NOTE: These instructions will only work for campus-issued desktops on the wired campus network. This will not work for personally owned devices.
To add a network printer, go to the Control Panel and click Hardware and Sound > Add a printer. When the Add Printer dialog box appears, click "Add a network, wireless, or Bluetooth printer":
Your computer will search all locations and computers in your network workgroup, which will take a minute or two. In order for a network printer to be shared, both your computer and the printer must be members of the same domain (or workgroup).
We will cover the steps needed to connect to a domain in the next portion of this lesson.
Any available recognized printing services will be displayed in a list. Select the printer you want to use and click Next:
When you install a network printer, your computer needs a printer driver to communicate properly. A printer driver can be added to your computer in a number of ways:
- If the printer is attached to someone's computer, the driver will be downloaded and installed from the host computer.
- If the printer came with a driver disc, you can install the driver on your computer and then install the network printer.
- Windows includes a large driver database for many printers. If the local database does not contain the driver, you can connect to Windows Update and search for a driver that way.
- You can download the printer driver from the manufacturer's Web site and install it as if you were using a driver disc.
If the driver installed successfully, you will see the following dialog. You can give the printer another name (such as "3rd floor printer" or "Accounting") and click Next:
Finally, you can set this printer to be your default printer and print a test page to make sure everything is working correctly:
