How To Share A Printer In Windows

If you have a single printer that needs to be used by multiple users, you can share the printer on your network. Windows has an inbuilt feature for sharing a printer across a network. It reduces the hassle of having to reconnect a printer to another PC every time someone else needs it.

You can share a printer on a network by connecting it to one of the computers and sharing it through that computer. After sharing the printer, all users in the network will be able to access it. Follow us to the end of this article to learn how to share a printer in Windows.

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How to Share a Printer in Windows?

Before you share your printer, you have to make sure the printer is connected or added to your computer. Then, you will have to confirm if the network discovery settings on your PC are configured correctly. Here is the step-by-step guide for it:

Step 1: Make Printer Discoverable

The network discovery configurations define whether or not your PC will be discovered by other users in the same network. Other computers can only use a printer after you turn On network discovery and printer sharing settings on your computer. Here’s how you do it:

Press Win + R to open the Run app.
Type control panel and press Enter.
Go to Network and Internet > Network and Sharing Center.
Click on Change advanced sharing settings from the left panel.
Expand Private Network profile.
Select Turn on network discovery option under Network discovery.
Select Turn on file and printer sharing under File and printer sharing.
Repeat steps 6 and 7 for Guest or Public Network profile.
Click on Save changes.

Step 2: Share Printer

There are two ways to share a printer in a Windows PC. Here are the steps for both of them.

Through Settings

The Settings app is a newer approach to making changes to your computer. You can check for all the devices connected to your PC from this app, including the printers. The steps to share a printer are slightly different for Windows 10 and 11. Here are the steps for both of them.

On Windows 10

Open settings by pressing Win + I.
Click on Devices.
Select Printers & scanners.
Click on the printer you want to share and select Manage > Printer properties.
Go to the Sharing tab.
Click on the tickbox next to Share this printer and input the name of the printer.
Press Apply to apply the changes and OK to apply the changes and exit the settings.

On Windows 11

Open settings by pressing Win + I.
Select Bluetooth & devices from the left panel.
Press the Printers & scanners button.
Click on your printer and select Printer properties.
Click on the Sharing tab.
Tick the Share this printer box and type the name you want for your printer.
Click on Apply and then OK.

Through Control Panel

Using the Control panel is a rather versatile approach to sharing printers in Windows. Since the control panel is available and similar in all versions of Windows, you can follow these steps regardless of your Windows version and edition. Follow these steps to learn how:

Press Win + R to open the run app.
Type control panel and press Enter.
Go to Hardware and Sound.
Click on Devices and printers.
Right-click on the printer and select Properties.
Make sure you’re on the Share tab by clicking on it.
Tick the box next to Share this printer box and type a name for the printer.
Press Apply and then OK.

How to Connect to a Shared Printer?

After sharing the printer from your primary PC, the printer will be available to use by other computers on the same network if they have the printer’s driver installed. You can check for the printer from other computers by going to the Networks folder and double-clicking on the name of your primary PC.

To access the name of the primary PC, go to Settings > System > About.

In case you cannot detect the printer, you might have to add the printer again from the settings. Here’s how you do it:

Press Win + I to open the settings app.
Go to Bluetooth & devices > Printers & scanners.
Click on Add a printer or scanner.
Select your printer and click on Add device.
If this does not detect your printer, you can manually add the printer by pressing The printer that I want isn’t listed.
Choose the Select a shared printer by name option.
Type \\<computername>\<printername> and click Next. Replace <computername> with the name of your primary PC and <printername> with the name of the printer you used on your primary PC.