How Do I set my Cannon printer which is upstairs to work on my laptop which is downstairs.? -

In simple terms please,silver surfer asking.I would like to set my printer which is connected to my Dell Desktop Computer upstairs,to work also with my Dell Laptop which is downstairs in my living room.I have a wireless Router which works OK,I have been told it can be done but have no idea how too. Hope someone can help,would be appreciated.Thank you.Dave. Hope someone can help

Assuming you have windows XP home or Pro If both your PC`s are internet connected you can create a home network. You can also (after creating network) just configure printer sharing. First open :- Start/Help and support/ then type create home network in search box. To connect to a printer that is attached to another computer A printer has to be shared before you can connect to it. Open Printers and Faxes. Under Printer Tasks, click Add a printer to open the Add Printer Wizard, and then click Next. Click A network printer, or a printer attached to another computer, and then click Next. Connect to the desired printer using one of the following three methods. Click a method for instructions. Browse for a printer. Click Browse for a printer, and then click Next. In the Shared printers list, click the printer you want to connect to. Notes In the list, printers are indicated by an icon of a printer followed by its name. An icon of a computer indicates a computer that has at least one printer connected to it. To see the printer, double-click the computer icon. When you click a printer icon, its name appears in the Printer box. Click Next. Type the printer name. Click Connect to this printer. In the Name box, type the printer name using the following format: \\computer_name\printer_name Click Next. Connect to an Internet or intranet printer. Using a printer’s URL allows you to connect to a printer across the Internet, provided you have permission to use that printer. If you cannot connect to the printer using the general URL format below, please see your printer s documentation. Click Connect to a printer on the Internet or on a home or office network. Type the URL to the printer using the following format: http://printserver_name/Printers/share_n… Click Next. Follow the instructions on the screen to finish connecting to the printer. The icon for the printer appears in the Printers and Faxes folder. Notes To open Printers and Faxes, click Start, click Control Panel, and then double-click Printers and Faxes. After you have connected to a shared printer on the network, you can use it as if it were attached to your computer

Go into the printer icon and Right click Select(sharing) Select (Share) the name of your installed printer will appear Select (Apply Start-Go to (My Network Places)Select (setup home/office /network and follow the wizard through once you have done this reboot your desktop On laptop go to(Printers) and Select(add printer) follow the wizard through Select (A Network/printer attatched to another computer)Next Select (Browse for printer) up should come your home network that it can see highlight it and double click it should start searching for the printer once it finds it choose (select as default) But 2 things to note if your laptop is running Vista physically install the printer on your laptop so that it has the proper drivers before going thru the wizard you can remove that once it is installed and working also make sure your desktop is on and logged in as this acts as your print server

In quot;simple termsquot; call up the properties of the printer on the desktop and set it as shared. Then add a printer on the laptop and point it to the shared printer on the desktop. If this doesn t help then hopefully someone will put a more detailed answer on here.