All computers in Offices have the HP colour LaserJet 4600 printer in the main office defined as their default printer.

      When you print, the computer you are printing on will look to see which port the default printer is connected to. With a physically connected printer, this would normally be LPT1. However, with a networked printer, this is defined by either a network name (if the printer is physically connected to another computer on the network), or a network address (either an IP address or MAC address if the IP protocol is not used) if the printer is directly connected to the network. In our case it is the latter.

      Because of this configuration, you will see a print placed in the local printer queue, before it begins to print on the physical printer. It will then show as printing, but at first this is merely the local machine transmitting the print onto the network.   You need to understand this process, as the printer can be displayed as active on the print queue even when the printer isn't physically started, or communicating on the network.

      If you have any problems printing, see the part of the problem section in this help.

Printing to a local printer

      If you have a local printer physically connected to the machine you are on, you can choose to print to this instead of the default network printer. When you have selected to print a document, the print panel is displayed. The first field on this panel is the name of the printer to be used. If you click the down arrow alongside this field, you will see the names of the other printers that have been defined to this computer. Highlight the printer you require, and click he ok button..

      If you wish to install a new local printer, connect the printer to the LPT1 parallel port at the rear of the computer, and install as follows.

► Click on the Start button

      On the Options displayed, click on 'Settings'

      On the Options displayed, click on 'Printers'

► On the icons displayed, double click on 'Add printer'

► Follow the instructions on the screen. The printer does not have to be switched on to define the printer. You may be asked to load the Windows 2000 Installation CD. This is located in the computer room.

Printing to a shared local printer

      If another computer on the network has a local printer attached, and that printer has been shared on the network, then you can use that printer as long as the computer it is attached to has been switched on. When you first define the connection to a shared printer, that definition will automatically be retained across reloads of the computer. To define and connect to a shared printer, it must first have been shared by the originating computer.

i)    Sharing a printer

These actions need to be carried out on the computer the printer is physically connected to. It only need to be performed once, and remains in effect until physically deleted as a share.

► Click on the Start button

      On the Options displayed, click on 'Settings'

      On the Options displayed, click on 'Printers'

► On the icons displayed, right click on the name of the printer you want to share.

► On the drop down options displayed, click on 'Sharing'

► On the sharing Tab, click in the 'Shared as' radio button. The name of the printer will be displayed in the share name field. Leave this as default and click the ok button. This printer is now available to other users on the network. The connection name for this printer is \\<machine name>\<printer share name>. E.g. \\Earls_Court_B1\Epson1a

      ii)  Connecting to a shared printer

      These actions are carried out on the machine you wish to print from.

► On the desktop Double click on the 'Network Neighbourhood' icon

      On the Screen Displayed, Double click on the 'local network' entry.

      On the Screen Displayed, Double click on the 'Earls court' entry.

      A list of computers currently switched on are displayed

► On the Screen Displayed, Double click on the entry for the computer that the printer is physically connected to

► On the Screen Displayed, Double click on the 'printers' entry.

► On the Screen Displayed, click on the name of the shared printer to highlight it.

► Now select 'File' from the menu bar and on the drop down options displayed, select 'Install'. The printer will now install on your list of printers available for use. You may be asked to load the Windows 2000 Installation CD. This is located in the computer room

      iii) Printing to a shared printer

      Once the network printer has been installed, then you can print to it as if it's a local printer merely by selecting the network printer from your list of printers available when you choose the print option from your application.