Printing from Linux to Windows Printer
 

Hi all,
I have a home network setup with the base computer Win XP and Linux attached to the modem/router. It is set to share with other comps on the network. I have samba installed for this. Do I need to use Samba to print?

It is not working in any case. It seems to see the network but fails to print every time.

What are some steps I can take to make sure I'm setting everything up right? Could it be the driver isn't correct and so it fails to find the right printer?

thanks for any suggestions

Do you have cups running on your system? If so you can open up a Web browser and connect to http://localhost:631 which is a nice GUI config application for cups. You can make sure that the printer is configured correcrly and add/modify it if not. It supports adding printers accessed via SMB. I prefer this way over the distro specific printer config tools.

Thanks for the help. I'm wondering now if I have SMB on my XP system, or is it automatically that? Seems like before I had a printer that was used without having to go through all this network stuff. This time howerver, it is attached to a router that has the XP and Linux system. I do have CUPS and have tried to do more configuring but still not getting it. Should it detect it first?

I get this error: error NT_STATUS_ACCESS_DENIED What can I do?

Hmm, maybe I don't have a printer or windows that is Samba based? What is needed for this to work?

Windows does not have Samba because the latter is an open source product to interface with Windows.
What the situation seems to be (as far as I can tell) is that you have to set the printer in windows to be shared, so that other machines in the network can access it.
Then using CUPS try to find it in the network ( I like to use the IP address where the printer resides and printing through tcp/ip) and print.

Hope this helps.

Rick

Hi,
Thanks for the reply. So, if it is not printing, what are some things I can check? It seems to find the printer okay but then says fails to connect. Could that be the firewall within the router? The dirver isn't quite the right one? Any more help to figure this out is appreciated greatly, as I am now pulling out hair :rolleyes:

Well ... if you are using CUPS then you have a selection of printers. Is the printer you are trying to connect listed?
If it is use that one. If it is not you need to find a driver that is equivalent. There is a site called Linuxprinting (I think) that may be of help in this case.

Rick

Okay a few last questions I guess :)
I have CUPS because I can bring it up on my browser. Upon doing so, there are no printers, and a button is there that says Add printer. Click that, and it brings up an option to enter in location and name of printer. If this is the case, that means no printer is found on the network, is that right?

edit: Actually on certain configurations( the closest i think are right), i still get that NT_ACCESS_DENIED error. What the heck is that?

Yes ... and no.
You are logging in as a regular user. Log in as root and then add a new printer, follow the prompts to select a printer type (use the one you have if present) and a connection mode. I usually try to connect using tcp/ip.

Hope this helps.

Rick

Sigh, it keeps saying NT_STATUS_ACCESS_DENIED?? And there's no connection type to select, maybe my CUPS is too old :(