can't print file stored on ReadyNAS

I am not sure what you mean by copy the file to your local machine. In order to print any file that is stored on the NAS, you must open a file in an application. For example if it is a word file, then you open the document in word and print it.

If that is not the situation, could you please tell us what type of file it is you are trying to print. But, generally in order to print a file, you need a printer driver for the printer, and even if the printer is connected to the network, the driver would reside on a local PC although the print job would be sent over the network.

Whether the IP on the printer is static or dynamic would have no effect on printing. The fact that you can pull the file from the NAS to the PC and then print to the printer tells us the three devices are are all on the same sub-network (the first three numbers of the IP are the same).

If I open (with MS Word on my PC) a Word file (*.doc) that is stored on the NAS, I cannot print it. If I copy the same file to the HD of my PC and then open it with MS Word, I can print it.
I was wondering if the printer driver needed to be installed on the NAS somehow...

si_nas wrote:
...I was wondering if the printer driver needed to be installed on the NAS somehow...

No. The file is being printed from your PC, not the NAS.

-How are you accessing the file?
-what error message are you getting?

That is strange. My setup is very similar to yours. I have an HP MFP and HP Laserjet connected to the network and all of my files are stored on the NAS. When I open a file, I have no problems printing to either printer from any of 3 networked PC's.

Copy a word file from the NAS to your desktop. Then open the document in Word from the NAS and see what it says in the frame of the Word window at the top. Then close that document and open the document from your desktop and see if the info in the frame at the top is the same.

Now, that being said, I have had IP address conflicts in the past (when I attempted to print a document on the MFP, it printed on the LJ instead because for some reason they both had the same IP address - but that is an issue with the router). I have also lost connection to the printers on occasion (won't print anything in that case until after I turn the printer off and back on) but that is an issue with the printer drive on the PC.