its sharing now but do i have to have the pc on to connect the laptop to the printer all the time??

Yeah Lynn. Wireless isn't my specialty, but the way I see it, your desktop pc will be acting as the server for your network. So, if the 'server' isn't switched on, there is no network. Is the printer working from your laptop again now?

yeah, as long as i have the pc switched on

Well, that's kind of the downside of being on a network having the server switched on

oh well at least i can use it somehow eh.... Thanks for all your help x

Happy to help.

Hope to see you around the forums...