This article shows you how to print to any printer on the local network from an iPad2 that is not AirPrint enabled. By default, the iPad 2 gives you the ability to print to any AirPrint-enabled printers on your WiFi network, the list of which can be found here. However, if you already have a printer on your network that is not AirPrint-enabled, you can still print to that printer by setting up your Windows computer to run AirPrint. Your iPad 2 sends the print job over the WiFi connection to your windows machine, which then passes the job to the printer you select. You don't need to have a wireless printer, just a printer installed on the network. This article will take you through setting up your Windows machine to allow the iPad 2 to print to any printer on your network. First of all, you need to have the Bonjour service installed. This is a service to discover printers on your network, and then makes them available for your iPad 2 to use. Information about the Bonjour service, including the download, can be found here; however, the easiest way to set up the Bonjour service is to install the latest version of iTunes, which can be found here.

You also need to have at least one printer set to be shared over the network.

Create folder for AirPrint

The next step is dependant on whether you have a 32 bit or 64 bit system. You need to create a folder called AirPrint in the Program Files folder, which, on the 32 bit system is C:\Program Files, and on the 64 bit system is C:\Program Files (x86).

Download AirPrint files

Download the AirPrint files for Windows from here, and extract them to the AirPrint folder you created earlier.

Setting up AirPrint as a service

After the files have been extracted to the AirPrint folder, you need to set AirPrint up as a service. To do this, go to C:\Windows\system32 and locate cmd.exe (or just cmd if your system is set to hide file extensions). Right click this file and choose Run as administrator.

After the command prompt opens, copy and paste in the following:

• For a 64 bit system:
  
  sc.exe create AirPrint binPath= "C:\Program Files (x86)\AirPrint\airprint.exe -s" depend= "Bonjour Service" start= auto
  sc.exe start AirPrint
  


• For a 32 bit system:
  
  sc.exe create AirPrint binPath= "C:\Program Files\AirPrint\airprint.exe -s" depend= "Bonjour Service" start= auto
  sc.exe start AirPrint
  

Note: to paste into the command prompt, right click and choose paste.

You may get a warning from your firewall, asking if you want to allow AirPrint to be shared over the network. Click Allow access.

Making it work

You may find that you can now print from your iPad 2 by choosing to Print from the application you are in. You will be asked for your username and password for the Windows system - use the login information that you normally use to log in to the computer. However, after choosing to print, you may get the message No Printers Found. If this is the case, you may need to add AirPrint to your firewall. To do this, open up your firewall and choose to Add a service. Enter AirPrint for the service name.

Restart your computer, and you should find that you can now print over a WiFi network to a local printer, even though the printer is not AirPrint enabled.