Abouttoby Expertise Was a MacOS sys/network Admin for about 5(5 Mac, 7 Windows) years...gears more towards linux and windows at this point, but I am confident I can help in various areas of Mac/Apple networking from localtalk to the newest standards. Deal with more enterprise integration of Macs on PC networks/domains. Can help with iPhone settings in any area(hopefully!)
Question QUESTION: Dear Toby,
I have been looking around at different help forums, but the answers seem a little complicated for me. I am relatively computer savvy, but I do not have much experience with netgear. I am trying to help my parents, but I am stuck...They have a PC laptop (mom's) and a brand new mac desktop (dad's) that we also got with an HP wireless capable printer. I am at work so I don't have all of the exact model #s, but maybe you can still help me. The mac is plugged into the cable modem which is plugged into a netgear router. The PC picks up internet signal via the router. I am wondering if I can get the computers to "talk to each other" so that my mom can print from her PC on the printer that is hooked up via the usb on the mac. It is also possible to setup the printer wirelessly with the mac, but I was unsure of it could still be accessed by the PC if I did that. I also do not know what steps to take to get the computers sharing files, etc. Do I need to set up the sharing part before I introduce the printer into the mix? Please help.
ANSWER: You should be able to network all three. Did you say the mac desktop has wireless? Either way you can share the printer from either the mac or pc. The netgear is irrelevant. Basically any router will work with the mac if you know what you are needing to do. Please give me exact details about what you want, and I will be glad to give you detailed instructions.
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QUESTION: Great! Thank you so much for your quick reply. So, I guess now that I know it can be done...Could you please tell me what to do on the PC to get it to network with the printer?. In order to do that, do I need to setup the network of the two computers and then the printer will work from the PC? I guess I thought that the two computers were already “networked” b/c they share an internet connection via the netgear. Maybe that is not a correct assumption…The mac is hard wired to the internet cable and the router and to the printer. Do I want it to be configured wirelessly on the mac or should I use the usb wire? Should I install the printer again? I think I may be able to reconfigure it without having to re-install the software. Then do I need to install the printer software on the PC, too? It is possible to setup the printer as wireless to the Mac, but I was confused as to the best way to do it. Will the printer (with wireless capability) be able to connect to both computers via its own wireless signal, or does it need to be hard wired to the mac in order for the PC to connect to it via the wireless router? You mentioned that the netgear is irrelevant, so I may be confused.
On the mac, I can see my mom's PC as a "shared" file. I do not know how to get the PC to connect to the mac or the printer. I think I am being repetitive, but I am just trying to give you a clear picture of how it is setup. Not sure if this matters, but the PC and Mac are at least 50' from each other. Can you please walk me through how to configure the printer on the mac and then what I should do to get the PC to be able to print on it? If it is not too complicated it would be nice to get the PC to recognize the mac via the network so they could share files via a shared folder. Is that complicated?
So, in summary, please help me to network the two computers or at least the printer so both can print with it. Thanks for you help!
Answer Sorry for the delay, been very busy. The computers are already networked. You can turn on Windows file sharing in the prefs on the mac. The best thing to do as far as the printing is connect it to the Mac. The windows machine should wirelessly be able to connect to the printer. You could also use Bonjour for windows and share the printer from the mac. You can download the bonjour for windows free from http://support.apple.com/downloads/Bonjour_for_Windows
