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TICKET ARCHIVE -> Printing from Mac to Windows XP Printer

Sritsod - Nov 27, 2006 - 5:31 pm

I'm running OS 10.4.8 and can connect to my Windows XP pro machines on my network with no problem. I want to connect to the XP machine that is sharing my HP PSC 1315 printer and print from my Mac. I can't seem to find and answer that works on the net. Any help would be appreciated.

gsahli - Nov 28, 2006 - 1:33 am

Two parts to the problem - connection and driver.

Network printing/Windows printing only works with a driver that was meant for network printing. To use the OS X built-in CUPS network choices, you need a CUPS driver. For postscript printers, this is not an issue, because postscript is the native output of OS X, and can easily be routed to the various choices in Printer Setup.
Non-postscript printers are Very Different. Except for Brother, no manufacturer has provided CUPS drivers. Instead, what you get are Carbon-type, OS9 legacy drivers, that have the comm protocol written into the driver (mostly USB). They can only print via local connection.
**Exception - when printing via an Airport/Bonjour enabled print server (Airport Express/Extreme), where the software does a port redirection, USB output from the Mac gets routed to the USB port on Airport Express/Extreme.

You should install the hpijs and ESP ghostscript driver set from:
http://www.linuxprinting.org/macosx/hpijs/

Then follow this guide:
http://www.ifelix.co.uk/tech/3015.html

Sritsod - Nov 28, 2006 - 3:58 am

Ok, I uninstalled and reinstalled the windows drivers for the hp1315 printer. I shared it as hp1315 and made sure that the unix printing platform was active in windows and that the service starts automatically. I followed the walkthrough for setting up the printer as you directed. I have the hpijs and ghostscript drivers installed. I can see the printer in the network and install it using the hp1310 hpijs driver. I still do not get a response from the printer. I'm certain I'm missing something. Should I try the SAMBA method as descibed in a link I saw while trying this out?

gsahli - Nov 28, 2006 - 4:13 am

Yes, go ahead and try any other method (The iFelix link above uses Samba). Do you have the firewall turned on on Windows? Make sure printer sharing is allowed.

http://www.ifelix.co.uk/tech/3002.html

Sritsod - Nov 28, 2006 - 5:24 am

As far as I can tell print sharing is allowed under the firewall because I can print from the other windows computers on the network. I tried the SAMBA install with no luck. I tired both the ip of the windows machine and the computer name since both the mac and pc are in the same network. I have a feeling now that this is really going to get nitty-gritty! I'm stumped but hope you can find another solution. Thanks for the help!

gsahli - Nov 28, 2006 - 7:13 am

Rather than do a lot of troubleshooting, let me give you a specific method that nearly always works.

On the PC (server), go to the Accounts Control Panel and turn on the Guest account (near bottom of the window).

Back on the Mac, do this - Click Add printer, then hold the option key and click More Printers. Select Advanced from the bottom of the first menu and Windows Printing via Samba from the next.
Enter URI like this:
smb://[IP address of PC]/printer_share_name

This uses the simplest part of Samba only.

Sritsod - Nov 28, 2006 - 7:37 am

Ok I tried this. When I just used the ip of the machine I got an NT access denied error. When I used:

smb://guest@192.168.1.106/hp1315 it processes the job puts it in the completed folder but nothing comes out of the printer. I am using the mac wireless but I doubt that would have anything to do with this since I can still access the windows file systems that are shared and move files back and forth.

Since the guest account is now active, is there a way to clear the password login to the windows machine. I used the admin login with a blank password to get access or at least see the printer being shared. Would it be better to log into the windows machine now with guest and login and blank password?

Gota love computers!!

gsahli - Nov 28, 2006 - 1:35 pm

It sounds a lot like you forgot to install ESP ghostscript along with the hpijs drivers. It's required.

Doesn't help to login. Look in Keychain to delete previous saved logins (not sure that'll help here, though).