Member Avatar for zbar

Hi People, I have an old Lexmark Optra T610 laser printer and would like to connect it to my new D-Link Xtreme N Gigabit router. The router has a USB port and according to some documentation I found online, a usb printer can be connected there for sharing.
I am not sure whether the router has a built-in printer server or whether it can accommodate my printer for sharing. I am trying to use the printer from my PC which does not have a wirless adapter.
I have installed the driver and the printer on my PC while the printer is connected to the usb port on the router. The icon has a green tick next to it which shows that it is installed ok but I still cant print a test page nor any other text file.
Can anyone advise on whether I can connect the laser printer to the router for sharing (wired) and how I can go about setting up the printer to work, or do I have to purchase a wireless card for my pc to connect wirelessly?.
I am using win7 32bit. Thanks

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Two common router approaches explain why your Lexmark behaved differently when plugged into the router vs. directly into the PC: some routers implement a true network print server (exposing the printer over LPR/IPP or a TCP/IP print queue), while others provide a “virtual‑USB” solution (D‑Link’s SharePort style) that requires a vendor client to make the router’s USB device appear as if it were locally attached. Check which architecture your specific Xtreme‑N model uses before buying anything else. (manualslib.com)

If the router uses a virtual‑USB utility (SharePort), the usual behaviour is: install the D‑Link Network USB Utility on each Windows machine, “virtually connect” the device from that client, and print as if the printer were on a local USB port. That fixes printing for Windows in many setups but often gives exclusive access to the machine that grabbed the device, and scanning or other bi‑directional MFP features may not work through the router. That is why testing the printer directly (as suggested) is the right first step and why ’s SharePort install fixed Windows printing but left the Mac unable to use it. (manualslib.com)

Mac support and features vary a lot by router model and firmware — D‑Link added Mac SharePort support for some models but it isn’t universal. If the D‑Link utility/firmware for your router lacks a Mac client, options are: share the printer from a Windows PC on the LAN, use an inexpensive dedicated network print server box that speaks IPP/LPR (not a virtual‑USB trick), or run a small CUPS server (Raspberry Pi) that exposes the printer on the network. Check D‑Link firmware/SharePort downloads for your exact model before buying hardware. (dlink.com)

Quick checklist: (1) confirm the printer prints when USB‑direct; (2) identify router model and read its USB/SharePort section; (3) if SharePort, install the Network USB Utility on each Windows PC and expect exclusive connections; (4) if you need cross‑platform network printing or scanning, consider a dedicated print server or a Pi+CUPS server. The manuals and product pages above explain the exact setup steps for each path. (manualslib.com)

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Member Avatar for Temmu

i'd plug it into the pc first to see if it works at all.

because older printers often do not work at all with win 7 as there are no drivers for win 7.

xp printer drivers absolutely will not work.

i tried to browse to support.lexmark.com to see if there's a win 7 driver there for that printer, but the page won't display... check there for drivers, if not... sorry...

Member Avatar for zbar

Thanks for your response. Yes the lexmark printer works from my pc as when I clicked the update lexmark drivers in the device manager, win 7 found and installed the correct driver. I guess I should have searched the router disk before posting questions as I found a program called share port utility that has to be installed on each computer that will use the usb share. I have not yet cpmpleted the setup but will post the results later for anyones perusal.

Member Avatar for Temmu

cool.

Member Avatar for zbar

I installed the usb share utility and it worked. The only problem is that there is also a mac on the other side of the room that needs the printer as well, and due to the ommission of a mac utilty I will have to wait until d-link makes a driver or beta available. Only found this out after I had bought the router. Maybe I will get it right next time but for all ms windows pc's, it should work fine. I am marking the post as solved. Thanks for your help everyone.

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