Networked Printer Behind Second Router

Do you have both Routers handing out DHCP? Are both routers on the same IP subnet? If the surfboard handles DHCP, the G router has DHCP disabled (but is set with a static address on the same IP subnet... essentially just a bridge) then I can't see why all the computers shouldn't be able to see the shared printer.

For example... enter image description here

How does this grab you... make sense? Have the surfboard handle DHCP, and set the range to start at 50 or so. Set the G router to be a bridge, or at least disable DHCP, and connect it to the surfboard via one of the normal ethernet ports (not the Internet port). Assign it an IP that is outside the DHCP range, but on the same subnet (so you can easily get to it to adjust settings, etc). Then, all the computers that connect to the G router, will get an IP address that is in the same range that the server and printer are in. That should work.


If you have both routers configured to use the same subnet, (e.g., 192.168.1.x/255.255.255.0), you need to configure the second router as a bridge or else the G router's subnet will mask the N router's subnet. Most consumer-level routers don't have a bridge option in their default firmware, although open-source firmware such as Tomato, OpenWRT, or DD-WRT most likely would allow you to configure bridging.

One easy solution is to disable DHCP on the G router and configure it with an IP address on the N router's subnet. Then instead of connecting the G router's WAN port to the N router, connect one of its LAN ports to the N router. This way, you're just using the G router as an access point. When a client connects to the G router, it will be assigned a DHCP address by the N router and will be able to see the server and its printer, assuming your sharing is properly configured.

Another solution is to simply set your routers to use different subnets (e.g., set the N router's subnet to 192.168.0.x and the G router's subnet to 192.168.1.x) and the computers on the G router should be able to see anything on the N router (but not vice-versa).