Printing to printer connected to Mac from a PC

Alright so I have been having this problem that has been going on for a few days now. Every night after I get home from school I spend hours trying to figure out how to get my Windows 7 laptop to print to my printer that is connected to my iMac.

Now, my iMac is not connected to my wireless router. My iMac is connected to my router using airport and the printer is connected to my iMac via USB.

I have installed the printer through Windows and then ran the drivers and the printer is on my computer. I go to print and in the queue all it says is "Spooling" and it stays like that for about 5, maybe 10 minutes and then disappears and nothing ever prints.

So then I installed Bonjour on my PC and ran that. It installed the printer again, but this time with a different name. I figured it would work because its an official Apple thing, and well, I assumed it would fix the problem... but it did not.

So I have tried troubleshooting, nothing works. I have printer sharing checked off on my Mac settings. I also have smb sharing for Windows computers. If it makes a difference, I can access my Windows computer as a server through my iMac to share files... don't know if that changes anything.

So yea, if anyone might know how to help me here I would greatly appreciate it. I have been struggling with this for days now and all I want is my setup to work correctly.

Thanks a lot!

Have you tried using the usb port on the Airport and see if both computers see the printer also it would make it easier as then both computers would not have to be on to print.

osxx said:

Have you tried using the usb port on the Airport and see if both computers see the printer also it would make it easier as then both computers would not have to be on to print.

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I should have made this a little more clear. When I said I have airport I meant I have it on my iMac connecting to my wireless router. (D-Link router) A lot of the searches I have looked up about it say the same thing about plugging it into the airport... but thats not an option for me sadly.

Sorry about the bumping but please can somebody help me out. im stuck on this and still cant figure it out.

id appreciate it.

Which D-Link router do you have? Many of the newer models have USB available for sharing printers.

And what printer do you have?

bobtomay said:

Which D-Link router do you have? Many of the newer models have USB available for sharing printers.

And what printer do you have?

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I don't have USB ports. and its an HP PSC 900. And also just to clarify my Mac isnt connected to my router.

Jimi4 said:

I don't have USB ports. and its an HP PSC 900. And also just to clarify my Mac isnt connected to my router.

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Then exactly how is the iMac and your Windows box connected?

bobtomay said:

Then exactly how is the iMac and your Windows box connected?

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Over my network. I have them hooked up over my wireless network.

I can access my PC from my iMac to transfer files. And the printer is installed (or should be) on my PC but every time I print I select the printer and everything and it just says its printing or "spooling" and never prints.

(If they're connected over your wireless network, they're connected to the router, just not by wire.)

Has this ever worked...printing from the Win7 machine while connected to your iMac?