Printing issue

[NathanLedet]

I am with a company that just set up a small (2 computer) network with wireless internet and wireless printer. The printer is set up in this small network and works from both computers as it should.

Now we have a 3rd computer, miles away, that we wish to make abled to print on the same printer. What would be the best way of going about this?

 

[office politics]

setup a vpn server inhouse. setup your vpn (remote) client, add the printer to the client.


xp pro can be setup as a vpn server.

 

[NathanLedet]

I had a feeling that was the direction we needed to go, but unfortunatly, none of us have a clue where to begin with a vpn.

The printer that is a few miles away worked fine a few days ago. Something happened and it doesn't work now.

What we also want to do is set up a network so that our Quickbooks software will access the same database on one single server. Can this be accomplished through vpn?

Can you give me some direction on how to set up this vpn?

 

[office politics]

the vpn will make the remote computer act as if it was inside the building. so yes the quickbooks should work.

http://www.onecomputerguy.com/networking/xp_vpn_server.htm - vpn server setup on xp pro

this site also has client setup instructions as well

 

[NathanLedet]

Thanks for that link. Helpful

Now i still don't quite understand how to set up the printer so it will print documents from a computer miles away at home.

What we're currently doing is we have a remote access set up. We just go into that remote connection, bring up what needs to be printed, and print it on the printer in the office. I'm unsure what we did a few days ago to get it to work, but something changed and it doesn't work now.

 

[office politics]

What we're currently doing is we have a remote access set up. We just go into that remote connection, bring up what needs to be printed, and print it on the printer in the office. I'm unsure what we did a few days ago to get it to work, but something changed and it doesn't work now.

sounds like a vpn setup already.

what happens now when you try to print?

 

[NathanLedet]

It's the remote connect that comes with XP. You type in the IP address of the computer you want to access, and then it brings up that computer screen.

When we go to print something, we have to add a printer, but we can't find the printer. We're not sure which options to select when adding the printer.

 

[office politics]

you're using a remote desktop connection. When you're connected, you're controlling a pc in your office. The pc in your office should be setup with the printer. The user can then print anything that's on the pc in the office.

If the user wanted to print something that's on the pc that's out of the office, they would have to transfer the file(s) to the pc inside the office. this could be accomplished by emailing the file(s) or using upload sites such as www.yousendit.com

If you must install the printer on the pc outside the office, you would need to setup a vpn or Internet printing.

 

[NathanLedet]

csamuels, we had this already done a few weeks ago. I guess we did it through "internet printing"? Anyways...when we go to add a printer, it isn't found. It was earlier. but it isn't now. How do i go about setting up internet printing?