Printing problem with Fusion

I have a new MacBook running Leopard, with a boot camp partition with XP installed. From both OS X and XP, I print to an old HP 932c deskjet that refuses to die. Windows has apparently installed its own drivers because in the Printers control panel, the HP printer is listed twice (but only one works). The printer is networked using a D-link device (I forget what it is exactly) that allows the printer to connected directly to a router.

When I launch Fusion and try to print, I get an error message that Windows cannot print due to a problem with the current printer setup and suggesting I reinstall the drivers. If I go to the Menu bar in Fusion and select Printers, I see the same printers I see in XP and the same one is selected as the default printer as is selected in boot camp. If I right-click on that printer to check properties, it tells me that "Printer properties cannot be displayed. The print spooler service is not running."

Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated. Thanks.

Ken

 

Yes. Printing from Bootcamp (when not using Fusion) works just fine.

 

VMWare's suggested fix

Thanks, Neil. In my case, the shared Windows printer shows up in the printers control panel, but apparently the virtual machine can't communicate with it. Still it sounds as if you and I had the same problem. I take it that your fix did not otherwise affect your virtual machine's ability to communicate with other computers on your local network, because I think that works fine though maybe I will double check.

Since I was still in the first 30 days of owning Fusion and entitled to 30 days of email support I had also posted the same query to VMware. Just in case anyone else is interested I am posting their suggestions. They provided a couple of alternative ways, one of which I think is probably using the Mac printer driver and the other using the Windows printer driver.

I will not have a chance to try anything for a few days. I think I will try your method first -- I would prefer to use the Windows printer driver if possible because the printer, for whatever reason, has never responded as well to the Mac driver. In the meantime, any further thoughts would be welcome.

I will post again to report on what I did and how it worked.

Here is the VMWare Tech Support suggestion to fix my issue:

"We are suggesting you to delete the existing printer in the control panel of
the guest OS and reconfigure the printer.

"Please go through the below steps to configure the printer in Virtual
Machine.

A. Steps to configure the Virtual Machine to "NAT" network mode.

a) Go to VMware Fusion settings

b) Click on "Network"

c) Enable "NAT" Mode

d) Click on "OK"

e) Reboot the VM (Don't suspend)

B. Steps to configure the Printer.

1. Share the printer in Host Mac OS X by going to System Preference >
Sharing

2. Select the printer to Share the printer (ensure that you are able to
print in Host Mac OS)

3. Also enable (Windows Sharing) SMB sharing in System Preferences

a. Click on System Preference > Sharing

b. Click on the "File Sharing" and then click on "Options"

c. Enable "Share files and folder using SMB" and select your "User
Name"

d. Check mark on the "User Name" and click on "Done"

4. Launch VMware Fusion and Power on Windows VM

5. In Windows Guest OS, Click Windows Start > Run

6. Key In \\IPaddress of Host Mac (for e.g. \\10.0.0.17)

7. Now you can access your Host shared printer in Windows OS

8. Right click on printer and select open/Connect

9. It will ask you to install printer drivers

10. Install Latest Printer driver available for Windows OS and check if
you can print from Windows Virtual Machine

"If the problem still persists, please go through the below steps.

A. Please go through the below steps to configure the network

a) Go to Fusion setting

b) Go to "Network"

c) Enable "Bridge" Mode

d) Click on "OK"

e) Reboot the VM (Don't suspend)

B. Go through the below steps to configure the network printer

a) Go to guest OS and click on "Start"

b) Then click on "Settings" and then "Printers and faxes"

c) Click on "File" and select "Add Printer"

d) Follow the Printer Wizard

e) Click on "A network printer" and then "Next"

f) Click "Connect to this (or to browse for printer, select this option
and click next) the first option.

g) Key in the IP address of the printer followed by "\\"


h) Click on "Next"

i) Install the latest printer driver

j) Now test the printer by printing the documents"

 

Problem solved

Neil, I tried your suggestion first. When I checked my ipconfig I was in bridged mode with an address of 192.168.206.__ when everything else is in 192.168.0.__ on my local network. I switched to Bridged mode, as you suggested, then released and renewed my ipconfig, and was assigned a 192.168.0.__ address for the virtual machine. Unfortunately I still couldn't print. Same error message as before.

So then I tried the VMWare tech support method number 1 above using NAT mode. Following their instructions I got to the point where it asked me to install printer drivers which I did, but the end result was that I still couldn't print.

Finally I tried the VMWare tech support method number 2 above using bridged network mode, which I like better because under bridged network mode I get an IP address that matches my other home computers so I can access shared files, which I never managed to do in NAT mode. Their suggestion that I type in the ip address of the printer did not work, I got an error message each time. But using the browse option, after many unsuccessful attempts I was finally able to (1) figure out in which of the network areas the on-line printer was and (2) by double-clicking on the right area get that printer to show up as choice I could click on. When I did, it asked me if I wanted to install printer drivers, which I did. And when it was done the printer worked.

So thanks for your help. Your suggestion did not cure my problem but helped me to understand the VMWare tech support instructions.

P.S. I agree with you about spaces. I also see from your other posts that you tend to keep Windows open your Mac all the time. Do you use a firewall or antivirus in your VM, and if so, what do you use?