How to Connect a Printer to a PC

When you purchase a new printer for your home computer the first task is to connect it to your computer so that they work together. Many of the printers on the market today require that you install the driver prior to connecting the printer to the computer. These printers are most often printers that connect to the computer by USB cable. Read on to learn how to connect a printer to a PC.

Difficulty: Easy

Instructions

Things You'll Need:

• Paper

1. Unpack the printer and find a suitable place for it so that there is room to work around it. Lay out the various cables and instructions for its operation.

2. Route the power cable and USB cable around tables and desks so that they can be connected to a power outlet and the printer.

3. Take all the packing material from the printer and remove the pieces of tape that are placed on the printer to keep doors and lids from opening in shipment. Now you can plug in the printer to the power outlet.

4. Install the print cartridges or toner cartridge. Load the printer with paper. This should leave the printer ready to print when the computer tells it to print. Most new printers are shipped with one set of ink cartridges.

5. Insert the Printer CD into the computer and follow the installation procedure based on the directions given by the CD.

6. Plug in the USB cable to the printer and computer at the point in the installation that the CD tells you. The installation of the driver should finish and the printer will be ready to print. Print a test page from the printer to ensure that the printer does indeed print. Follow the manual's directions to print this page.