Setting Up Printing to a Different Network Segment.

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This is a suggested setup for a Private home network that may have one or more segments, where devices attached to one segment cannot print to a printer attached to another segment as described in this thread. I don’t guarantee this will work for you, but I have been using it for years.

Here’s my setup:
I have Macs connected to my Router by Ethernet and/or WiFi. The Router has standard IP settings of 192.168.1.1 and serves DHCP to the peripherals. I have both an HP OfficeJet Pro 8720 and a Brother MFC-J435W connected to the Router by WiFi. The method would be the same for printers wired to the Router.

I have assigned a static IP address to to each of the printers in the upper IP range (.200 and .220) that is not usually frequented by the DHCP assignments. With static IPs, the printers do not change their network location.

The Macs are all running Parallels Desktop virtualization software and support from one to as many as five VMs running various versions of Windows. The Macs are assigned IP addresses by DHCP from the Router in the range 192.168.1.xxx.
When the VM(s) are used, they must share the Mac’s one network connection. But there can’t be multiple devices with the same IP address on a network.
To make the shared connection work, the software creates what amounts to an internal Router, in this case, with IP 10.211.55.1, which has its own DHCP server. The IP(s) assigned to the VM(s) are in the range 10.211.55.xxx and are basically on a different network from the printers.

Now, to make this work:
+ Install the printer OEM software/drivers on the computer/device first.
+ On a computer, go to the Control PanelDevices & Printers
+ Choose “Add a printer” If a wizard comes up, choose “Local printer attached to this computer”
OR
In my case in Win10 20H2 the printer showed up in the device list grayed out. Right click on the grayed out printer and choose “Printer properties” and go to the “Ports” tab.
+ Choose to add/create a new port and select “Standard TCP/IP Port”
+ Type in the IP address of the printer.
+ If asked to install software, choose your printer
+ If asked, choose to keep existing driver.
+ You do not need to share the printer.
+ Print a test page

I hope this works for you.

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ae123

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To test that your PC will be able to “see” the printer you can use the ping command.

1. Find the IP of your printer, e.g. 192.168.1.200
2. Open a Command Prompt.
3. Enter the ping command followed by the IP of the printer.
   e.g. ping 192.168.1.200

You should get a response like this: Reply from 192.168.1.200: bytes=32 time=15ms TTL=248

If you get “Request timed out.” then the printer is not visible to your PC and you will not be able to print to it.

cheers, Paul

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