Modern printers offer more connection options than ever before. Whether at home or in the office, you can connect your printer to the computer in different ways.
In this post, we will discuss five different ways through which you can hook your printer to the computer. We have discussed connection choices for both wireless and wired printers.
Table of Contents
Connecting A Wired Printer To Computer
A wired printer is connected using a USB cable. In this case, you can use a USB 3.0 Male-A to Male-B printer cable from Fetch N Buy. It allows you to connect your printer faster than ever before.
Here are the steps to follow:
- Turn on both the devices and use a USB cable to connect your printer to the computer.
- Go to the Start Menu and access Settings.
- Go to Devices.
- Now click the option Add a Printer or Scanner.
- If the computer detects the printer, select the name of your printer and follow the on-screen instructions.
- Once you are done with the installation, you are all set to use your printer.
Well, that’s all you have to do to connect a wired printer to your computer.
Connecting A Wireless Printer To Computer
If you own a wireless printer, you can connect it to a computer with the help of Wi-Fi. The steps are simple and easy to follow.
- Enter the wireless set-up using the LCD panel of your printer.
- Next, select your Wi-Fi network. For this, you need to know the SSID of your home network. You can find it by hovering the cursor over the Wi-Fi icon.
- Now you need to enter your Wi-Fi password. In some cases, you may have to connect the printer to your computer using a USB cable (temporarily) to install the software. Otherwise, you should find the printer automatically in the Printers and Scanners section.
Wireless connection between a printer and computer is the modern way of hooking the two devices.
Adding A Shared Printer On A Network
You can use this method when you want to print from more than one computer.
Here is what you need to do:
- First, install the printer on the PC you want to share. You can establish either a wired connection or a wireless one.
- Now access Settings on the computer from the Start Menu.
- Go to the option Network & Internet shown on the settings page.
- Click on the option Status from the left menu panel.
- Select Sharing options under the Change Your Network Settings section.
- Once the Sharing options window opens, click Expand (^) located on the right side of private.
- Now check the box beside Turn On File And Printer Sharing. You will find this option under File and Printer Sharing.
- You can now connect to the shared printer by clicking on Add Device.
Connecting A Printer Through Ethernet
This is yet another type of printer connection you can use. It has been around for a long time and can be used if you have a good local area network. Ethernet connection works on LAN connection where you can use a built-in Ethernet connection.
Connecting A Printer Through Legacy Ports
Some printers have legacy ports, which is an old way of doing things. In legacy port connection, serial and parallel ports are connected over connectivity. However, this connection option is omitted from most modern printers.
So these are the five ways to connect your renters to your computer. In modern times, people mostly use a USB cable or Wi-Fi network to connect their printers.