Switcher: How to connect to network printer?

[z400central]

Hello,

For Windows, I would do this

1.) Start menu > run
2.) type in \\printserver03
3.) Login to network
4.) find printer
5.) click yes

How do I do this on OSX? I tried putting in \\printserver03 in terminal, but no luck.

Thanks!

 

[Queso]

Use the System Preferences >>Print and Fax panel. Click the + icon halfway down on the left hand side and the Mac will search for printers in its area. If it can't find it, click on the More Printers... button and select Windows Printing from the drop-down list for options.

 

[z400central]

Use the System Preferences >>Print and Fax panel. Click the + icon halfway down on the left hand side and the Mac will search for printers in its area. If it can't find it, click on the More Printers... button and select Windows Printing from the drop-down list for options.

Not working..hmmm

 

[Queso]

Is the Windows printer on your local network, or is there a router between you and the host machine? Also, is it connected directly to the PC, or network connected itself?

 

[z400central]

Is the Windows printer on your local network, or is there a router between you and the host machine? Also, is it connected directly to the PC, or network connected itself?

Its through a school network, so there is a router.

I can connect fine by doing the steps I listed above in windows.

 

[Queso]

Its through a school network, so there is a router.

I can connect fine by doing the steps I listed above in windows.

It's because the Mac hasn't had its networking settings correctly configured. In the Terminal type "Ping printserver". If it resolves to an address and you get replies, great. Otherwise, you need to tell the Mac which DNS domain to search to find the address of "printserver". Try that bit first, and post the results.

 

[z400central]

it says: ping: cannot resolve printserver: Unknown host

 

[Queso]

Right. In that case the DNS search zones aren't set up in the System Preferences>>Network>>Built-in Ethernet>>TCP/IP panel. You should enter your Windows domain's long name as a minimum.

Also, in your Utilities folder (Go menu in the Finder has a shortcut), you'll find a program named Directory Access. In there, select the SMB/CIFS option and click on the Configure button. In the workgroup box, type the short name of your Windows domain. Then in the WINS box, type the IP address of your WINS server.

You'll be able to get all of this information from the Windows PC by opening a command prompt and typing "IPCONFIG /ALL".

All this does is allow the Mac to resolve the name across the router. After that, you should be able to set up the printer using the Print and Fax method above, only the format for the address is "smb://printserver/<print queue name>".

I know it seems long winded, but once the networking side is done once, it will be much easier to set up additional queues in the future.

And unfortunately I'm going to have to butt out for a few hours now. It's bedtime here in Europe . Good luck.