Here’s a step-by-step guide to installing a network printer in Windows XP without having to install all the additional crappy software that vendors force onto your system. Often times installing all this additional software will compromise the stability of your system, slow it down, or both. These steps will bypass the vendor’s install disk and install only the drivers.

1. Click: Start > Printers & Faxes
2. Click: Add Printer
3. The Wizard will start, click Next
4. Select “Local printer attached to this computer” and uncheck “Automatically detect and install my Plug and Play printer” then click Next
5. Select “Create a new port:” and choose “Standard TCP/IP Port”
6. This will start another Wizard, click Next
7. Type in your printer’s IP address, eg: 192.168.1.104
8. Check “Always print to this device, even if its IP address changes” then click Next
9. A summary of your settings will show, click Finish
10. You’ll be back at the “Select a Printer Port” window. Select your newly created port from the “Use the following port” dropdown, then click Next
11. Now you need to select your printer Manufacturer and Printer Model. If your model does not show, put your printer driver disk in your CD-ROM and click the “Have Disk” button. Browse to your CD drive and select your printer’s model. Once your Manufacturer and Model are selected, click Next
12. Now name your printer, it’s probably best to accept the default. Choose whether or not you want to use the printer as the default.
13. Chose whether or not to share you printer. Since this is a network printer, don’t share it. You’ll want to set it up to print directly from each of your machines.
14. Print a test page and you should be good to go!

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