Windows 2000 Printer Name and Share Name

by Curtis Krauskopf

Printers installed in Windows 2000 usually default to the manufacturer and model number of the printer. However, the computer manufacturer or your Information Technology (IT) department might have assigned a different name when the printer was installed.

How to obtain your printer name

Click on the Start button.

The Start menu appears. Your start menu might look slightly different than this one.

Hover the mouse over the Settings menu entry. A Settings sub-menu appears. Left-click on the Control Panel menu entry.

The Control Panel screen appears. Your menu will look similar to one of the following three screen shots:

Double-click on the Printer icon. A window showing the printers installed on the system appears.

The printer's name is shown next to the printer's icon. The name of the printer in this example is "hp photosmart 7150 series". The black checkmark near the printer means it is the default printer -- the printer that will be used if no other printer is specified when printing a document.

The icon in the above picture also tells us that the printer is not shared. A shared printer will have a hand symbol between the printer and its name.

How to obtain or set the printer's share name

Right-click on the printer's icon. A context menu appears.

Left-click on the Sharing... context menu entry. The printer's Properties Panel appears.

The printer's share name is next to the Shared as: radio button. If a share name has not been assigned, the Not shared radio button will be selected and the printer's name will be greyed-out.

To assign the printer a share name, left-click on the Shared as: radio button. On my system, Windows 2000 automatically provided a share name (hpphotos). Your mileage might vary.

Share names can contain letters, numbers, and a few special symbols like spaces. I recommend not using spaces in a share name because it makes some MS-DOS commands more difficult to use.

Share names must also be unique on the computer. This means that no two resources can use the same share name. Windows 2000 will warn you if you try to assign the printer a share name that's already used by another resource.

Click the OK button to close the printer's Properties panel.

Back on the printers control panel, the printer's icon should have a hand between the printer and its name.

Click here to return to the USB Printer Installation web page.