Tip - Temporarily Disable Firewalls When Networking Printers

| Commentary | Its fairly typical for people to want to share their printer across a home network. Often, the printer is plugged into a desktop PC via USB cable and the PC in turn to a wireless router. I have this setup at home, and like many people, did not get it working on the first try.

My problem was typical: My laptop could not "see" the printer even though everything was set up correctly. Often, when trying to reach a USB printer from a wireless laptop, network firewalls on the laptop and/or PC will block the access. Temporarily disabling these firewalls is a quick fix that allows the laptop to recognize the printer. From that point forward, once the laptop has configured the printer, the firewalls can be re-enabled and the connection will be maintained.

→ Related Message Board Topics - Printer Connections in Hybrid Networks, Printer Sharing in Wireless Home Networks