Sharing Network Printer via Windows PC and working when PC is offline

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kenkeniff

628 posts

Ultimate Geek

#182444 16-Oct-2015 07:09

I have a networked printer that requires special drivers.

I have installed the drivers (both x86 & x64) on a single Windows 7 PC and setup Windows printer sharing to share with another 10 or so PCs running various versions of Windows.

This works fine except if the sharing PC goes offline...

Is there a way to set this up so that changes to the print settings (paper trays, drivers etc) only sync to the client PCs when the "print server" is online but otherwise they can print directly to the printer IP?

Jase2985

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#1407575 16-Oct-2015 08:06

how is it connected? USB?

Lias

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#1407673 16-Oct-2015 10:29

If the printer is shared from "PC X", and the other clients connect to that printer share, then printing will only be available while "PC X" is connected.

If the printer is directly connected to "PC X" you don't really have any other options (short of purchasing a device to allow you to use a directly connected printer on the network).

However you do say "Printer IP" so I'm going to assume it is in fact a Network printer. If so you simply need to install the print driver on each of the other PC's, and point them at the IP of the printer, rather than at the shared printer on the PC.

The specifics of this will vary depending on the printer and it's drivers, but on a good day you should just be able to use the existing drivers that have been installed on the PC's, setup a new TCP/IP printer port pointing to the IP of the printer and with a bit of luck it will just work.

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jhsol

102 posts

Master Geek

#1407740 16-Oct-2015 11:18

Lias: If the printer is shared from "PC X", and the other clients connect to that printer share, then printing will only be available while "PC X" is connected.

If the printer is directly connected to "PC X" you don't really have any other options (short of purchasing a device to allow you to use a directly connected printer on the network).

However you do say "Printer IP" so I'm going to assume it is in fact a Network printer. If so you simply need to install the print driver on each of the other PC's, and point them at the IP of the printer, rather than at the shared printer on the PC.

The specifics of this will vary depending on the printer and it's drivers, but on a good day you should just be able to use the existing drivers that have been installed on the PC's, setup a new TCP/IP printer port pointing to the IP of the printer and with a bit of luck it will just work.

Yep Lias has hit the nail on the head.

KenKeniff: Is there a way to set this up so that changes to the print settings (paper trays, drivers etc) only sync to the client PCs when the "print server" is online but otherwise they can print directly to the printer IP?

To do what you want to do though you need to do the following. This will only work if your printer is a network printer (wired or wireless).
- Set the printer up with a static or reserved IP address.
- Set the printer up on the "Lead PC" with your default/current settings and share.
- On the client PCs you need to set the default printer up to connect to the shared printer
- On the client PC you need to set a second printer up to print directly to the network printer IP
- Users will have to choose to print to the second printer if the shared one is ever offline.

Pros
Does what you want it to do

Cons
Long to set up (especially if you have lots of client machines)
Uses can set the direct printing printer to be default which will override your Lead PC settings.
Did I say it was long to set up?

kenkeniff

628 posts

Ultimate Geek

#1408118 17-Oct-2015 07:47

Yes the printer is already networked.

The printer is part of a solution we deploy to our customers [1x Printer, 1x PC] however each customer can also be accessing the printer using another 10 or so PCs.

Occasionally we need to change print settings, update drivers etc for all of our customers and it would be far easier doing so only on one PC for each customer (we have remote access to) vs up to 10 different machines we don't have remote access to. Ideally though we don't want the printer to rely on our PC being on 24/7.

Need some way to "sync" print settings between machines then (including drivers)...