Networking My Printer, External HD & Scanner

[Psychosis84]

I'm finally getting a laptop very soon. Not only that but I'm getting a brand new color laser printer, scanner, and external hard drive.

I plan on keeping my desktop. My desktop is the source for my homes router / internet connection. And it's nice just to have it around for when I don't wanna use my laptop, however my laptop is basically going to be a desktop replacement.

Anyway... I want to be able to access my external hard drive, laser printer, and (if possible) my scanner wirelessly. What I'm wondering is. What do I have to do to make those things accessible to my laptop wirelessly?

 

[Greg]

I've never done it with a scanner, but I know that it's really simple to share printers and drives. Windows has this built in, just opt to share your printer on the network when you set it up. As for the external hard drive, it should just be a right-click on the icon kind of deal.

 

[baronvongogo]

well you will have to setup a network using a workgroup if its not in one already.

step 1. make sure the workgroup name on your laptop and desktop are the same

step 2. to share a drive right click it in mycomputer and choose share choose a name or leave the default name and turn on sharing.

step 3. to share a printer do the same go to printers and right click and choose share and enable it.

step 4. do the same with the scanner you did with the printer.

step 5. on your laptop go to control panel then printers and choose add printer go through the guide choose network printer, then connect to this printer ,click next and it should show you it if not you can manually type in its name eg: \\printers\hp deskjet

step 6. with the scanner do the same but in control panel choose scanners and choose add imaging device.

Its not the best guide lol but it`ll do for basics, now some problems might arise first off when you have them both named the same in the workgroup reboot them. Second your firewall might block you from accessing the desktop you will have to allow it. Also to find networked drives or printers you normally go to start>run and type something such as \\desktop(this will be computer name)\c$(that's the c drive it depends what you call it in the sharing options)

You can also right click my computer and choose map network drive , choose a drive letter and add the share for your harddrive you setup so eg:\\desktop\harddrive

If you have any trouble or questions post back.

 

[Psychosis84]

^^^

Ok that makes sense, I guess I am only stuck at one MAIN part, lol. How do I start the Network / Workgroup?

Is it something I just do on my PC and Laptop or do I have to somehow connect the devices I want to access to my router? Sorry this is so newbish, networks are the one thing I have NO experience with.

 

[baronvongogo]

to change the name of your workgroup right click my computer, choose properties then under computer name there is a button called change click it. It will show you your current workgroup name edit it and then reboot. Once both the laptop and desktop have the exact same workgroup name you can follow the rest of my instructions let me know if you get into any trouble.

 

[mikesgroovin]

I didn't want to interrupt once I saw that your inquiry was replied to. But, just to give you a little heads up.....a scanner is an input device That would be like ... I don't know.... sharing a keyboard Can't be done through windows. It can be "shared" in a sense though. But you are going to have to get software for it... like here:
RemoteScan® - Use Scanners with Terminal Server and Citrix®

Most scanners come with an alternative method in the box (A high production one anyway). But a small, personal flatbed won't come with anything except some small sofware module and drivers.

You will most likely need a 3rd party software module for "Scanner Sharing"

 

[Psychosis84]

baronvongogo... Thanx for all the help. All the steps make sense now. Now all I need is all that new equipment to arrive... the waiting is killing me! I do have one question. Do I just have to enable each device on my Desktop or do I have to do that on my laptop as well? I'm assuming if I just enable / activate the share option through my desktop (since it's the one with the router ) then my Laptop (since it will be on the same workgroup) can just access those external devices wirelessly. Correct?

mikesgroovin... Thanx for the information on the scanner. I think my scanner is the least of my worries. I can always just plug it into my laptop whenever I need to use it IF it comes to that, no biggie. If I can definitely set it up so I can access with wirelessly then that great, if I can't seem to get it running I'll do it the old fashioned way.

 

[baronvongogo]

baronvongogo... Thanx for all the help. All the steps make sense now. Now all I need is all that new equipment to arrive... the waiting is killing me! I do have one question. Do I just have to enable each device on my Desktop or do I have to do that on my laptop as well? I'm assuming if I just enable / activate the share option through my desktop (since it's the one with the router ) then my Laptop (since it will be on the same workgroup) can just access those external devices wirelessly. Correct?

all your stuff to arrive? by that you mean?

And what do you mean enable each device on the desktop? you mean printer etc? all you have to do is install the printer, scanner on your desktop and network it for the laptop. And yes once everything is shared on the desktop it`ll wirelessly be able to access those devices except if the power is off on your desktop, as obviously no power and the devices wont be recognised.

 

[Psychosis84]

baronvongogo... Thanx for all the help. All the steps make sense now. Now all I need is all that new equipment to arrive... the waiting is killing me! I do have one question. Do I just have to enable each device on my Desktop or do I have to do that on my laptop as well? I'm assuming if I just enable / activate the share option through my desktop (since it's the one with the router ) then my Laptop (since it will be on the same workgroup) can just access those external devices wirelessly. Correct?

all your stuff to arrive? by that you mean?

And what do you mean enable each device on the desktop? you mean printer etc? all you have to do is install the printer, scanner on your desktop and network it for the laptop. And yes once everything is shared on the desktop it`ll wirelessly be able to access those devices except if the power is off on your desktop, as obviously no power and the devices wont be recognised.

Yeah that's exactly what I meant about sharing them. Ok I'm crystal clear on everything now

Oh and all of my stuff to arrive I mean my laptop, printer, scanner, ext hd. If you noticed in the first post I said:

"I'm finally getting a laptop very soon. Not only that but I'm getting a brand new color laser printer, scanner, and external hard drive."

So it's on the way... bought everything from online vendors, cheaper that way. Besides my laptop had to be bought online from HP because they didn't sell this model in stores.

 

[baronvongogo]

ok good luck in networking, if you have any trouble in the setup process post back enjoy!