Installing VMPlayer prevents me from using wireless printer/scanner

Hi.  I am running Windows 8 on a 64-bit Dell XPS 8500 PC.  I use an Epson Workforce 545 printer through a wireless connection.  This always has worked great.

I recently installed VMPlayer on my PC.  After I did this, my PC stopped being able to communicate with my printer.  Note that I was attempting to use my printer not through VMPlayer but through my native Windows 8 environment.  I uninstalled VMPlayer, and once again I was able to communicate with my printer.

Any ideas why this happens and how I can install VMPlayer without losing the ability to use my wireless printer?

Thanks,

Ken