Setting up a printer

As a consultant I'm constantly working from different locations and printing to foreign printers. For some reason, printers seem to be a black art to most of us who are otherwise quite comfortable working with technology. I too used to fear printers until Pat Sarnacke showed me the one true way to enlightenment: Printing to a Standard TCP/IP Port.

steps to printer nirvana:

1. Print the configuration of the printer to get the printer's IP address
2. Plug in to the same network the printer is on. (ping if necessary to find out)
   
3. Open the windows add printer wizard
4. Select "Local printer attached to this computer" AND uncheck "Automatically detect and install my Plug and Play printer"
5. Select "Create a new port:"
6. Set "Type of port:" to "Standard TCP/IP Port"
7. The Add Standard TCP/IP Printer Port Wizard should appear, click Next
8. Enter the IP address into the "Printer Name or IP Address" textbox
9. Use the default "Port Name", click Next (The 2nd wizard should close)
   
10. Select your printer from the list
11. Give your new printer a name
12. Do not share, print a test page, and click Finish because you are done.

You now possess the knowledge to print from any random printer your heart desires.