How Do I Get My Laptop to Work With My Printer When it is Connected to My Desktop?

Sometimes you bring your laptop from the office to work on a presentation or a document at home. If you need to print the file, you can use your home printer. If you are running Windows 2000, 2003, XP, or Vista, follow these instructions to connect and share your printer with your laptop.

First, you need to set up your desktop.

Desktop Instructions

You need to make sure the desktop PC is powered “on” and also that it is allowing the printer to be shared.

To share your printer:

1. Click on the Start Menu

2. Click on Settings

3. Click on Control Panel

4. Click on Printers

5. Right click on your Printer’s icon

6. Click on the menu option called “Sharing”

7. Enable sharing by selecting the radio button and give the shared printer a name

Then, you need to set up your laptop.

Laptop Instructions

You will need to add the printer to your network.

To add the printer:

1. Click on the Start Menu

2. Click on Settings

3. Click on Control Panel

4. Click on Printers

5. Click on the “Add A Printer” icon (If you are using Vista, go to network settings and then click on the “Add A Printer” button.)

You can then select network printer. At this point you can browse for the printer or enter the network location manually (i.e. \\desktop name\printer sharename\.) Click next and follow the prompts in the window.

Once you complete these steps, you should be able to print from your laptop.