Installing and Configuring Printers

This Lesson will show you how to configure printers, both locally and on a network.  Also covered is Sharing a Printer, Print Scheduling and Spooling.

To Add a new Local Printer, open the Printers and Faxes folder from the start menu and click on Add a printer.

The Add Printer Wizard will appear. Click on Next.

Select Local Printer to install a new Local Printer.

Click on Next to continue.

The wizard will ask you which port the printer is connected to. You can also create a new port such as a TCP/IP port for network printers that are not connected to a print server. Click on Next to continue.

Choose the Manufacturer and Printer from the list shown. You may need a driver disk at this stage if your printer isn’t supported.

Click on Next to continue.

The wizard will ask you to choose a name for the printer and whether you want it to be the default.

The wizard will ask you if you want to share the printer. Select Do not share this printer and click Next to continue.

You can test the printer by sending it a test page. Click on Next to continue.

A summary page will appear, verify all options are correct and click Finish.

The new local printer has now been installed and is marked as the default printer.

Connecting to a Network Printer

A network printer is added in pretty much the same way. Click on Add a printer.

Click on Next.

Select A network printer.

Click on Next to continue.

The wizard will ask you where the printer is, you can either browse for or specify a printer using a URL or an UNC path.

For example \\10.0.0.243\hplaserj.2 will connect to a printer shared on the machine 10.0.0.243. Click on Next to continue.

The computer will automatically download drivers from the Print Server. Click on Yes to accept the warning.

Choose whether you want the printer to be your default and click Next.

A summary page will appear, verify all options are correct and click Finish.

The new printer is displayed in the Printers and Faxes window and is marked as default.

Sharing a Print Device

To share a print device, right-click on the print device from the Printers and Faxes Window.

Select Sharing.

Select the Share this printer option.

A share name is suggested for you although this can be easily changed. If the printer is to be shared on a mixed network (i.e. Older version of Windows) then select Additional Drivers.

Additional Drivers can be installed for the supported platforms by selecting the relevant checkboxes.

To configure permissions click on the Security Tab.

The Security Tab is used to configure permissions for the printer.

The Manage Printers permission allows a user to pause and restart the printer, change its settings and manage its permissions.

The Print permission allows a user or group to print to a printer.

The Manage Documents permission allows a user to pause, restart and delete queued documents. This permission does not allow a user to change any of the printer settings.

For example the Everyone group has been given the Print permission by default so all users can print to the printer but not manage the printer or other peoples print jobs.

Click on OK to continue.

The printer has now been shared.

Print Scheduling

Printer Scheduling is a method of preventing print jobs from being processed until a set time. It can be used in situations such as a department printing large, non-urgent reports and another that prints single page urgent documents.

You can configure two printers for one physical print device. One of the printers can be set to only print outside office hours. Another can be set to print immediately. Only those people who need to print the urgent documents have the “Print” permission for that printer.

This means that the single page documents will print out immediately, and the large reports will be waiting for their owners when they come into work the next day.

Printer Scheduling is set up from the Advanced tab of the printer’s properties page.

Click Available from.

This might be set to be from 10:00 to 18:00. Another printer can be shared using the same print device with a different schedule. The two printers can then be used by different users.

A printer can be given a priority, so that jobs sent to this print device using this printer can be given higher precedence over jobs from other printers. 1 is the lowest priority and 99 is the highest.

For example two printers can be created, one for the Managers having a priority of 99 and one for standard users having a priority of 1. The Manager’s Documents will always print before the user’s documents.

Printer Pooling

Printer pooling involves assigning multiple print devices to a single printer.

A printer pool would be used in a setting where there is a large amount of printing done, such as in a secretarial environment.

Printer pools reduce the amount of time employees spend waiting for their printouts, and thus increase productivity. When print devices are pooled the printer sends the print job to the first available print device.

To create a printer pool, all the printers MUST be identical, i.e., they must all function using the same driver.

Printer pooling is configured from the Ports tab.

First, you click the Enable printer pooling checkbox at the bottom.

If you don’t click the Enable printer pooling checkbox first, then you can only select one port from the list.

When you click OK, the print devices will be pooled, and the printer will send each print job to the first available print device.