make a usb wired printer wireless?

unwashed potato! · 2026-02-14T21:13:17+0000

i don't have a place for my printer to be close to my desktop. at the moment i store my printer the other side of the room in a cupboard but it's annoying each time I use it to have to move it, plug it in, use it and then put it back.

Is there any way to have a wireless usb attachment that makes the printer appear wired while being wireless and then just powered on the other side of the room?

hornetstinger · 2026-02-14T21:15:16+0000

unwashed potato! said:
i don't have a place for my printer to be close to my desktop. at the moment i store my printer the other side of the room in a cupboard but it's annoying each time I use it to have to move it, plug it in, use it and then put it back.

Is there any way to have a wireless usb attachment that makes the printer appear wired while being wireless and then just powered on the other side of the room?

Plug it into your router?

unwashed potato! · 2026-02-14T21:37:10+0000

hornetstinger said:
Plug it into your router?

Miles away but how that work over USB?

hornetstinger · 2026-02-14T21:48:02+0000

unwashed potato! said:
Miles away but how that work over USB?

Once you plug printer into router, your router acts as a print server therefore any device can print to it

unwashed potato! · 2026-02-14T22:32:11+0000

with a usb to cat5 cable? my router is a stupid google nest one so doesn't have any spare spots, but i have a switch if that could work?

Tart · 2026-02-15T00:50:42+0000

I think there are a few options to look at. What connections does your printer have? Or what model printer is it? I don't know anything about google nest / wifi / router. What ports / connections does it have?

Depending on the model of printer you might be able to connect a usb wifi dongle to it (either made by the printer manufacturer or a random third party device that supports the printer) instead of connecting it by usb directly to the computer. I think hornetstinger was saying that if you connect the printer by USB to your router the router would then present the printer to any network connected devices. There are also USB to ethernet adaptors that might work if you have any spare ethernet ports either on the router or on the PC / laptop.

If you let us know what connections are available on your printer and what are available on your network there might be some ideas as to how the two could be connected. You also might be able to just get a much longer USB cable?

Cheers.

chef-borjan · 2026-02-15T12:36:06+0000

Depends how techy you want to get for it, but you could get a very simple device like a Raspberry Pi or a super small form factor Windows device and have it connected to the printer and your wireless network, sharing the connection.

Rroff · 2026-02-15T12:44:00+0000

unwashed potato! said:
with a usb to cat5 cable? my router is a stupid google nest one so doesn't have any spare spots, but i have a switch if that could work?

Nah - needs a USB port, which your router doesn't have but some do.

You can get a wireless USB print server fairly cheap which will do the job (or your printer may have an Ethernet port) - just remember to secure it so random people can't send stuff to your printer.

hornetstinger · 2026-02-15T12:46:48+0000

chef-borjan said:
Depends how techy you want to get for it, but you could get a very simple device like a Raspberry Pi or a super small form factor Windows device and have it connected to the printer and your wireless network, sharing the connection.

yeah I'd get a cheap raspberry pi, pi3 or something basic

Philtor · 2026-02-15T13:46:11+0000

I looked into this a while back but ended up just biting the bullet and getting a laserjet with built in wireless connectivity.

Added bonus is it supports AirPrint so I can print directly from my phone now also. Well worth the £80 outlay imo.

andy_mk3 · 2026-02-15T13:55:53+0000

You could run a CUPS server on a Pi Zero

hornetstinger · 2026-02-15T14:05:00+0000

Another option is if you have a NAS they can operate as a print server.

chef-borjan · 2026-02-15T15:15:31+0000

If you are comfortable just following guides on the internet, this is the way. It’s really not tricky.

andy_mk3 said:
You could run a CUPS server on a Pi Zero

nade · 2026-02-15T15:19:49+0000

Used to do this years back. Think back then it was a Belkin USB print server adapter I got which allowed me to wire it up to my ADSL router (was on a massive 500mb Nildram connection at the time)