Windows Print Sharing - home network

[Jason Deraleau]

On Mar 21, 2007, at 9:40 AM, Phillip Burk wrote:

> Unfortunately the error messages are not helpful.

Perhaps if you list the errors you're receiving, we can help you  
determine what's going on. Do you still happen to have the error  
messages available? Also, what kind of information are you seeing in  
the Print Service logs? Was there anything there that might help  
explain why you're getting errors on the Windows client?

One thing you can try doing is creating a generic queue (or using a  
different printer's queue) and then seeing if you can print a job to  
it from the Windows client. This isolates the scenario down to the  
LPR software on the client and the Print Service on the server. Use  
the logs (and Event Viewer on Windows) to track the job through the  
process until you see where it breaks down.

> 1.  Is it possible to use OS X printer queues to manage a USB  
> printer connected to the network via an Airport Express?  It  
> appears to be possible for Mac clients but Windows, well, that I'm  
> not sure about.

So to confirm then, you can print to the printer from a Mac by  
sending the job to the server, which then sends it through the AE and  
out? I've never implemented what you're trying to accomplish,  
specifically, but I am not aware of any technical reason why this  
would not work. But maybe I have a misunderstanding of the way the AE  
handles printers.

> 2.  Might I need to move the printer or server so that the printer  
> is connected to the OS X server instead of using the Airport  
> Express?  This is an obvious question that I'd rather not address  
> first - if I can get it working with the current setup it's better  
> as I don't have great options for putting the printer and server  
> near one another.

Doing this temporarily might help to eliminate one more potential  
issue. Tracking down the errors from the Windows side will be easier  
if you minimize the number of links in the chain. Try connecting the  
printer to the server and seeing if it works for the Windows client.  
If it does, then try again from the Airport Express.

> 3.  Possibly there is something I missed in setting up the LPR  
> printer on the laptop?  If anyone has explicit instructions on how  
> to do this I'd appreciate it as it really isn't that intuitive or  
> easy.

The way I've configured this in the past is that I had to install the  
LPR printer support using Add/Remove Programs -> Windows Components.  
Then Other Network and File Print Services -> Print Services for  
Unix. Here's a decent article on the procedures (I found it by  
googling "lpr windows 2000"):

http://itinfo.mit.edu/article.php?id=6238


--
Jason Deraleau (jldera at mac.com)
IT Professional (MCSE, ACTC, Linux+ SME)
Homepage: http://www.lifehertz.com