Re: printer sharing and security?


"louise" <louise@xxxxxxxxxx> wrote in message
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Duane Arnold wrote:
"louise" <louise@xxxxxxxxxx> wrote in message
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Well, I finally succumbed to everyone's very strong advice. I purchased a
new (ebay style) Thinkpad on which I am able to use WPA security, rather
than staying with WEP (which was the best I could get on my old laptop
because of a bogus Windows installation).

I don't want to share files.

But I would like to use the printer which is attached to my desktop. It
is an HP laser printer that only has a parallel connection. Is there a
way to set up just printer sharing? I always see "file and printer
sharing" and I know that for security reasons, that should stay off, so I
don't know if this can be done without impairing security.

Also, I created a WPA password which has: 2 letters, 6 numbers, 2
letters, 6 numbers, 6 letters 4 numbers. Is this likely to be a hard to
crack password?



If your concerned about the security of using a printer on a machine
that's sharing the printer with other machines on the LAN, the get
yourself a standalone printer server and connect it to a LAN port on the
router and plug the printer into that. That way, it's not attached to a
machine. All machines wired or wireless will be able to print to the
print sever that's attached to the router. Print servers are cheap now of
days.

Or if you don't want to do that and you have a NT based O/S that has the
printer attached in a networking situation, then the link talks about the
security setup for that situation for the NT based O/S.

http://labmice.techtarget.com/articles/winxpsecuritychecklist.htm

Duane :)
The printer in question is parallel port - can you plug that into a print
server?


Yes, the plug on the print server itself will have a centronics parallel
plug that will plug in to the printer. The print server will have a RJ45
port where you take a cable the uses the RJ45 plug type and connect it to
the print server and the other end into a LAN port on the router.

You should configure the print server to use a static IP on the router
instead of a DHCP IP from the router so that it never change. Then you set
up your computers for the printer that is a Network Printer and point to the
IP address of the print server. It's a piece of cake.

The link is just an example of what's out there. I purchased a Cables To Go
one for $59 at the time that was not wireless and plugged it into the
wireless router RJ45 LAN port and was printing like a champ from wire or
wireless machines.

Long

http://www.tigerdirect.com/applications/SearchTools/search.asp?keywords=print+server&image1.x=10&image1.y=12

Short

http://tinyurl.com/j5a8q

The only thing is that the utilities they show ink level at the computer
screen for ink levels will not work, but there is some visual alert on the
printer itself that can be used.

Duane :)


.

Relevant Pages

  • Re: Vista print problem with shared XP printer
    ... What you should do if you have a router in play here is go get a print server that works with Vista and XP, plug the print server into a LAN port on the router, and plug the printer into the print server. ... the printer is on the network and no computer hosts the printer with each one being able to print to the printer connected to the print server individually. ...
    (microsoft.public.windows.vista.general)
  • RE: Cant enter 2 XP machines into a Workgroup
    ... Firewalls like NIS modify Windows own security files. ... If a comsumer level router like those of Linksys and Netgear ...
    (microsoft.public.windowsxp.network_web)
  • Re: what wireless printer server for HP PSC 1610 printer
    ... in a location where a cable couldn't be connected to it from the router ... My friend's house is with wireless. ... The wireless computers have an access point in the network infrastructure. ... The wire print server has it's own plug that plugs into the printer. ...
    (alt.internet.wireless)
  • Re: Setting up wireless printing from my wireless computer
    ... so you connect the print server to the router. ... meant you had one of the nice new printers that have wireless built in. ... How do I attach it to the network? ...
    (microsoft.public.windowsxp.print_fax)
  • Re: Wireless intrusion - WPA and TKIP cracked with ease
    ... model number of ALL your wireless hardware. ... unpatched security holes in your unspecified router and firmware. ... protocols to select, but on a different page, had an encryption on/off ...
    (alt.internet.wireless)