To disable network printing from your computer, specifically preventing others on your network from accessing and printing to a printer connected to your computer, you can turn off file and printer sharing.
This action stops your computer from broadcasting or allowing connections for shared printers to other devices on the local network. It does not typically affect your ability to use network printers that are hosted on other devices or print servers.
Steps to Disable Printer Sharing
Follow these steps on the computer that has the printer you want to stop sharing:
- Open Control Panel: Click the Start button and search for "Control Panel".
- Navigate to Network Settings: Click on View network status and tasks under the Network and Internet category.
- Access Advanced Sharing Settings: In the Network and Sharing Center window, click on Change advanced sharing settings in the left-hand pane.
- Turn Off Sharing: Under the File and printer sharing section for your current network profile (e.g., Private, Guest or Public, All Networks), select the option Turn off file and printer sharing.
- Save Changes: Click the Save changes button at the bottom of the window.
Important: These steps disable both file and printer sharing. If you only need to stop printer sharing but keep file sharing enabled (which is less common), you might need to use more advanced methods like disabling the "Server" service or specific network bindings, which are outside the scope of simply turning off sharing via the standard settings. The method provided directly disables sharing for printers connected to your computer as described in the reference.
