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Want to learn about how not to spend a whole day setting up a LInksys wireless print server on your network with something say an HP printer? Do read...

So recently I had this most horrible time battling a new Linksys wireless print server (WPSM54G I think it is) with a HP printer (Photosmart C4100 series) I was trying to setup for the family.

Problem? Well I had lots of them along the way...

• Setup of the print server to work with wirless was anything but a walk in the park. Ideally I would have loved to be able to take the ethernet, attach it to my laptop and configure it that way for wireless like I did with a Pelkin wireless box for an XBox awhile back.
• Routers a security freak (my fault for setting it up that way )
• Setup refused to install a network driver on the computer so I could print to the server a normal print job unless I literally connected the printer to the computer to install a printer using the correct driver though I had installed the driver on the machine using software from HP.
• Windows was a security freak (yeah kinda wierd hearing that statment being directed at a Windows box)

Paticulary item 3 is what I'm getting at (what took the most time cursing and what have you over) but I'll break it down point by point so you won't haft to go through the headache I suffered.

I pretty much summed up point 1 already but here's summary 2 . I had to setup a Pelikin XBox ethernet to wireless box for my brother that was a heck a lot easier to setup cause I could attach it straight to my laptop ethernet for configuration with our wireless network. Could I do that with the wireless print server? Nope. Solution from the manual? Attach it to the router. With little available plugs it was a disaster. Nevertheless had to in order to get it up.

Point 2 shouldn't apply to you unless you're a security minded person with MAC filtering or you've got a good router, in which case disable and reboot router.

Ok so great, so about an hour later its up on the network wirelessly with printer attached. Next problem: getting the drivers/software on the computers to actually be able to use it.

I was going along quite nicely in setup on one computer (so I could speed through setup on the others later) until I got to the part in Linksys print server utility setup where you install the "virtual printer/network driver" that does the magic of sending your jobs to the print server. After selecting the printer/print server from the list and clicking next, I got a dreaded: you do not have the correct print driver installed on this computer. Click ok to exit setup and try again later when you do. I also you had to uninstall before trying again from the setup CD anyway (setup just closes out if the server utility is already installed). The remedy for that is right clicking on print server's icon in the system tray > info -> diagnostic to try again without needing to uninstall/reboot constantly.

Ok, so I went to HP's site and updated just to make sure the drivers were present. Keep in mind this is a computer with no actual printer attached (the point of having the wireless print server). HP's setup is nice in this case cause you can skip the part where it actually tries to look for a printer. Still the same message in setup after this though. I'm about ready to return it I'm thinking about mid-day. Look at the manual and here's the crazy part. Linksys actually expects you to physically attach and re-attach the printer to/from the print server and every computer you want to setup with it on your network. This is absolutely unacceptable so had I not come up with the following workaround it would've been returned to the store for sure. Keep in mind this was a few hours later with no on the phone waiting with tech support (that would've been fun.... not!).

The solution:

The first thing to do of course is to install the correct drivers. What they don't tell you is next you should manually setup a printer with the Add Printer wizard using the driver. Once thats set up Windows should have actually taken the drivers you installed and put them in an acceptable place on the system for LInksys poorly designed wizard.

Now you may setup your computer with the print server. One reboot following the install you should be good to go. An important thing to note is the printer you created manually well be replaced by the new "Network..." virtual printer which is the printer you'll want to send your print jobs to with the print server.

Why Linksys had to make things difficult is confusing to me (though I'd suspect a call into tech support wouldn't have been able to help me fix the problem either if they didn't know about it to automate it in their software or at least include it in the troubleshooting section of the manual).

And the last point isn't too much a biggy. Just make sure you've got security permissions on the printer correct when you're done. In order for multiple users on the computer to use the printer, the users group must be able to manage the document/printer on a local basis. I hadn't done this and discovered the limited accounts I run my family under were not able to print (another few hours of fun you should avoid).

All and all I'm liking this new print server a lot despite the challenging day I spent on setup. If you're still interested in installing one on your own network just make sure you keep the above in mind for easy installation.

If you want to setup without the print server for basic printing only see this tutorial.