need to connect three computers to 2 pinters on office

[wazi]

hi i am trying to connect 3 computers to 2 printers we have ..
at the moment i have a switch connecting all three together and one pc is connected to both printers.. do i need a usb printer server? to connect to switch/..? will they all see the printers?
two are running win 7 one is running win 10 all connected via lan cable to switch which is plugged into router
thank you for looking

[scaryjim]

You should be able to set up printer sharing on the computer that is attached to the two printers. Then, as long as that computer is turned on, all three computers should be able to print to either printer as required.

If your requirement is that you're able to turn the computer that's currently connected to the printers off and still be able to print, then yes, you'd need some kind of USB print server, and AFAIK most USB print servers only handle one printer so you'd potentially need 2 (and you'd need to have enough switch ports to connect both printers to, too).

Assuming all three computers are relatively modern they should all have fairly low idle power, so the best bet is probably just to pick one to leave on all the time, and connect the printers to it.

[shaithis]

I can only echo what Jim has said, plus add that some printers have a NIC/WIFI or the option of adding a NIC so that they can be shared directly.

[Smudger]

What model are the printers? Do they have networking capabilities?