Simple and dynamic configuration of network devices

A method of configuring a network device on a network for use with at least one other network device installed on the network, wherein the network device is a computer peripheral and the at least one other network device comprises a computer, the method comprising:

• receiving, through a user interface on the computer, information defining a credential;
• associating the computer peripheral with the computer at least by authenticating between the computer peripheral and the computer using the credential;
• in response to authenticating with the computer peripheral, storing information for re-authenticating with the computer peripheral;
• locating a driver component associated with the computer peripheral;
• retrieving the driver component;
• loading the driver component to facilitate installation of the computer peripheral;
• detecting that the computer peripheral is no longer on the network;
• and
• using the stored information for re-authenticating with the computer peripheral to automatically re-associate the computer peripheral with the computer when the computer peripheral is reconnected to the network.

A computer-readable storage medium comprising computer-executable instructions that, when executed, perform a method of configuring a computer peripheral on a network for use with a computer on the network, the method comprising:

• receiving metadata for identifying the computer peripheral, the metadata comprising an identifier for the computer peripheral;
• obtaining a credential based on user input received through a user interface on the computer;
• associating the computer peripheral with the computer at least by authenticating the computer peripheral with respect to the computer using the credential;
• determining configuration information for the computer peripheral using the identifier, the configuration information comprising driver files and one or more registry keys;
• and
• configuring the computer peripheral with the configuration information, the configuring comprising:
• setting the one or more registry keys in a registry of the computer and in association with the identifier;
• and
• loading the driver files onto the computer;
• and
• accessing the computer peripheral using channel security;
• and
• using stored credential information for re-authenticating with the computer peripheral to automatically re-associate the computer peripheral with the computer when the computer peripheral is reconnected to the network.