Setting up a printer on Windows Home Server

I recently won an HP Home Server (I actually got it about a month ago and decided to break it out of the box today). Its amazing how much life has changed for me in 10 years with a wife and three kids. 10 years ago that server would have been unpacked and up and running within an hour of getting it.

Anyways so far I am fairly happy with how easy it has been to setup the media server. I've just finished adding my Lexmark 5495 to the server, it took me longer to find the right drivers then it did to actually install them.

My only issue with the process is that you have to use remote desktop and login to the server. The help documentation for Home Server actually advises that you do not do this. Sharing resources like a printer seems like such a common task that it would have been nice for them to find a way to integrate into the Home Server Console.

To install a printer you can simply hook the printer into the USB or Parralel port, and then one of two things will happen. Either the server will detect the printer and install the printer or you will have to do this manually. You can check if the printer was installed by going to the shared folders and you should see the printer, if you do not then you will need to do it manually.

To do this open up remote desktop and connect to the server. Then you will install the drivers just as you would on any other computer.

Once the printer is installed you can connect to it by going to \\YourServerName\Printers You will also see the printer at \\YourServerName\NameOfYourPrinter. When you right click on the printer you can select connect and it should install the drivers for you.

Enjoy
Josh