Networking a printer is an easy way to make it possible for anyone in the house to print from it rather than having to transfer files from one computer to another. When you network a printer, you effectively connect it to your router so that it can pick up signals. When you want to print, it picks up that signal and prints what was sent to it. Networking isn't difficult so long as your printer is capable of networking.
The first step is to double check and ensure your printer can network. Typically it'll say right on the box whether it can or cannot. If yours doesn't, you can get a good printer that networks for $150. If it does network, you'll move on to the next step.
Go to your printers folder. To get there, click Start and then hit your control panel. Look for the printers tab and double click it. That'll open up a list of all the printers that are installed on the computer. Right click on the printer that you want to work with and look for something that asks you if you want to share or not. Click the button that says "share" and then give the printer a unique name so people recognize it.
With sharing turned on, go to the other computers and double check to make sure that they have the necessary drivers installed for the printer to work. Without them, they will not be able to print. If you don't have the discs, you can typically find the necessary drivers by going to the company website and clicking on printers. Find your printer and then download the latest drivers.
It should be noted that if you have any software that acts as a firewall or have your Windows Firewall up, you might not be able to network the printer because the security is in the way. Lower the firewall and your household will be able to print to the printer. You can lower the firewall only when you want to print or you can keep it down perpetually.
