Windows 10: Add Shared Printer in Windows 10

How to: Add Shared Printer in Windows 10

How to Add a Shared Printer in Windows 10


Network printers are able to connect directly to your network using Wi-Fi or Ethernet, and are available to anyone on the same network by default.

If you have a printer connected to and setup on your computer instead, then you will need to share the printer before it will be available to anyone on the same network.

Network printer sharing allows another computer on your network to print to the printer connected to your computer on the same network.

The HomeGroup service will no longer be available starting with Windows 10 build 17063. The user profile used for sharing and the file/folder/printer shares will continue to work.

This tutorial will show you how to add a shared printer without using HomeGroup in Windows 10.

You must be signed in as an administrator to add a shared printer to your PC.

Requirements to add a shared printer:

• You must be on the same network as the computer the shared printer is connected to.
• The shared printer must be powered on.
• File and printer sharing must be turned on for both computers.
• You will need to know either the shared printer is connected to.
• You will need to know the share name of the shared printer.

CONTENTS:

• Option One: Add Shared Printer in Settings
• Option Two: Add Shared Printer in Control Panel
• Option Three: Add Shared Printer in PowerShell

OPTION ONE [/i] Add Shared Printer in Settings
1. Open Settings, and click/tap on the Devices icon.

2. Click/tap on Printers & scanners on the left side, and click/tap on Add a printer or scanner on the right side. (see screenshot below)



3. Click/tap on the The printer that I want isn't listed link on the right side when available. (see screenshot below)



4. Select (dot) the Select a shared printer by name option, type in network path of the shared printer, and click/tap on Next. (see screenshots below)

*note You can use the shared printer is connected to.

For example:

\\Computer name\Share name of shared printer

OR

\\IP Address\Share name of shared printer





5. Your PC will now try to locate the shared printer, then download and install the driver from the computer the shared printer is connected to. (see screenshots below)

*note If drivers for your 32-bit or 64-bit Windows 10 is not available from the computer the shared printer is connected to, then you will need to manually find and install the driver for the printer instead.





6. Click/tap on Next if the shared printer has been successfully added. (see screenshot below)



7. If you like, you can Print a test page to check if the shared printer is working properly. Click/tap on Finish when done. (see screenshot below)



8. The shared printer will now be available on your PC. (see screenshot below)



9. You can now close Settings if you like.





OPTION TWO [/i] Add Shared Printer in Control Panel
1. Open the Control Panel (icons view), and click/tap on the Devices and Printers icon.

2. Click/tap on Add a printer on the toolbar. (see screenshot below)



3. Click/tap on the The printer that I want isn't listed link at the bottom when available. (see screenshot below)



4. Select (dot) the Select a shared printer by name option, type in network path of the shared printer, and click/tap on Next. (see screenshots below)

*note You can use the shared printer is connected to.

For example:

\\Computer name\Share name of shared printer

OR

\\IP Address\Share name of shared printer





5. Your PC will now try to locate the shared printer, and then download and install the driver from the computer the shared printer is connected to. (see screenshots below)

*note If drivers for your 32-bit or 64-bit Windows 10 is not available from the computer the shared printer is connected to, then you will need to manually find and install the driver for the printer instead.





6. Click/tap on Next if the shared printer has been successfully added. (see screenshot below)



7. If you like, you can Print a test page to check if the shared printer is working properly. Click/tap on Finish when done. (see screenshot below)



8. The shared printer will now be available on your PC. (see screenshot below)



9. You can now close Devices and Printers if you like.





OPTION THREE [/i] Add Shared Printer in PowerShell

*note To see more usage options for the Add-Printer command, see: Add-Printer | Microsoft Docs
1. Open an elevated PowerShell.

2. Type the command below you want to use into the elevated PowerShell, and press Enter. (see screenshots below)
(Use computer name to add shared printer)
*Arrow Add-Printer -ConnectionName "Computer Name\Share Name"

OR

(Use IP Address to add shared printer)
*Arrow Add-Printer -ConnectionName "IP Address\Share Name"

*note Substitute Computer Name in the command above with the actual shared printer is connected to.

Substitute IP Address in the command above with the actual shared printer is connected to.

Substitute Share Name in the command above with the actual share name (ex: "HP LaserJet Pro Shared") of the shared printer you want to add.

For example:

(Use computer name to add shared printer)
Add-Printer -ConnectionName "Brink-Desktop\HP LaserJet Pro Shared"

OR

(Use IP Address to add shared printer)
Add-Printer -ConnectionName "192.168.1.124\HP LaserJet Pro Shared"







3. You can now close the elevated PowerShell if you like.

That's it,
Shawn


Related Tutorials

• How to Share a Printer in Windows 10
• How to Create a Printers Folder Shortcut in Windows
• How to Rename a Printer in Windows 10
• How to Backup and Restore Printers in Windows
• How to Remove a Printer in Windows 10
• How to Uninstall a Printer Driver in Windows 10
• How to List All Installed Printers in Windows 10

:)

 

Can't share printer—getting error message

Step 1: Go to store.
Step 2: Buy a less shitty printer.
Step 3: Pick up some beer while you are there.
Step 4: Enjoy both your new printer and your beer.

In all seriousness, I have had more issues with Lexmark printers and their shitty drivers then any other manufacturer, HP is a close second though.

However, if you don't want to get a new printer*Laugh :laugh:, and I can understand that, when my Lexmark was giving me the same troubles in Win7(and Vista) I had to make sure the Windows firewall was ON and the firewall service was enabled and running. After I shared it I could re-disable the firewall and firewall services.

 

Can't share printer—getting error message

Yeah, I have windows firewall disabled, and I don't use any other firewall... mostly to prevent stupid issues like this.

None taken... and yeah, I do.

 

Printer Sharing

Hi Bransby,

Thank you for posting your query in Microsoft Community. Appreciate your interest in using Windows 10.

I would suggest you to follow the below steps and check if it helps

Computer you are sharing from

1. Type "Device and Printers" in the web and windows box

2. Find your printer

3. Right click on the printer

4. Select “Printer properties"

5. Click on the sharing tab

6. Check "sharing this printer"

7. Give the printer a Name

8. Click apply

Computer you are trying to share to:

1. Type "Device and Printers" in the web and windows box

2. Check for printer the devices and printers.

3. if it is not there click "add printer"

4. If the printer does not show up click “The printer that i wanted wasn't list"

Hope the information is helpful. Feel free to write to us for any other assistance with Windows, we’ll be glad to assist you.

 

turning on file and printer sharing windows 10

Thank you for the update. What we can suggest now is to turn on File and Printer sharing in Command Prompt. Here are the steps to do it:

• Leave File and Printer Sharing for Microsoft Networks turned
  on.
• Type CMD in the Search bar.
• Right-click on Command Prompt, and select Run as Administrator.
• Type netsh advfirewall firewall set rule group="File and Printer Sharing" new enable=Yes, and hit
  Enter.
• Exit from the command prompt, and check if it will work.

If issue persists, try turning it on using Powershell, and check if it works. Here are the steps:

• Leave File and Printer Sharing for Microsoft Networks turned
  on.
• Type Powershell in the Search bar.
• Right-click on Windows PowerShell, and select
  Run as Administrator.
• Type netsh advfirewall firewall set rule group="File and Printer Sharing" new enable=Yes, and hit
  Enter.
• Close PowerShell.

Let us know how it goes.

 

Printer sharing Windows 10 and Windows XP

Hello,

Thank you for posting your query in Microsoft Community.

I suggest you to check the user manual of the printer to know more about sharing. You can also refer to the steps given in the link below to know more about sharing. The article given below is for Windows 8.1 but the steps are same for Windows 10.

Share a printer

Hope this information is helpful. Please feel free to reply in case you face any other issues with Windows in future.