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« on: December 30, 2013, 10:19 PM »
I have 7 PCs running various versions of windows 7 and one running windows 8. They are all networked WI-FI in various locations in my home. I have an HP printer hardwired to one of the W7s. I'd like all of the PCs to be able to print to the one printer. Cost is a major factor, so I need a cheap solution The only two ways I've been able to ID to do this is either through a Microsoft Homegroup network or Google Cloud Print. My printer is not one that's on the Google list of compatible printers, and assuming I went out and bought one, I have no assurance that I could get that approach to work. I tried setting up a Homegroup and got as far as getting the PC the printer is on to recognize two of the other PCs. Even so, I can't any of the PCs to talk to each other. I spent several days wandering around on various forums, and none of the posts I found there were helpful. Mostly they appeared to be single responses thrown out by people making dumb wild guesses for the sake of scoring ego points. I need someone (or one +) knowledgeable enough to stick with me until I work through the problem. If I go the Google approach, I'm willing to buy one of the cheaper compatible printers, but I'd rather not since I'm on a fixed income with a negative cash flow. The Homegroup road looks to be very, very messy from what I saw on the forums, and Microsoft has nothing useful that I could find in their Knowledgebase. They seem to pretty much steer clear of the whole Homegroup subject.
So would someone open a discussion with me....please! Dan