XP running all the 24/7. i just followed the printer sharing wizard and all pcs can print through out this one. just one important note. you have to install the printer drivers on all pcs "for the older version of windows" and it will work no problems.

i think one... that's what my answer is based on.. you need no special equipment. just connect the printer to the pc that's on most of the time and share it on the network. it's easy. just needs some time.

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mind0uT

if your printer has a network card you can actually connect it to your router. Then install the printer driver for each PC.

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GH0

Right click the Printer on the Host computer that has the printer connected to it, Click Properties or Sharing > Click Share this Printer > Input the Share Name > And then you should be able to see the device over the network.

Then on each computer go to Add Printer > Network Printer > Set the device up > Either use a driver from your computer or the server > Then you should be good to go.

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Please, help me out!

RoddimusPrime

To clarify questions:

The Printer has no Ethernet Ports, just USB.
There is one Linksys Wireless Router which is hooked into a switch as well. Two of the computers are currently wireless, perhaps soon to be three. The others are hard connected.
And as for the networking on XP I think it kind of blows as most of the time it wants you to set up a network.... but, it can be done, I just figure making the printer wireless and then connecting it to the router could be done and solve the issue as well.

However, the above mentioned example is how I run my printer to my 3 PC's as well and is cheaper.

What would you guys charge for such a setup on 6 PC's?

RoddimusPrime

And this link shows all the printers available accessories which I think are way too expensive retail.

MikeCorti

Hmm I'd have to say search for a compatible usb2.0 print server. If you find one, do a little ebaying and you should be home free. Few simple plug ins. I believe with some of the new print servers, you can upload the drivers directly to the device. The computers should be able to download the drivers from the device itself. Upon locating the server when browsing the network in an attempt to add the printer that is. If not, just supply the drivers to the computers in need.

An example for parallel port print server. I'll let you find a USB one on your own.

In addition, if you do have an old PC laying around, don't use that as the print server. In my opinion you could put it to better use as a DNS server which will allow you to establish a Active Directory Domain. Now that's a stable printing system. But the information stated in the previous paragraph is all you "must" do. Setting up a Domain is just a fun learning experience.

P.S. The only reason I mention the DNS server is due to the switch. But if the switch is auto-sensing it should just use the same default gateway. Which means the same IP scheme. Which means the same DNS servers. Then it should pose no problem. But if its a programmable switch everything would just have to be put in place to stick with the same IP scheme of the router. But I highly doubt you're using something like a Cisco programmable switch or something of that sort. I just love to make things complicated. My apologies. :P

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