How to print to USB attached printer that cannot be shared?

[SeanieOS]

Our IT dept no longer allows a printer to be added in Windows if the printer is "shared". Some kind of security reason. This printer is connected to another PC on the same lan but via a USB cable.

Previously we have been printing to it from a dos application using the net use command by mapping a local port to \\hostname\printer_sharename however this is no longer possible because that shared printer cannot be added locally.

Is there another way to get a print job from the local LPT port of one PC to the USB connected printer attached to another pc?

Cheers,

Flex

 

[samuria]

In our rules we cant give advice on hacking company IT

 

[file3456]

You can do this via software or hardware. Here's an example of the hardware route.

Amazon Link 1 <-- Use a good quality USB powered hub. Like this Sabrent UL listed hub. They really need to advertise the power adapter is UL listed because that's a huge selling point for me and lots of other people. You go on Amazon and trying to find if a device meets UL Spec is like pulling teeth from a badger! How do I know it's UL listed? Because I own this one and their ten port version. What the heck is UL? UL (safety organization) - Wikipedia Many products built today either fail or don't have this coveted rating.


Amazon Link 2


You should get IT approval because it may introduce a vulnerability, but I doubt it with this method. Besides, EVERYTHING has a vulnerability and there are CVEs abound each and everyday. I can understand why they'd get rid of print sharing because NetBIOS (Samba) is a hack nightmare... I turn off NetBIOS in all my computers. Though, NetBIOS shouldn't be required to share a printer over the network however.


Note: I can't vouch for these USB network devices because I've never used one.