Can I connect a wireless printer to both a wired desktop and wireless laptop?
If I get a wireless printer, do all of the computers connected to it need to be wireless? Or can I connect both wired and wireless computers to it at the same time? I had heard that I might have to disconnect the wired connection for it to search wireless.
Thanks!
You could install it on the wireless laptop and then make it a shared printer on your network and then add it as the printer for your desktop
does that make sense?
it connects via the router, so yes as long as you set you printer for network access you can print from any computer connected to your network wired or not.
Yes you can, using a wireless router. I’m not sure how your network is configured, but if you have your desktop near your modem it’s very simple. Connect the printer and the router to the desktop computer. Configure your wireless router, create a secure connection and you’ll need to allow printer sharing.
When a printer is set up on a wireless connection, it appears as a network printer to all computers on the network.
If you plug in a USB or parallel cable to the printer, it will disable the wireless and become a standard printer connected to a computer.
The printer cannot be used in both modes at the same time.
The computers connected to the printer do not need to be wireless. They just need to be connected to the router. As long as a computer is attached to the network in some way, then it can access the printer. You just install the printer as a network printer instead of a local printer.
It depends on the printer.
Some printers do support multiple network connections however they tend to be expensive. Domestic / Small Office printers tend to support a single network connection so you need to have either a wired or wireless connections enabled.
However, they all tend to have a USB connection that is supported in parallel with the network connection. If you install the printer as a ‘local’ printer on the desktop using the USB connection and enable the wireless port on the printer then both the desktop and laptop will be able to print without the need to re-configure.