How do I Connect an HP 85 Printer to an SPG900 Wireless Router?

The SPG900 router lets you share your HP printer.

If you have a wireless network setup at home with a Motorola SBG900 router, you may want to share your printer across all connected computers. Your HP Officejet G85 printer doesn't have the hardware necessary to connect to a wireless router, but that doesn't mean it can't be shared across a network. With Windows 7 or Vista, your printer is capable of accessing the router through a wireless connection, which lets other computers send print jobs to the printer.

Things You'll Need

• Wireless network

Instructions

1. Place the HP G85's installation disc in the disc drive of any computer that is currently accessing the wireless network through the SBG900 router. Go through the HP installation prompts to install the driver software.

2. Plug the G85's USB cable to any of the USB ports on your computer. Bring up the computer's "Start" menu and click the "Control Panel" entry.

3. Navigate to the "Network and Internet" link and choose the "Network and Sharing Center" option. Check to see if the "Network Discovery" heading is listed as "Off."

4. Click the heading and choose "Turn on Network Discovery" if the feature is currently turned off. Click the "Apply" button.

5. Scroll down to the "Printer Sharing" heading and click the "Turn on Printer Sharing" button. Choose "Apply" to turn on the feature and connect the HP G85 printer to your network through the SBG900 router.

6. Open the "Start" menu and choose "Network" on another computer connected to the wireless network through the SBG900 router. Select the icon labeled "Add a printer" near the top end of the window.

7. Select the option named "Add a network printer" and wait for the operating system to automatically search for the HP G85 printer through the SBPG900 router. Click the name of the printer and choose "Next" and "Finish" to connect to the HP G85 printer.

Tips & Warnings

• If your computer runs Windows XP, you need to choose different options to share the printer through the wireless router. Navigate to the "Control Panel" window normally and choose "Printers and Other Hardware" and "Printers and Faxes." Double-click the HP G85 entry and choose "Share This Printer." Click "OK."

• Any time the computer connected directly to the HP G85 printer is turned off, the other computers on the network will not be able to access the printer through the SBG900 wireless router.

References

• Microsoft: Enable File and Printer Sharing
• Motorola: SBG900 User Guide
• HP: HP Officejet G Series - Installing the HP Officejet G Series on a Network
• HP: HP Officejet G Series Your Basic Guide

Resources

• HP: Download drivers and software HP Officejet g85 All-in-One Printer series