Distinquishing between "Local" and "Network" printers can be a bit
confusing. See "Printer" and other related definitions (e.g. Port) on
http://members.shaw.ca/bsanders/Glossary.htm.
Local Printers are always available to anyone that logs on.
Just because one communicates with a printer over the network does not
necessarily make it a "Network Printer" in terms of Microsoft
Printing/Networking terminology. For example, if the printer is on a
Standard TCP/IP port, the print device (see Print Device
http://members.shaw.ca/bsanders/Glossary.htm) is network connected via a LAN
adapter, but on the computer that has the Standard TCP/IP port for that
print device, the "Printer" (printer software object/construct) is a "Local
Printer".
If you open Printers and Faxes on a client computer, select File, Server
Properties then the Ports tab, if you see a "Port" with a name like
"\\computername\printername" then that is a "Local Printer" on a "Local
Port" not a "Network Printer" (see
http://members.shaw.ca/bsanders/NetPrinterNoPP.htm).
Or: right click on the printer (in the client's Printers and Faxes folder),
select Properties and select the Ports tab. If the Printer is a true
"Network Printer", then you see the ports on the print server. If the
printer is really a "Local Printer" you will see the ports on the client
computer (e.g. \\computername\printername).
Or: in the client's Printers and Faxes, if the Name: is of the form
"printername on computername", this is a Network Printer. If the name does
not have "... on computername", the printer is most likely a Local Printer
(it is possible to use a name of this form for a true Local Printer, but
that's not very common).
If the printer is a Local Printer, you can change its name on the client
independantly of the name on the print server (if there is one). If the
printer is a Network Printer, you can not change the printer's name on the
client; however, if you are an Administrator on the print server, and you
change the name via a client's Printer's Properties General tab, this
actually changes the name of the printer on the print server and this new
name will be seen by all client computers.