Sunday, February 24, 2013

Wirelessly printing with a PC and a Mac

Tonight I figured out how to connect my brother's Windows 7 PC to our printer over the wi-fi network in our house.  The family's iMac is connected to the printer.  We're not fancy enough yet to have a wi-fi printer that connects to a router.

Steps to get the setup working:
  1. Enable printer sharing on the Mac (System Preferences > Print and Fax) Make sure you also share the specific printer you wish to use.
  2. Install the correct Samsung printer driver on the Windows 7 PC.
  3. Use the "Add Printer" feature on the Windows 7 PC control panel. And select the new print driver (added in step #2) for the model of printer we use.
To make the steps go smoothly, the mac needs to stay on (not be asleep) and the printer also needs to be on.

Step #2 was the hardest part, because the Driver installation wizard does not immediately tell you that you do not need to have the printer connected via USB.  If you click through the installation wizard for the printer (a Samsung model 2010), then you can get a dialog that gives you an option to continue the installation without the printer connected!

On the Mac, open System Preferences:






Now on the Windows 7 PC:






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