I have successfully set up a printer locally from my machine. I now want to allow colleagues to use the same printer when my machine is switched on. I have right-clicked on the printer in Printers and Faxes, on the Sharing tab selected 'Share this printer' and given it a name, then ok'd. The printer then appears to be shared. On a colleagues machine (they already have the drivers for the printer installed) I have gone to 'Add a Printer', then selected the option 'A network printer, or a printer attached to another computer', browsed for the printer, but it does not recognise it. My setup is as follows: Broadband connection to Hub to Netgear 24 port Switch to LAN points to individual PCs. If anyone can help I would be very grateful. Many thanks Nick TRMA - UK

Can you find it when you browse? If not see if you can open a command prompt and do this command C:\ipconfig >> \\printserver\shared printer printserver will be the name of your computer If this works at least you know you can print to it, then instead of browsing for it you can just add it. Nothing is as simple as we hope it will be.

What are the share/print permissions set to? Life is more painless for those who are brainless.

Yes, browse to the PC which has the printer shared by clicking on Start, then Run, then typing \\computerName Browse to the printer, right click on the printer and select "Connect". Your PC will attempt to locate relevant drivers for this printer. You said they are already installed, so you should not be prompted for the drivers. All should be OK.

Thanks for the help so far. I went to start, then run, and typed \\computername (of the pc i am trying to connect to), and I get the message : The network path was not found. I know 100% I am typing the right computer name. Are there any other sharing privileges that I need to apply to my pc other than the printer itself? i.e. Have I missed a fundamental step prior to sharing the printer? Thanks again. Many thanks Nick TRMA - UK

Sorry, I should clarify... I went to start, then run, and typed: \\computername of the pc I am trying to connect to (which is actually my pc, with the shared printer), and i did this from my colleague's machine. Many thanks Nick TRMA - UK

Did you reboot? That sometimes helps in "announcing" the printer on the network. Sometimes I think I understand everything, then I regain consciousness