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network printer sharing

I have a client who has several networked printers (each has a network connection and its own IP address). I noticed recently that several users have set these printers to "shared", even though everyone can directly access them via the printer's IP address. I explained that these printers don't need to be shared unless the printer is plugged directly into the PC via USB or printer cable, but they don't want to unshare them, saying they don't know why, but they need to have the sharing turned on. I also noticed that they all access the printer through the IP address port, and not through another computer's share.

Is there ever any reason to share a printer that is not attached to a PC, when it can be accessed via IP address?

Does having all these shared printers affect the network traffic in any way?

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BigPapaGotti

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rindi

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paul_innis

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Thanks for the quick responses! There are no server-shared printers, and I couldn't find any workstations that were using any other workstation's shares. Since this was the first time anybody ever told me that they needed to share a network printer, even though the share was not being used, I thought that there might be a reason I had never heard of. (even though the non-technical client could not give me a reason, he just told me to take his word for it)

I have, however, turned on the sharing for a printer on a workstation, just so I could add the printer to a new workstation and get the drivers. Then I would change the port to TCP/IP, and turn off the share on the original workstation.

I guess I just like cleaner settings. Many of the workstations had automatic searches for printers, so in addition to the networked IP-address printer, they had the same printer several times under other workstation shares. I don't know if that has any affect on network performance or workstation processing, but if they are fine with it, so am I. I just wondered for my own curiosity.

paul_innis

ASKER

This was a small office with a workgroup network, a file server with no domain, and about 10 users.