[SOLVED] Sharing a printer over VPN ?

[vesp3r]

Hello, as the topic states im trying to set up a printer over a vpn connection set from my Asus RT-N12+ router. I tryed by sharing the printer->linking both PC via vpn->adding credentials to the computer that needs to print-> manually add printer using local port
The last step fails returning "network path not found"
I noticed the connected pc has different subnetwork (f.e. 192.168.10.X) while the "server pc" is in a subnetwork 192.168.0.X

 

[bill001g]

It should not matter but it depends on the details on how the VPN was setup.

The way you see vpn setup commonly by a home user is to in effect NAT the "remote" ip. So if the printer was in 192.168.0.x network your pc should be translated to a IP in that range also.

If you have setup a more advanced for of vpn you many times need to setup actual routing to make this work. It all depends on what equipment is in the path and what devices are doing the vpn. Key here is most consumer "routers" are not actual routers and can not do true routing.

 

[vesp3r]

I see... Well i dont see any confuguration on the vpn from the router so im guessing i will need a proper vpn server+client to connect and use the printer remotely

 

[bill001g]

The most common way to do this is to use a router that has a vpn server function. This used to be a rare feature but it is fairly common now days. Most support openvpn.

All you do is run this router vpn service at the site that has the printer. You then load a openvpn client on your pc. Pretty much the default is as soon as you connect the vpn your remote pc now appears as if it was on the same local network as the printer. Even a lot of the microsoft discovery garbage works but it tends to be simpler to just use the actual IP of the printer.

There are many other ways to do this but then you need to understand what you are doing or find a guide for setting it up.

 

[vesp3r]

I will try this but the printer im trying to share is a dot matrix printer and doesnt really have IP. Thats why im sharing it through a PC and want to connect to i My router on both sides has integrated VPN service

 

[bill001g]

You would then use the IP of the pc that the device is connected to. It should work the same as if you took your pc and plugged it into the same network. What every messy things you have to do to share the printer would be exactly the same except you are using a VPN rather than a cable.