Would a Wireless USB Work on a Printer?
Wireless USB adapters provide wireless networking capability to a computer through the USB port rather than through a card you have to install in your computer. Unfortunately, these adapters are designed for computers and not for other devices such as printers or external disk drives. However, there are several ways to provide wireless printing capability on your local network by sharing resources or using other kinds of wireless adapters.
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Wireless Router USB Port
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Most modern wireless routers include a USB port on the router to provide wireless access to either a printer or an external hard disk drive. To enable wireless access to a printer, connect the printer to the USB port on the router, access the router's setup page and configure the USB port for printing. Depending on the router, you may need to install a USB wireless sharing utility on each computer that wants to access the printer through the wireless network.
Sharing a Printer
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Any computer on your local network can share a printer attached to it. If the computer has wireless access to the network, the shared printer becomes a wireless printer. However, the printer will only be accessible to other computers on the network when the computer to which it's connected is turned on and also connected. In the Windows Control Panel, right-click the printer you want to share, turn on sharing and specify a shared name for the printer. When you add a new printer on the other computers, Windows should automatically list the printer you shared as one of the possible new printers to add.
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Wireless Print Server
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You can buy a wireless print server and connect it to a printer to provide wireless printing capability on your network. Most of the popular wireless device manufacturers have wireless print servers that you can purchase for less than $100 as of December, 2011. While the wireless print server will always need to be powered on, it will consume less power than a computer that is powered on just to share its printer with other clients on the network.
Wireless Printer
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Many printers have wireless capability built in. You can purchase a new wireless printer for less than $100 as of December, 2011. These printers are usually equipped with wireless 802.11g support and provide a menu-driven interface to connect the printer to the local network through your wireless router. To print using a networked computer, you may need to create a virtual printer port and specify the IP address of the wireless printer if Windows does not detect it automatically.
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References
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