Setting up and sharing a network printer makes it possible for multiple users to utilize it. You can set up a local printer that is connected directly to the print server, or you can set up a network interface printer that is connected to the print server over the network. In larger organizations, most printers are network interface printers.
The steps for adding a local printer or a network interface printer are similar. You would use the following steps to add a local printer:
The Add Printer Wizard starts with the Welcome To The Add Printer Wizard page displayed.
If you have a Plug and Play printer that connects through a USB port, an IEEE 1394 interface, or any other port that allows you to attach or remove devices without having to shut down and restart your computer, you do not need to use the Add Printer Wizard. Plug the printer's cable into your computer or point the printer toward your computer's infrared port and turn on the printer. Windows automatically installs the printer for you.
The Add Printer Wizard displays the Local Or Network Printer page (see Figure 6.2).
Figure 6.2 Local Or Network Printer page of the Add Printer Wizard
The Add Printer Wizard guides you through the steps to add a printer that is connected to the print server. The number of local printers that you can connect to a print server through physical ports depends on your hardware configuration.
Table 6.2 describes the Add Printer Wizard pages and options for adding a local printer.
Table 6.2 Add Printer Wizard Pages and Options for a Local Printer
Page | Option | Description |
---|---|---|
Local Or Network Printer | Local Printer Attached To This Computer | You are adding a printer to the computer at which you are sitting, which is the print server. |
| Automatically Detect And Install My Plug and Play Printer | A check box that allows you to specify whether you want Windows XP Professional to automatically detect and install the Plug and Play printer. |
Select A Printer Port | Use The Following Port | The port on the print server to which you attached the printer |
Install Printer Software | Manufacturer And Printers | Select the appropriate manufacturer and printer so that the correct printer driver for the local printer will be installed. If your printer is not in the list, you must provide a printer driver from the manufacturer or select a model that is similar enough that the printer can use it. |
Name Your Printer | Printer Name | A name that identifies the printer to the users. Some applications might not support more than 31 characters in the server and printer name combinations. |
| Do You Want To Use This Printer As The Default Printer? | Select Yes to make this printer the default printer for all Windows-based applications and so that users do not have to set a printer for each application. The first time that you add a printer to the print server, this option does not appear because the printer is automatically set as the default printer. |
Printer Sharing | Share Name | Users (with the appropriate permissions) can use the share name to connect to the printer over the network. This name appears when users browse for a printer or supply a path to a printer. The share name must be compatible with the naming conventions for all client computers on the network. By default, the share name is the printer name truncated to an 8.3 character filename. |
Location And Comment | Location | Describe the location of the printer. |
| Comment | Provide information that helps users determine whether the printer meets their needs. If your computer is in a domain, users can search the Active Directory service for the information that you enter here. |
Print Test Page | Do You Want To Print A Test Page? | Select Yes to print a test page and verify that you have installed the printer correctly. |
Completing The Add Printer Wizard | Finish | If the information about how you configured the printer to be installed is correct, click Finish. |
| Back | If you need to correct some information, click Back. |
In larger companies, most printers are network interface printers. These printers offer several advantages. First, you do not need to locate printers with the print server. In addition, network connections transfer data more quickly than printer cable connections.
To add a network interface printer, select Local Printer Attached To This Computer on the Local Or Network Printer page of the Add Printer Wizard. The main difference between adding a local printer and adding a network interface printer is that for a typical network interface printer, you provide additional port and network protocol information.
The default network protocol for Windows XP Professional is Transmission Control Protocol/Internet Protocol (TCP/IP), which many network interface printers use. For TCP/IP, you provide additional port information in the Add Standard TCP/IP Printer Port Wizard.
Figure 6.3 shows the Select A Printer Port page of the Add Printer Wizard, and Table 6.3 describes the options on this page that pertain to adding a network interface printer.
Figure 6.3 Select A Printer Port page of the Add Printer Wizard
Table 6.3 Options on the Select A Printer Port Page That Affect Adding a Network Interface Print Device
Option | Description |
---|---|
Create A New Port | This selection starts the process of creating a new port for the print server to which the network interface print device is connected. In this case, the new port points to the network connection of the print device. |
Type Of Port | This selection determines the network protocol to use for the connection. If you select Standard TCP/IP it starts the Add Standard TCP/IP Printer Port Wizard. |
Figure 6.4 shows the Add Port page of the Add Standard TCP/IP Printer Port Wizard, and Table 6.4 describes the options on this page.
Figure 6.4 Add Port page of the Add Standard TCP/IP Printer Port Wizard
Table 6.4 Options on the Add Port Page That Affect Adding a Network Interface Printer
Option | Description |
---|---|
Printer Name Or IP Address | The network location of the printer. You must enter either the IP address or a Domain Name System (DNS) name of the network interface printer. If you provide an IP address, Windows XP Professional automatically supplies a suggested port name for the print device in the form IP_Ipaddress. If Windows XP Professional cannot connect to and identify the network interface printer, you must supply additional information about the type of printer. To enable automatic identification, make sure that the printer is powered on and connected to the network. |
Port Name | The name that Windows XP Professional assigns to the port that you created and defined. You can enter a different name. After you create the port, Windows XP Professional displays it on the Select A Printer Port page of the Add Printer Wizard. |
If your printer uses a network protocol other than TCP/IP, you must install that network protocol before you can add additional ports that use it. The tasks and setup information required to configure a printer port depend on the network protocol.
The line printer remote (LPR) port is designed for computers that need to communicate with UNIX or VAX host computers in accordance with Request for Comments (RFC) 1179. For computers that need to submit print jobs to host computers, the standard TCP/IP port should be used in most cases. A network-connected printer must have a card that supports the line printer daemon (LPD) for TCP/IP printing to work properly.
If you want to add an LPR port, you must first install the optional networking component, Print Services for UNIX.
Windows XP Professional displays the Other Network File And Print Services dialog box.
Windows XP Professional starts the Add Printer Wizard.
The Add Printer Wizard displays the Local Or Network Printer page.
The Select A Printer Port page appears.
If LPR Port is not available, make sure the optional networking component, Print Services for UNIX is installed. Click Cancel to exit the Add Printer Wizard.
The host can be the direct-connect TCP/IP printing device or the UNIX computer to which the printer is connected. The DNS name can be the name specified for the host in the HOSTS file. LPD is a service on the print server that receives documents (print jobs) from the LPR utilities running on client systems.
You add and share a printer by using the Add Printer Wizard in the Printers folder.
After you add and share a printer, you need to set up client computers so that users can print. Although the tasks to set up client computers vary depending on which operating systems are running on the client computers, all client computers require installation of a printer driver. The following points summarize the installation of printer drivers according to the computer's operating system:
Users of client computers running Windows XP Professional, Windows XP Home Edition, Windows 2000, Windows NT, Windows Me, Windows 98, and Windows 95 only need to connect to the shared printer. The client computer automatically downloads the appropriate printer driver, as long as there is a copy of it on the print server.
If your client computer is running Windows XP Professional and you want to connect to the shared printer, start the Add Printer Wizard on the client computer. On the Local Or Network Printer page (see Figure 6.2), select A Network Printer, Or A Printer Attached To Another Computer, and then click Next. The Specify A Printer page appears, as shown in Figure 6.5.
Figure 6.5 The Specify A Printer page of the Add Printer Wizard
If you are not sure what the name of the shared printer is, you can browse for it by selecting the Browse For A Printer option, and then clicking Next. After you have located the shared printer and selected it, click Next. You are then asked if it should be the default printer. If you want it to be the default printer, click Yes; otherwise select No and then click Next. The Completing The Add Printer Wizard page appears. Check over the information and then click Finish. You have successfully made a connection from your client computer to the shared printer.
To enable client computers running other Microsoft operating systems (such as Windows 3.1 or MS-DOS) to print to a shared Windows XP Professional-based printer, you must manually install a printer driver on the client computer. You can get the appropriate printer driver for a Windows-based client computer from the installation disks for that client computer or from the printer manufacturer.
To enable users of client computers running non-Microsoft operating systems to print, the print server must have additional services installed on it. Table 6.5 lists services that are required for Macintosh and UNIX client computers or computers running a NetWare client.
Table 6.5 Services Required for Client Computers Running Non-Microsoft Operating Systems
Client computer | Required services |
---|---|
Macintosh | Services for Macintosh are included only with Windows 2000 Server, not Windows XP Professional. |
UNIX | TCP/IP Printing, which is also called the LPD Service, is included with Windows 2000 Server but is not installed by default. It is not included with Windows XP Professional. |
NetWare | File and Print Services for NetWare (FPNW), an optional add-on service for Windows 2000 Server, is not included with Windows XP Professional or Windows 2000 Server. |
In this practice, you use the Add Printer Wizard to install and share a local printer. Sharing the printer makes it available to other users on the network. You also take the printer offline and then print a document, which loads the document into the print queue.
Before you can share a printer or a folder on a computer running Windows XP Professional in a workgroup environment, you must run the Network Setup Wizard.
Run the NetworkSetupWizard and NetworkPrinter files in the Demos folder on the CD-ROM accompanying this book for a demonstration of using the Network Setup Wizard and the Add Printer Wizard.
In this exercise you set up the network for your Windows XP Professional workgroup by running the Network Setup Wizard.
Windows XP Professional displays the Welcome To The Network Setup Wizard page.
Network Setup Wizard displays the Before You Continue page with the following steps that you should complete before running the wizard:
The Network Setup Wizard displays the Select A Connection Method page with the following options:
The Network Setup Wizard displays the Give This Computer A Description And Name page.
The Network Setup Wizard displays the Name Your Network page.
The Network Setup Wizard displays the Ready To Apply Network Settings page.
Setting up your network takes a few minutes and should not be interrupted.
The Network Setup Wizard displays the You're Almost Done page with the following four options:
If you do not have a floppy disk, select Use My Windows XP CD, click Next, and follow the directions on the screen to complete the wizard. Go to Exercise 2.
If you have more than one drive that can be used, The Network Setup Wizard displays the Select A Disk Drive page listing the drives you can use. This list of drives includes floppy drives and Zip drives.
The Network Setup Wizard displays the Insert The Disk You Want To Use page.
The Network Setup Wizard displays a Format dialog box, allowing you to configure how the format will be performed.
The Format dialog box displays a warning message box indicating that formatting the disk will erase all information currently on the disk.
The Format dialog box formats the disk. This could take a few minutes.
When the formatting is complete, the Format dialog box displays a Format Complete message box.
The Network Setup Wizard displays a Copying message box.
When the Network Setup Disk is completed, The Network Setup Wizard displays the To Run The Wizard With The Network Setup Disk page. This page tells you that you need to insert the Network Setup Disk in each computer on your network and run NETSETUP, located on the Network Setup Disk, on each computer in your network.
Windows XP Professional displays a System Settings Change message box indicating that you must restart your computer for the changes to take effect.
In this exercise, you use the Add Printer Wizard to add a local printer to your computer and share it.
Windows XP Professional starts the Add Printer Wizard.
The Add Printer Wizard displays the Local Or Network Printer page.
The Add Printer Wizard prompts you for the location of the printer. Because you are adding a printer on the computer at which you are sitting, this printer is referred to as a local printer.
The Add Printer Wizard then displays the Select A Printer Port page. Which port types are available depends on the installed network protocols. For this exercise, assume that the print device that you are adding is directly attached to your computer using the LPT1 port.
If the print device is connected to a port that is not listed, click Create A New Port, and then enter the port type.
You can select File to print to a file instead of a printer.
The Add Printer Wizard prompts you for the printer manufacturer and model. You will add an HP Color LaserJet 4550 PS printer.
The list of printers is sorted in alphabetical order. If you cannot find a printer name, make sure that you are looking in the correct location.
The selected driver is digitally signed to ensure reliability and to protect your system. Driver signing is covered in Chapter 11, "Implementing, Managing, and Troubleshooting Hardware Devices and Drivers."
The Add Printer Wizard displays the Name Your Printer page. In the Printer Name list box, Windows XP Professional automatically defaults to the printer name HP Color LaserJet 4550 PS. For this exercise, do not change this name.
The Printer Sharing page appears, prompting you for printer sharing information.
You can assign a shared printer name, even though you already supplied a printer name. The shared printer name is used to identify a printer on the network and must conform to a naming convention. This shared name is different from the printer name that you entered previously. The printer name is a description that appears with the printer's icon in the Printers And Faxes folder and in Active Directory.
The Add Printer Wizard displays the Location And Comment page.
If your computer running Windows XP Professional is part of a domain, Windows 2000 displays the values that you enter for Location and Comment when a user searches Active Directory for a printer. Entering this information is optional, but it can help users locate the printer more easily.
The Add Printer Wizard displays the Print Test Page page.
You can print a test page to confirm that your printer is set up properly. In this exercise you do not need to have a printer, so you will not print a test page. When you are actually setting up a printer, you should print a test page to confirm that it is working properly.
The Add Printer Wizard displays the Completing The Add Printer Wizard page and provides a summary of your installation choices.
As you review the summary, you might notice an error in the information you entered. To modify these settings, click Back.
If necessary, Windows XP Professional displays the Files Needed dialog box, prompting you for the location of the Windows XP Professional distribution files.
If necessary, Windows XP Professional copies the printer files.
Windows XP Professional created an icon for the shared HP Color LaserJet 4550 PS printer. Notice that Windows XP Professional displays an open hand on the printer icon, indicating that the printer is shared. The check mark just above the printer indicates that printer as the default printer.
In this exercise, you take the printer that you created offline. Taking a printer offline causes documents that you send to this printer to be held on the computer while the print device is not available. This eliminates error messages about unavailable printers in later exercises. Windows XP Professional displays such error messages when it attempts to send documents to a printer that is not connected to the computer.
Windows XP Professional dims the icon and changes the status of the printer from Ready to Offline to reflect that the printer is not available.
The list of documents to be sent to the print device is empty.
Windows XP Professional displays the Print dialog box, allowing you to select the printer and print options.
Many programs running under Windows XP Professional use the same Print dialog box.
The Print dialog box displays the location and comment information that you entered when you created the printer, and the Status for the printer shows that it is currently offline. You can also use this dialog box to search Active Directory for a printer.
Notice that HP Color LaserJet 4550 PS is selected as the printer.
Notepad briefly displays a message on your computer stating that the document is printing. On a fast computer, you might not be able to see this message.
In the HP Color LaserJet 4550 PS window, you will see the document waiting to be sent to the print device. Windows XP Professional holds the document because you took the printer offline. Otherwise, Windows XP Professional would have sent the document to the print device.
In this exercise, you install Print Services for UNIX and create an LPR port.
The Other Network File And Print Services dialog box appears.
The Other Network And File Services dialog box appears.
The Add Printer Wizard starts.
The Add Printer Wizard displays the Local Or Network Printer page.
The Select A Printer Port page appears.
The host can be the direct-connect TCP/IP printing device or the UNIX computer to which the printer is connected. The DNS name can be the name specified for the host in the HOSTS file. LPD is a service on the print server that receives documents (print jobs) from the LPR utilities running on client systems.
You add and share a printer by using the Add Printer Wizard in the Printers folder.
Here are some questions to help you determine whether you have learned enough to move on to the next lesson. If you have difficulty answering these questions, review the material in this lesson before beginning the next lesson. The answers for these questions are in Appendix A, "Questions and Answers."