Network connection problem

susuandme

Hello members, I came across two problem that confused me because
the explainations were vague and unclear, the two problems below are similar
but the answers are very different, can someone explain it more clearly
to me as to :
- when to create a network printer and when do you create a local printer
- when do you use a TCPIP address and when do you use a share or unc path
Is there a basic rule about these that I can remember if it comes up on my test?

Bill is a user on your local network segment. Chad also uses a Windows XP Professional computer. Chad’s computer has a reserved IP address of 192.168.1.28, and his computer is named Wrk2.
Chad informs you that he wants to print to your printer. You need to help Chad connect to your printer. What should you do?

Open the Printers and Faxes folder on Wrk2 and create a new local printer. Create a standard TCP/IP port that uses the 192.168.1.27 IP address. Select the appropriate printer driver according to the make and model of your printer.

Open the Printers and Faxes folder on Wrk2 and create a new network printer. Identify the printer as //Wrk2/Printer1.

Open the Printers and Faxes folder on Wrk2 and create a new network printer. Identify the printer as //Wrk1/Printer1.

Open the Printers and Faxes folder on Wrk1 and create a new local printer. Select the appropriate printer driver according to the make and model of your printer.


2nd example:

You are the help desk manager for your company. You have connected a print device to your Windows XP Professional computer and created a printer for it. You have also shared the printer as Printer1 and granted the Everyone group permission to print to it. Your computer’s network card has a reserved IP address of 192.168.1.27, and your computer is named Wrk1.
You want to print to a network printer on your local subnet. The printer is connected directly to the network and uses an IP address of 192.168.1.14. What should you do?

Open the Printers and Faxes folder on Wrk1 and create a new network printer. Create a standard TCP/IP port that uses the 192.168.1.14 IP address. Select the appropriate printer driver according to the make and model of the printer.

Open the Printers and Faxes folder on Wrk1 and create a new local printer. Create a standard TCP/IP port that uses the 192.168.1.14 IP address. Select the appropriate printer driver according to the make and model of the printer.

Open the Printers and Faxes folder on Wrk1 and create a new network printer. Identify the printer as [url]HTTP://192.168.1.14[/url].

Open the Printers and Faxes folder on Wrk1 and create a new network printer. Identify the printer as //Wrk1/192.168.1.14.

skrpune

If a printer has its own network card/connection, then you can assign an IP address to it. If it's connected to your computer and doesn't have its own network card/connection, then you'd use the UNC path. As far as I know, you can't assign an IP address to a printer that doesn't have its own network connection.

The two examples are actually quite different. The first involves a printer with no network connection that's connected to a user's computer, and the second involves a printer with its own network connection and its own IP address.

In the first example, if you use the IP address of the computer "hosting" the printer, then you're just navigating to that PC *not* the printer. So you'd have to use the UNC path. Assuming the computer that it's attached to is Wrk1 (since Chad's computer is Wrk2), in order to add the printer to Chad's machine, you'd want to add a network printer (a local one would be connected to his machine which isn't the case here) & the proper UNC path would be the //Wrk1/... one.

In the second example, you'd also add a network printer BUT since this printer has its own network card/address, you can use that address & not UNC. It's been a while since I've added a network printer, but I believe you'd add a new standard TCP/IP port & use the IP address in order to add the printer properly.

royal

Short version:
Printer connected to computer (local printer connected through LPT/USB)
Printer on network and want to add to server (local printer using TCP/IP) - clients connect to server that's connected to server (network printer which uses server as print server)

skrpune

FYI, Royal is right, I was wrong on how to add the TCP/IP printer for example 2 - you definitely start by adding a local printer (although my instinct is to add a network printer) and change the port type to "TCP/IP" & enter the IP address. There's a great explanation of local vs network printers & how to do setup here.

dynamik

The terminology is a bit confusing. Why wouldn't an IP-based printer be considered a network printer? It's a bit counter-intuitive that its considered a local printer (though it does sort of make sense when you think about it). They probably should have gone with "share printer" instead of "network printer."