How to Share a Printer between a PC and a Mac

There are many reasons that you might want to set up a network at home or in the office. If you set up a network, you'll only need one printer in the house instead one for each computer. Once you've set up your home network with a Mac and a PC, you'll want to share the printer so both computers can access it. In Mac OSX 10.3 onward the printer setup enables you to share a printer with a Microsoft PC [source: Apple]. The Mac must be in a network with the PC and the printer must be physically connected to a port on the networked PC [source: CNET]. We will now show you how to connect a computer running Windows 7, and a Mac.

On the PC with Windows 7

Click Start in the bottom left corner of the screen. A popup menu will appear.
Select Control Panel from the list.
Select the Programs and Features pane.
Click Turn Windows Features on or off.
Turn on the LPD protocol.
Ensure printers are shared.

On the Mac

Start Applications.
Choose Utilities.
Choose Printer Setup Utility.
Hold down the Option key and click the More Printers button.
Select Advanced from the top menu.
Select LPD/LPR Host or Printer from the Device field.
Type lpd://PCName/PrinterShareName where it says Device URL.
Click the Add button [source: Microsoft].