To share a printer with my wife's laptop, do I need to install the printer's drivers on my wife's laptop?

Question

We have a wireless router, the desktop is connected by wire. My wife connects wirelessly with her laptop. We used to be able to share the printer, after my smart brother in law set it up. Now we have a new printer. It works great with the desktop, but my wife can no longer share it. Windows XP on both computers.

I tried to follow a nice, clear set of instructions on how to do this, but I keep getting a "Spooler System App" error message with the new printer, whenever the laptop tries to print on it.

Any help is greatly appreciated, thanks.

Answer 1

If your printer is network capable you should plug it into the network router its easier.

Let's assume its not.

On the desktop you need to enable file and printer sharing. Actually printer sharing only is available if you can drill down and find that. You won't be sharing files here.

On the desktop you need to load the drivers and tell it its a local printer,(plugged into your computer). Then in the printers section right click and share the printer. Reboot.

On the laptop you need to load the drivers but install it as a NETWORK printer. Your software should look for it and find it on your computer.

That's pretty much it. You have to always have the desktop on if your wife want to use it.

That's why plugging it into the router is best. Everyone can use it as long as it's on. It doesn't need to call through another computer.