How to do it - two macs one printer

[sbab]

Hi
I have a desktop (macpro3,1), MBP and Brother hl-3040cn printer.
When the desktop is on both computers can print.
When the desktop is shutdown the MBP cannot print.
I would like to be able to print from the MBP with the desktop shutdown, is this possible?
My setup:
adsl for internet plugs into wan port on dlink di-524 wireless ethernet router.
The lan ports on the dlink plug into the desktop and printer.
Wireless connects the MBP.
Do I rearrange connections, reconfigure ip addresses or what? I tried to find an answer but found it confusing in finding what to do.

Many thanks
John

[blueroom]

Should work fine.
Make sure the printer firmware is up to date.
Might want to consider updating that old DI-525.

[velocityg4]

Disconnect the USB cable from the printer.

Plug one of the LAN ports from the router into the Ethernet port on the printer. It should auto configure for your network via DHCP.

Delete the printer then reinstall it in your System Preferences. They must be connected to your network. Wired or wireless does not matter just as long as they are connected to the same network as the printer when installing.

If the printer is not showing up you will need to go through the setting menus on the printer to check it's network settings to make sure it is getting an IP Address and that it is set to automatically get an IP address.

Once the Brother printer is setup it should work automatically when you connect your laptop to the network.

[satcomer]

Buy a router with a USB2 port on it that can share to it's users. Use something like the Airport Extreme but any router with a print server in it would work too.

[sbab]

Thanks for your replies.
I took your advice and deleted my printer in the MBP prefs. I used the add button in the printer prefs and let it have a search, it found the brother printer which I selected.
Now any computer can print by itself...great.
Thanks again,
John

[marzer]

Originally Posted by sbab

Thanks for your replies.
I took your advice and deleted my printer in the MBP prefs. I used the add button in the printer prefs and let it have a search, it found the brother printer which I selected.
Now any computer can print by itself...great.
Thanks again,
John

I suspect you had printer sharing enabled on the desktop and selected the desktpo's shared printer queue instead of the direct printer queue. This has happened in my house on occassion. If it is enabled, shut off printer sharing on the computers so only the direct printing queues show up when searching for printers.