Mac printer sharing is a three-part process: making sure your computers are on a common workgroup, enabling printer sharing on your Mac, and adding a connection to a network printer on your Win 7 PC.
What You Need
To get started, you’ll need:
A working network, either Wi-Fi or wired Ethernet.A printer that is connected directly to a Mac running OS X 10.6.x (Snow Leopard).A common workgroup name for the PCs and Macs on your network.About half an hour of your time.
Configure the Workgroup Name
Windows 7 uses a default workgroup name of WORKGROUP. If you haven’t made any changes to the workgroup name on the Windows computers connected to your network then you’re ready to go, because the Mac also creates a default workgroup name of WORKGROUP for connecting to Windows machines. If you have changed your Windows workgroup name, then you’ll need to change the workgroup name on your Mac to match it.
How to Change the Workgroup Name on a Mac
To change your Mac’s workgroup name to match your Windows workgroup name:
Enable Printer Sharing on Your Mac
For Mac printer sharing to work, you will need to enable the printer sharing function on your Mac. We will assume you already have a printer connected to your Mac that you wish to share on your network.
Add a Shared Printer to Windows 7
The last step in Mac printer sharing is to add the shared printer to your Win 7 PC.
Using Your Shared Printer
Using your Mac’s shared printer from your Windows 7 PC is no different than it would be if the printer were directly connected to your Win 7 PC. All of your Win 7 applications will see the shared printer as if it were physically attached to your PC.
A Few Points to Keep in Mind
Your Mac must be turned on in order for the shared printer to be accessible on the network. Some printer properties may not be accessible over the network. For example, you may not be able to determine the status of consumables on the shared printer, such as how much ink is left or whether the paper tray is empty. This varies from printer to printer, as well as from printer driver to printer driver. Printing from the network may keep your Mac from going to sleep. A sleeping Mac may not be able to respond to printer requests from networked PCs.
