SOLUTION:
Apples latest versions of its AirPort Base Station are AirPort Extreme and AirPort Express. Both include USB ports to which you can connect a USB printer. This printer can then be accessed by all users on the wireless network. Although this setup works similarly to the Printer Sharing feature, it has the advantage that the printer is available to all users on the network without their having to go through another computer (and thus without having to worry whether or not that computer is currently on).
When first set up, the printer can be accessed by all users on your local network and it should automatically appear in Printer Setup Utility or Print & Fax Preferences as a Bonjour-connected printer.
Unfortunately, not all printers work with the USB port on AirPort Base Stations, and Apple no longer provides a list of printers that are officially compatible; you will need to try your printer out to see if it works.
|
NOTE:
|
Printer-specific utilities, such as HPs Printer Utility or Toolbox, will not work when the printer is connected via AirPort Extreme or Express. To access the utilitys features, you will need to make a direct USB connection between the printer and the Mac. Similarly, certain printer-specific error messages may not appear when the printer is connected via an AirPort Extreme or Express base station. |
Computers connected via the Airport Base Stations WAN port cannot access the shared printer by default. However, using the AirPort Admin Utility, you can configure the Base Station so that the printer can be accessed in Printer Setup Utility via Bonjour. The simplest method is to turn on WAN-LAN bridging: To do so, make sure that Details is selected from Admin Utilitys View menu; then, in the Network pane, unche ck the Distribute IP Addresses box.
Printable version
