If you have only one system and one printer, there is nothing to worry, simply connect and take printouts. But what if you have multiple systems with different operating systems?

Think, think… no clue? Let me help you. If you are having Windows 7 in one of the systems, then share the printer with the other systems. Windows 7 support has options for sharing devices in a local network. I forgot, you ought to have a local connection between the systems for sharing the devices first!

Windows 7 support for sharing printer

These steps by Windows 7 support involve sharing of printer between Windows 7 and Windows XP operating systems. The steps are:

1. Share the printer on the XP system by right-clicking on the printer and then choose Sharing.
2. Click the Share this printer radio button and give the printer a share name.
3. Check if you can see the printer share from the network browsing area in Windows 7.
   1. For that, go to Control Panel and click on Network and Internet.
   2. Click on View network computers and devices under Network and Sharing Center.
   3. You will see the name of the XP computer in the list of computers.
   4. Double-click on the computer name and you should see your shared printer in the list.
   5. Add the printer by right clicking on it and choosing Connect.
   6. If everything goes perfectly, Windows 7 should automatically add the printer to your set of printers. However, if you get a message like “Cannot connect to printer”, follow the next steps.
   7. Click on Start and then click on Devices and Printers. Click on the Add a printer link.
   8. Next, choose Add a local printer.
   9. Now, click Create a new port and choose Local port from the list of options.
   10. Click Next and in the Port name box, type in the path to the shared printer.
   11. Now choose the printer driver from the list and choose Have Disk.

These steps will set up network sharing of the printer between the systems. After sharing the printer, you can use the device from both operating systems.

Hope this was helpful to you.