Having problems connecting (smb) to a printer connected to a shared Windows Box

[Pablo]

Have a HP 1200SE Laserjet connected to a Windows 2000 box on a LAN (have workgroup, no domain).

I tried following these instructions:

http://www.macosxhints.com/article.php?story=20021017064855619

On OS X 10.2 (Jaguar), you can access a printer that has been shared on a Windows computer. Just follow these steps:

1. Launch Print Center
2. Hold down the Option key while clicking the Add button (in the Printer List window)
3. Select Advanced from the first pop-up menu.
4. Pick "Windows Printer via SAMBA" in the "Device" pop-up menu.
5. Enter whatever you want in "Device Name"
6. Enter the URI in "Device URI". The syntax is: smb://Server Name/Share Name
7. Pick the printer vendor from the Printer Model pop-up menu, and the subsequent model.

I can add the printer, but when I try to print (from a 17" Powerbook with 10.2.6) I get the following error:

Unable to connect to SAMBA host, will retry in 60 seconds

Any suggestions?

 

[evildead]

CUPS

Could be a firewall issue. You could have the port SAMBA talks on blocked on your PC or on the outgoing port on your Mac.

Did you install the gimp-print drivers?

Can you hook the printer up to your Mac and share the otherway? Thats what I do at home. I use CUPS print server on OS X to let all the windows boxes share my printer.

I have posted instructions on how to do that here before... but Ill post it again in case your interested


I got my EPSON 740 connected to my Mac to share with Win2000 and WinXP computers on my network. I tried using SAMBA but that was a bust.. as I posted before, I could only print plain unformatted text files and I would get a error every time I would print from the WinBox. I used these Directions to make it work.


Instructions:

Turn on your Printer (I made this mistake)

Turn on Printer Sharing in the System Preferences Sharing panel.


Open Terminal and change to the /etc/cups/ directory.
% cd /etc/cups
Make backups of the mime.convs and mime.types files:
% sudo cp mime.convs mime.convs.bak
% sudo cp mime.types mime.types.bak
You will have to supply your password for sudo to work.


Use a text editor to uncomment the following line towards the end of the mime.convs file (by removing the # sign):
#application/octet-stream application/vnd.cups-raw 0 -
I usually use pico as the editor, as it is fairly self explanitory (sudo pico mime.convs).


Also uncomment the following line towards the end of the mime.types file:
#application/octet-stream
Restart CUPS so it takes your changes:
% sudo killall -1 cupsd


Open Internet Explorer and go to http://127.0.0.1:631/printers. This is the CUPS printer administration tool. You should see your printer there. Do not edit that printer. Instead, create a second printer for Windows to use. Editing the existing printer will render it unusable to the Mac.


Click "Add Printer". Give it a name that differs from your current printer setup; give it a location that makes sense (may be optional); give it a description (I used "970cse for Windows").


Click "Continue" and choose your printer from the Device list.

(if you dont see your printer in the device list, its probably becuase you didn't turn on your printer before you started all this. Turn on your printer and restart CUPS again, then close your browser and start over again)


Click "Continue" and choose the make of your printer from the list. "HP" was in my list.


Click "Continue" and choose the model/driver for your printer. I had a few options, one of which was "HP New DeskJet Series CUPS v1.1 (en)".


Click "Continue". It will say your printer has been added. Click "Printers" at the top of the page to see all your printers. The new one should be there. Notice that the Device URI is different for the new printer you created. It should have the make and model of your printer along with a serial number. Mine looked like this:
usb://HEWLETT-PACKARD/DESKJET%20970C?serial=xxxxxxxxxxxx
(actual serial number blocked)
You are done setting up the printer on the Mac. Now you need to install it on your PC. These instructions are for Windows 2000. There could be slight variations with differet releases of Windows.
Open up printers from the Windows 2000 start menu.


Double click "Add Printer" and choose "Network Printer"


Choose the "Connect to a printer on the Internet or on your intranet"


Enter the URL for your Mac printer as follows:
http://192.168.xxx.xxx:631/printers/DESKJET_970C
Substitute whatever printer name you created in CUPS for "DESKJET_970C". Also be sure to substitute the correct IP address of your Mac for "192.168.xxx.xxx".


Once you've entered the correct URL for the Mac printer, you should be prompted for the location of the printer drivers on the Windows system. (I got this even though I had previously installed the drivers.) Browse to the drivers on the printer CD or download them from the manufacturer's website.

(I got an error that the print server had the incorrect drivers. I just loaded the built in drivers on the Windows box and it worked fine)

That should be it. At this point you should be able to print from your Windows PC and from your Mac.

 

[Pablo]

Re: CUPS

Originally posted by evildead
Could be a firewall issue. You could have the port SAMBA talks on blocked on your PC or on the outgoing port on your Mac.

Did you install the gimp-print drivers?

Yeah. That's the first thing I did.

Can you hook the printer up to your Mac and share the otherway? Thats what I do at home. I use CUPS print server on OS X to let all the windows boxes share my printer.

No, because the Mac is a 17" Powerbook.

1) It's not always on

2) It's not always on my desk in my office, and therefore not always attached to the printer, so it would be unavailable if I was trying to print from the couch, back yard, etc. or if someone else on the network was trying to print while I was away from the desk.

Thanks for the information.

Looks like a print server might be in my future.