I know this topic has probably been addressed before, but most of what I have read is Greek to me. I have a desktop and I have a laptop. To access the internet, the desktop has an ethernet card and cable plugged into a router. The laptop is wireless. I just got a new all-in-one printer. I want to be able to have both the laptop and the pc use the printer without my having to disconnect the cable for the printer and plug into which ever one I want to use it with. How do I accomplish this?

Thank you for any help/advice.

canlane

Canlane,
you have a few choices here. Your laptop is wireless. How do you provide a wireless connection for it, or do you only use a wired connection for it? If you only have wired internet access, you can buy a wired router, and connect both your desktop and your laptop to it at the same time. You then run XP's network setup wizard and enable printer and file sharing. If you want to set the laptop up for wireless Internet, all you have to do is buy a wireless access point, and set it up just like the wired router, by running XP's Network Setup Wizard. The desktop remains wired and your printer is attached to it. Your laptop is wireless and it will be "networked" to your desktop wirelessly. You will have access to the printer from both computers...

Tmagic650 -- thanks for responding. My laptop is already wireless. My desktop goes into the D-link router by way of a etheret cable. The printer is connected to the desktop. When I try to print something from the laptop, it doesn't get printed. The desktop and laptop are not talking to each other. When I got the laptop, Verizon helped me set it up for wireless connnection. I don't know if we used the network wizard or not.

canlane

Try this, and I use this method daily at work.

Click on start
click on run
type: the \\ IP address of the computer who you're sharing the printer from

Note:
If you're not sharing the printer on the computer that has the printer attached do so by right clicking on the printer then click on sharing. Give it name so you know which one you have.

So back to what I was saying before, once you see the computer popup on your desktop just right click on the printer then click on connect. This will setup the printer for you on your wireless laptop.

If your printer has an ethernet port, it might be workwhile just attaching it to the router. I went with this option when buying my printer and it works wonders!! Alternatively, as tipstir said, make sure that the printer is being shared in control panel, and make sure the computers are in the same workgroup so that they can communicate. Might be workwhile trying to get filesharing working to confirm the computers are communicating properly.

Regards,
Ph30nix