Before you start
Objectives: learn how to install local and network printers. In this article we will also see how to install non plug-and-play printers, but note that this is something you won’t often do today.
Prerequisites: you have to understand the difference between the logical printer and the print device.
Key terms: port, network, print, local, install, server, device, connect, attached, ip
Local Printer Installation
Let’s see how to install a local printer for a print device attached directly to a local port on the workstation. Let’s go to the Printers folder. Go to Control Panel, and select Printers and Faxes.
Image 256.1 – Printers Folder
In our case we only have one printer installed. It is the virtual printer used to export documents to XPS format. Let’s add another printer. Click ‘Add a printer’ from the left menu. The Add Printer Wizard will appear.
Image 256.2 – Add Printer Wizard
Click Next. We want to add a local printer attached to this computer. In general we will always want to automatically detect and install plug-and-play printers, so we will select it.
Image 256.3 – Local Printer
Click Next. Most printers we encounter today are plug-and-play. They will be detected and the drivers will be installed automatically. However, In this example, Windows was unable to detect a plug-and-play printer.
Image 256.4 – No Plug-and-Play
We will add it manually, so let’s click Next. We will use the LPT1 Port.
Image 256.5 – LPT Port
Click Next. Now we need to select the printer model. Let’s select Alps MD-1000 (MS).
Image 256.6 – Apls Printer Selected
Click Next. We will use the default name and use that printer as our default printer.
Image 256.7 – Printer Name
Click Next. We will not share this printer at the moment.
Image 256.8 – Sharing Options
Click Next. Generally we should print a test page to make sure that everything works.
Image 256.9 – Test Page Options
Click Next and click Finish. Click OK if the Test Page prints OK or click Troubleshoot if it doesn’t.
Image 256.10 – New Printer Added
Installing Printer Located on LAN
Printer that is located on Local Area Network is often referred to as Network Interface Printer. The first step in configuring a Network Interface Printer is to create a special port that identifies the printer network card. To do this we need to edit the properties of the Print Server. In the Printer and Faxes window, go to the File menu, select Server Properties, and go to the Ports tab.
Image 256.11 – Ports Tab
We need to add a port so let’s click on Add Port. We will select standard TCP/IP Port.
Image 256.12 – Printer Ports
Click New Port button. The Wizard will appear.
Image 256.13 – Add Port Wizard
Click Next. Here we have to enter the printer name or IP address. We will enter 192.168.1.30 as the IP address of the printer, and accept the default Port Name. The port name is the name that Windows will use to identify the logical port that we are creating.
Image 256.14 – Port Information
Click Next. In some cases, the printer will be auto detected. In our case it wasn’t, so we need to select the interface from the list. In our case we will select Kyocera Mita Print Server. If our device is not in the list, we could select Custom and enter all the information manually. Now, let’s click Next and Finish to create the port. Close the Printer Ports menu. Now we can see our new port on our Print Server.
Image 256.15 – Device Type
Image 256.16 – New Port Added
Let’s close that window. The next step is to create a printer object that uses the port that we have just created. Let’s click ‘Add a printer’ again and click Next.
Image 256.17 – Add Printer
Even though the printer is attached to the network, we have to configure the printer as a local printer. Clear the automatic detection of a printer.
Image 256.18 – Local Printer
Click Next. In the port list we will select the port that we have created.
Image 256.19 – Port
Click Next. Now we need to select the printer model from the list or click on the Have Disk button if we have the appropriate drivers. In our case we will select HP OfficeJet V45.
Image 256.20 – Printer Model
Click Next. We will enter HPV45 as our Printer Name.
Image 256.21 – Printer Name
Click Next. We will also share this printer with the default name.
Image 256.22 – Sharing Options
Click Next. On this screen we can enter information about the printer location.
Image 256.23 – Printer Information
Click Next. We can print a test page to see if everything is OK. Click Next and click Finish. Our printer is now installed.
Image 256.24 – New Printer Added
Installing a Network Printer
Let’s add a printer that is attached to a different computer on the network and that is shared. Let’s click ‘Add a printer’ to open Add Printer Wizard, and click Next. We have to select ‘A network printer, or a printer attached to another computer’.
Image 256.25 – Add Printer Wizard
Click Next. We can browse for a printer, but in this case we will enter a UNC path to the shared printer.
Image 256.26 – UNC Path to the Printer
Click Next. We will get a warning about a security threat.
Image 256.27 – Warning
Click Yes to continue. On the next screen we will select this to be our default printer.
Image 256.28 – Default Printer
Click Next, and click Finish. Notice that the icon for our new network printer is different from our local printers.
Image 256.29 – New Printer Added
Remember
Most printers we encounter today are plug-and-play. They will be detected and the drivers will be installed automatically. Before we can install a network interface printer, we have to create a Standard TCP/IP port. If we want to use the printer which is attached to another computer, we can use the UNC path to connect to that printer.