Although connecting to a network printer is a relatively easy task when using the Add Printer Wizard, there are a couple of caveats and limitations that you’ll need to keep in mind when using XP as a print server. The first is that XP supports a maximum of 10 simultaneous printing requests. Once this limit is met, additional users will have to wait before being able to submit print jobs. The second limitation of using XP as a print server is that when you initially install and share a local printer, only the drivers for Windows XP and 2000 clients will be installed by default.
In other words, client systems running Windows 2000 and Windows XP will automatically download and install the necessary driver for the printer when they connect to it for the first time, but downlevel operating systems like Windows 95/98/ME will not be able to, since the correct drivers will not be available on the server. The good news is that this limitation isn’t a major issue, since XP will allow you to install additional drivers for a particular operating system or platform even after the original installation.
