How can both my Macs share one printer?
There are certain prerequisites, but then it’s not so tough:
- Everyone needs to be running Mac OS X 10.2 or later.
- Networking must already work—everyone should be able to connect to the Internet, for example, though the same router. See the Communication, Internet, and AirPort section for instructions.
- The printer should already be working well on one Mac.
Say Bonnie wants to share her USB printer with Clyde. Bonnie should open her System Preferences, and select Sharing. She’d click the checkbox labeled “Printer Sharing” to enable it. If she’s using OS X 10.5 Leopard, she’ll also need to select the checkbox(es) next to the printer(s) she wants to share.
Clyde then simply tries to print. When asked to choose a printer, he should select Add Printer and Bonnie’s printer should show up as a shared printer.
This works only when Bonnie’s Mac is on and awake, of course. If you want another solution that doesn’t depend on the Mac, you can use an AirPort Base Station or Time Capsule with many USB printers. For an office with a heavier printing load, we recommend a networkable printer with Ethernet. Unfortunately there isn’t a way to share scanning on all-in-one printers (that we know of).
Published March 24, 2009 12:00 PM
Last modified on June 17, 2009 12:52 PM
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