Print from your Apple iOS device to a PC printer

AirPrint is a wireless printing system that Apple introduced for its iPhone, iPad and iPod Touch devices, all of which run an operating system called iOS. It enables you to print wirelessly to any compatible printer, but what if you don’t own one?

Not to worry - you can trick iOS into thinking you do There are a few caveats to this tutorial. You need a working printer attached to your PC, which needs to be connected to your home network wirelessly. If you can tick those boxes, you’re just a few steps away from printing via your Apple device.

The trick here is turning your home printer into a networked printer with a suitable AirPlay ‘wrapper’ to fool iOS. Of course, none of this is official - a few dedicated enthusiasts have got this working in their spare time. The whole thing could stop working with the next iOS update, but until then we’ll keep on printing.

Step-By-Step Guide

1. Before any of this can work you’ll need your PC or laptop up and running with a suitable printer attached usually via the USB port switched on and working. You can check this by selecting ‘Start typing Printer and selecting ‘Devices and Printers: Make sure the printer you want has a green tick on it. If not, right-click on it and choose ‘Default'.
2. The AirPrint system is a network service. For any of this to work Windows needs to accept networked guests. To set this, open the Start Menu, type User Accounts then select ‘Add or Remove User Accounts'. Select ‘Guest Account’ and if it’s not on click’Turn On'. Don’t worry, this does not enable access to files on your system public folder sharing has to be turned on separately.
3. Now other systems can connect to the PC, it’s time to make sure the printer is shared too. Click’Start then type’Devices and printers’ and select the first option that appears. The printer you currently use on your PC should be listed with a green tick. Right-click it, then select’Printer properties> Sharing > Change sharing options -> Share this printer -> OK.
4. For the clever bit of this project, you’ll need some software from the Apple. Open your browser and head over to "http://forums.macrumors.com/showthread.php?t=1293865" (Without quotes). At the end of the first post, you’ll see a hnk under the heading ‘Attached files Click this to download a zip file, then right-click it and select’Extract aIl Even though it’s called iOS 5, this software does support the latest iOS 6.
5. Before installing the software, you need to know whether you’re running the 32-bit or 64-bit version of Windows.This is easy to find out - click ’Start then right-click on ‘Computer’and select ‘Properties The window that opens will say either 64-bit or 32-bit under’System type'. You can now double-click the appropriate FIX file to install it. If any warnings appear, click 'OK'.
6. Now run the AirPrint Installer, click’Install AirPrint Service’ and make sure AirPrint Auth is set to ‘Use guest account' Tick the ‘Enable guest account’ box and then click the ‘Update’ button. You should then restart you PC to make sure the new AirPrint service is running correctly. You can use this file to stop and remove the service too.
7. Now it’s time to jump onto your iPad, fire it up and make sure it’s linked to your wireless network.To do this, open up your favourite website and tap ‘Share -> Print' Your new faux AirPrint printer should now be selected - if it is not, you may need to wait a minute for the network to update. Tap ‘Print’ and it should hopefully do just that.
8. If the printer isn’t showing up on your iOS device, re-run the FIX file and check that the Windows Firewall is correctly set. Click ‘Start then type Windows Firewall and select the first option that appears. Click on ‘Inbound rules’and, in the main list, make sure ‘AirPrint for Windows’ under Domain Profile is selected and enabled to ensure it can speak to other systems on the network.
9. If all of this sounds far too complicated and even a little naughty, which it is not, then you could opt for a fully AirPrint compliant solution.This requires you to buy an actual AirPrint enabled printer. Head to store.apple.com/uk and look for the AirPrint section under iPad on the left for a complete list of available models that come from all the biggest names.
10. As long as the firewall is firing on all ports your connected printer should show up. Your iPad or iPhone can now print via your Windows PC. The PC, printer and wireless network will, of course, all need to be on but at this point you can cut out sending documents from your device just to print them out, though your PC still remains more flexible for printing options.