need a lil help here. We have 2 computers at home, one wireless laptop and another desktop with a printer connected to it. I need to be able to print to that printer from the laptop. The laptop is XP and the desktop is 2000 sp3. Some have told me to create a workgroup (which I tried but must have failed), others tell me to create a domain.

what is the easiest way to do this?

thanks

 

Are the 2 machines networked yet? If so, just share the printer so the laptop can see it. Piece of cake. If not, you'll need to network them. Pretty easy to do with a hub or router (whichever suits your needs, probably based on your ISP).

 

nope, they are not networked (one can't see the other). I guess I would need some info on how to do this as well

 

yes, each compuyter needs to be joined to the same workgroup, and you need to make sur ethat the printer connected to one of the computers is shared out

 

Could use a wireless router with print server in it. Then both computers don't have to be on.

 

Real easy to do, as my 3 PCs at home are all networked via Netgear 614 "wired" router.

Two PCs have XP Pro, while the laptop runs 98.

1. With the main PC click on My Network Places on the desktop.
http://www.pnw4runners.com/temp2/network1.jpg

From there you can run the wizard and setup a name for your workgroup on your main PC.
All PCs must use the same network name.

Run the wizard on all the PCs connected to your router.

Since one of mine is running Win 98, I have to take the XP CD and put it in the 98 PC and run the wizard from the CD.

After all the PCs are on the same workgroup, you can then go to the laptop and go to the Add Printers from the Control Panel, or the same My Network Places.
Not sure if your Win 2000 is like XP, but I am sure you can find the area to do it.

All you have to do is tell the laptop that you want to print to the printer that is connected to your desktop PC.
You must first right click the icon for your printer on your main PC and select share it.

Hope this helps, it is the way I set mine up.

 

thanks Corey, this should be enough for me to get it done

 

$50 and get a simple WIRED print server.

plug that into the router and let it DHCP, then connect via TCPIP printing.

it's built into win2k and xp. 9x/me you need a seperate program... GRRRRRRRR