shared printers

[Guest]

I have a wireless home network with XP. I told my printers to be shared. I
go to one of my PCs and try to add a printer, it sees it, but wants an .inf
file locally from that PC. If I've never attached that printer to that PC it
doesn't have any of that printer's drivers & files, etc. Why don't I have a
choice of getting the files off the internet? Am I supposed to put in the
printer's install CD? What if the printer I am sharing didn't come with an
install CD? Thanks Bob

 

[Patrick Keenan]

I have a wireless home network with XP. I told my printers to be shared.
I
go to one of my PCs and try to add a printer, it sees it, but wants an
.inf
file locally from that PC. If I've never attached that printer to that PC
it
doesn't have any of that printer's drivers & files, etc. Why don't I have
a
choice of getting the files off the internet?

You do, you just need to know what and where they are.

Generally you look for the drivers for the specific printer and OS at the
manufacturer's site.

Am I supposed to put in the
printer's install CD? What if the printer I am sharing didn't come with
an
install CD? Thanks Bob

Then you download the print driver software from the manufacturer's web
site, and run the install. Point the driver anywhere you like - to LPT1 or
to file. Then, when you connect to the network printer, the files are
present on the system and will be used properly.

In the case of feature-slim printers, simple monochrome lasers, the drivers
are small and quick to download and install.

HTH
-pk

 

[M.I.5¾]

I have a wireless home network with XP. I told my printers to be shared.
I
go to one of my PCs and try to add a printer, it sees it, but wants an
.inf
file locally from that PC. If I've never attached that printer to that PC
it
doesn't have any of that printer's drivers & files, etc. Why don't I have
a
choice of getting the files off the internet? Am I supposed to put in the
printer's install CD? What if the printer I am sharing didn't come with
an
install CD? Thanks Bob

Windows includes functionality that when you try to install a printer that
is physically connected to another PC on the network, the machine you try to
install it on will try to download the drivers over the network from the
other machine. This only succeeds if the installation routine when you
first installed the printer put the required .inf files in the right place.
Some installations do - many don't. If the .inf files aren't there, it is
only usually necessary to insert the driver disk into the PC and let the
wizard find the files it is looking for.

A very few printer installation routines have offered me the opportunity to
load the drivers and .inf files for Windows 2000, ME, 98SE, 98FE and 95 as
well as the XP ones actually required for operation.