This article will explain in full how to share a printer in Windows 10/11 via LAN. If you have multiple Windows PCs 10 and Windows 11 and only one printer, You can share a printer installed on one PC to another PC without needing to move the device by using the network.
A computer network is a system consisting of two or more computers connected to each other via cable or wireless transmission media (wireless). You can learn briefly about networking at this website
Before you can share the printer on the network, there are a few things you need to pay attention to. This article will explain how to enable sharing options on Windows-10 PC, set up printer sharing and how to access shared printers over network in Windows-11.
List of contents
How to Share a Printer on Windows 10 / 11 via LAN
To make it easier to explain how to set up printer sharing in Windows 10 / 11 via local network (LAN). This guide will simulate two computers connected to the same network as follows:
- KEPG-PC using Windows-10 which has a printer installed with the name EPSON,
- MyPC using Windows-11 which will use the EPSON printer on the KEPG-PC
You can customize it with each computer name. To make it easier to recognize each computer, You may need to rename PC in Windows 11.
Enable Sharing Options
The first step you have to do is activate the sharing option on the computer where the printer is installed, in this simulation is KEPG-PC. Enabling the sharing option on this PC aims to KEPG-PC can be found on the network so that other users or you can access the printer or folder on this computer via network.
To enable sharing options on the KEPG-PC computer, do the following steps:
- Open Control Panel, choose Network and Internet, choose Network and Sharing Center, then click Change advanced sharing settings found on the left side of the screen.
- On display Change sharing options, find section File and printer sharing then select an option Turn on file and printer sharing
- Scroll down until you find the section Password protected sharing. If you want to share the printer with password protection, enable this option. If not, then choose Turn off password protected sharing
Don't forget to click the button Save changes to keep the changes you have made.
Enable Printer Sharing
After enabling share option, The next step is to activate printer sharing on the KEPG-PC that has been installed with the EPSON printer, Do the following steps below:
- Open Printer Properties. On the menu Settings, select section Devices then click Printer & scanners, select the printer you want to share, for example in this guide is the EPSON L420 printer then click Manage
- Enable the option Share this printer. In printer properties, click tab Sharing then activate it (check) option Share this printer. Give a name to the shared printer, for example EPSON then click OK
At this stage, the steps to enable EPSON printer sharing settings on KEPG-PC have been completed, The next step is to connect MyPC to the EPSON printer.
Connecting a Computer to a Shared Printer
To be able to connect the MyPC computer with a shared printer - the example in this guide is the EPSON printer on the KEPG-PC computer, make sure that the computer can be found on the network.
A fast and practical way to connect to a shared printer is to directly access the printer via the network. To access the printer on another computer via the network, follow the steps below:
1. Find the destination PC Name in Network
On a MyPC computer, open the network folder then find the name of the destination computer, the example in this guide is KPEG-PC. If you have previously activated the option Password protected sharing, you will be asked to enter username And password which is used to log into the KEPG-PC computer.
Tips: You can also find computers on a network using the address bar in Windows Explorer. On the address of the address, typing 2 backslash then follow it with the computer name, sample: \\KEPG-PC
Update: Windows 11 has activated Password protected sharing by default, so as to access PCs on the network, The system always asks to enter a username and password.
2. Connect Printer
After connecting to the destination computer, You will find a shared printer according to the name you specified previously. Right click on the printer name then click Connect…
3. Printer Installation
If successfully connected to the printer, The system will install the printer automatically. If you have never installed driver printer that you access, the system will install it with the Windows-11 built-in driver. You need to install driver printer completely so you can use all the features provided.
By installing the complete printer driver, you can adding a new paper size, for example Folio or F4 to the printer
Using a Shared Printer
After successfully connecting the MyPC computer with the EPSON printer on the KEPG-PC computer, You can find the printer name appearing in the printer list on the MyPC computer.
Open Settings, select section Bluetooth & devices, then click Printers & scanners.
Then you can use the printer as usual as long as the KEPG-PC computer is turned on and active.
Solution to problem
In the latest update, Windows 11 has activated Password protected sharing by default, so as to access PCs on the network, The system always asks to enter a username and password, even if you don't add a password on the destination PC.
This security protocol often causes access failures when accessing PCs on the network for both Folder Sharing and Printer Sharing.
The solution is to add a password to the destination computer, then delete the old credentials via Manager Credentials on the PC you use to access the destination computer.
Conclusion
Sharing a Printer between multiple computers is a smart and cost-effective solution. In the same network, share files or printers between Windows 10 and Windows 11 it's not a big deal if you follow these instructions carefully.
If you are still having problems with sharing printers in Windows 10 and Windows 11 via network, please comment. Good luck.
