Our printer died, and we ordered a new printer, a network printer this time. The previous one was connected via USB to one Windows computer, and the other computers could print using the shared printer option. Now with the network printer, can each computer connect directly to the printer, with the printer handling the print queue? Or do we still have to install one computer as host for the shared printer?

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6 Answers

Yes, all computers can connect to it via the network, as long as the network printer is plugged into a router, switch, hub, etc that the other computers are also connected to. There is no need for a dedicated host computer.

Just make sure that the network printer has the same network address scheme as the rest of the network and that the IP address given to it doesn't conflict with any other devices (i.e. 192.168.1.55).

It should have a web interface that you can connect to for configuration which you can usually find in the manual.

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Just so long as your printer has its own address on your network and your client computers have the correct drivers and software installed then, yes, they each independently print directly to the device. Most of the time, when you install the printer software, the software will identify your printer automatically on your network so you can just keep clicking 'Next'!

If two clients print at the same time (it'll never be precisely at the same time) the first to "control" the printer will be the one that gets the job printed first. Windows communicates with the printer at regular intervals to obtain status data. When the printer status is ready it can print the next job.

You don't need to worry about the queuing, it all takes care of itself. I've spent a number of years setting up small businesses with network printers and scanners.

Direct connection and a printer share serve different purpouses and thus have different properties:

• Complexity: direct connection is easier
• Accounting: Server can do that, most printers not
• Time restrictiions: Server can do that, most printers not
• Different account privileges: Server can do that, most printers not
• Printer pools: Server can do that, most printers not
• Direct connection doesn't need a server machine running all the time

etc, you see my points. So, for a smalle environment, direct connections will be most effective, but if you need advanced features, a print server will be the tool of chice.

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Others have answered the question well, just wanted to add a personal note: We have a local "off-IT" printer (prints double-sided 11x17 in color - don't want everyone to use). All of the engineering and maintenance have direct-connected to the printer for use in printing or scanning - they connect via our department wireless network which the printer is on, so as everyone has mentioned above, you can have multiple computers connected via direct connect. On the very rare occasions that multiple print jobs are started simultaneously, the printer queues the jobs nicely. Some of the non-department folks wanted to use it as well, so we have our managers machine act as a print server, handling rights, time restrictions, etc. This limits access while keeping the machine active for everyone, and keeps the machine "off-IT", so we can get around the restrictions on which printers are allowed, and keep IT happy - they have no responsibility for the machine, so it doesn't have to follow the standard.

So you can actually do both direct connect and have a print server on the same printer.

Hope this helps others.

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As other people have stated, yes, you can connect directly to the printer through the network.

However, there are advantages in connecting it to a print server. A Windows print server will give you the ability to install drivers automatically to multiple OSs, give you granular controller over access, audit logs, etc, etc.

In the end, its up to you to decide whether you want the advanced features a print server offers.

We recently did the same thing in our office, and yes, the computers in the office can directly connect to the new printer, but there are some considerations:

• The computers must have the drivers for the printer installed. If you share the network printer instead, one computer can serve to provide those drivers. Otherwise you must install them first.
• Depending on the model of printer, some functions are not available when directly connecting over the network instead of a shared USB printer. Check the manual to see what restrictions you'll impose by choosing this method.

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