Do you have both Windows PCs and Mac computers at home and do you have a nice printer attached to the Mac on which you would also like to print from a PC? Then wait a while before dragging computers and changing cables. You can print directly to the Mac from a PC!
Enable Printer Sharing
A printer on a Mac can be used effortlessly by other Macs, by enabling printer sharing once on the Mac to which the printer is connected with a USB port. After that, the printer can be reached wirelessly in the home network. The condition is that the Mac with the printer is switched on when you want to print, because the system now serves as a print server. Windows PCs can also print to it, with the help of a program that Apple makes available for free. Enabling printer sharing on the Mac is done through System Preferences (accessible from the Dock or the Apple icon in the menu bar). In the Internet and wireless section, choose Sharing and check the Printer Sharing option. In the list Printers: next to it the printer will be listed. Put a check there too. If you have multiple printers, you decide which one you make available in the home network. With Users: you can limit the availability to certain users, but we assume that everyone can join.
Enable printer sharing and check the printer to be shared.
Install Bonjour
In addition to turning the Printer Sharing function on or off in its entirety, you can set whether it is shared per printer. If the printer is not yet on the list or if you are purchasing a new one, first install it as you are used to. After that, this printer can also be shared as described earlier. Optionally, a printer can also be shared via the Share printer on network option of the System Preferences / Print & Scan section. On the other Mac computers, this printer will now automatically appear in the same Print and Scan section. However, on a Windows PC, the printer is not found by itself. This requires the Bonjour Print Services for Windows utility (also known as Bonjour Print Services) (https://support.apple.com/kb/DL999). Download and install the program. It works under Windows XP, Vista and 7. Bonjour recognizes USB printers attached to a Mac or Airport base station as well as network printers (both wireless and wired).
Install the Bonjour Print Services program on your PC.
Discover and Print Printer
Start the program (there is a Bonjour Printer Wizard icon placed on the desktop). If all goes well, the printer that is connected to the Mac will immediately be shown in the list. Make sure the printer is selected and then click Next / Finish. A printer normally does little without drivers. The great thing is that they are now automatically retrieved and installed for you. So you don't have to do anything about it, everything happens automatically. As soon as the program is finished, immediately check whether it was actually successful. On the PC, go to Start / Devices and Printers (in Windows 7). If everything went well, the printer will now be listed here neatly. As a final check, it is an idea to switch on the Mac and the printer, so that you can immediately make a test print via the PC. This can be done by right-clicking on the printer via Start / Devices and printers and choosing Printer properties / Print test page.
The printer is automatically discovered and you can print right away.
