Installing Printers


The following sections examine techniques you can use to install printers. Windows Server 2003 allows you to install and manage printers anywhere on the network. You install and manage printers through the Printers And Faxes folder. On a local system, you can access this folder by clicking Printers And Faxes on the Start Menu or by clicking Printers And Faxes in Control Panel. On a remote system, you can access this folder through My Network Places. In My Network Places, access a domain, select a computer whose printer settings you want to manage, and then double-click Printers.

Using Local and Network Printers

Two types of print devices are used on a network:

  • Local print device

    A print device that's physically attached to the user's computer and employed only by the user who's logged on to that computer.

  • Network print device

    A print device that's set up for remote access over the network. This can be a print device attached directly to a print server or a print device attached directly to the network through a network interface card (NIC).

Note

The key difference between a local printer and a network printer is that a local printer isn't shared. A local printer can easily be made a network printer. To learn how to do this, see the section of this chapter entitled "Starting and Stopping Printer Sharing."


You install new network printers on print servers or as separate print devices attached to the network. A print server is a workstation or server that's configured to share one or more printers. These printers can be physically attached to the computer or the network.

Any Windows Server 2003 system can be configured as a print server. The print server's primary job is to share the print device out to the network and to handle print spooling. The main advantages of print servers are that the printer will have a centrally managed print queue and you don't have to install printer drivers on client systems.

You don't have to use a print server, however. You can connect users directly to a network-attached printer. When you do this, the network printer is handled much like a local printer attached directly to the user's computer. The key differences are that multiple users can connect to the printer and that each user has a different print queue. Each individual print queue is managed separately, which can make administration and problem resolution difficult.

To install or configure a new printer on Windows Server 2003, you must be a member of the Administrators, Print Operators, or Server Operators group . To connect to and print documents to the printer, you must have the appropriate access permissions. See the section in this chapter entitled "Setting Printer Access Permissions" for details.

Installing Physically Attached Print Devices

Physically attached print devices are connected to a computer directly through a serial cable, a parallel cable, universal serial bus (USB) cable, or an infrared (IR) port. Physically attached printers can be configured as local print devices or as network print devices. The key difference is that a local device is accessible only to users logged on to the computer and a network device is accessible to any network users as a shared print device. Remember that the workstation or server you're logged onto becomes the print server for the device you're configuring.

You can install physically attached print devices locally by logging on to the print server you want to configure or remotely through My Network Places. If you're configuring a local plug and play printer and are logged on to the print server, installing a print device is a snap. To install a print device, follow these steps:

  1. Connect the print device to the server using the appropriate serial, parallel, or USB cable, and then turn the printer on.

  2. If Windows Server 2003 automatically detects the print device, Windows begins installing the device and the necessary drivers. If the necessary drivers aren't found, you might need to insert the Windows Server 2003 CD into the CD-ROM drive or a driver disk into the floppy disk drive.

  3. If Windows Server 2003 doesn't detect the print device automatically, you'll need to install the print device manually as described in the next instruction set. Skip the remaining steps in this section.

  4. Windows Server 2003 automatically shares the printer for network access. The share name is set to the first eight characters of the printer name ”not including spaces. Any spaces in the printer name are omitted. Thus, the printer name HP DeskJet 890C is set to the printer share HPDeskJe.

  5. If you want to rename the print share, right-click the printer icon in the Printers And Faxes folder and then select Sharing. Then type a name for the printer share in the Share Name field. In a large organization, you'll want the share name to be logical and helpful in locating the printer. For example, you might want to name the printer that points to a print device in the northeast corner of the twelfth floor TwelveNE.

Sometimes Windows won't detect your printer or you'll need to install the print device remotely. In this case, follow these steps to install the print device:

  1. Access the Printers And Faxes folder on the computer you want to configure as a print server.

    • On a local system, you can access this folder by clicking Printers And Faxes on the Start menu or by clicking Printers And Faxes in Control Panel.

    • On a remote system, you can access this folder through My Network Places. In My Network Places, access a domain, select a computer whose printer settings you want to manage, and then select Printers And Faxes.

  2. Select or double-click Add Printer to start the Add Printer Wizard. Click Next.

  3. If you're accessing the computer through a local logon, you'll see a page similar to the one shown in Figure 17-1. Select Local Printer Attached To This Computer, clear Automatically Detect And Install My Plug And Play Printer, and then click Next.

    Figure 17-1. If you're logged on locally and want to install a local print device, select Local Printer Attached To This Computer.

    graphics/f17ap01.jpg

  4. If you're accessing the computer remotely, the Add Printer Wizard doesn't try to detect local printers and the wizard goes directly to the Select A Printer Port page. You need to configure the port used by the printer. Select Use The Following Port and then choose the appropriate LPT, COM, or IR port. LPT1 is the recommended printer port. You can also print to a file. If you do, Windows Server 2003 prompts users for a file name each time they print. Click Next.

  5. As shown in Figure 17-2, you must now specify the print device manufacturer and model. This allows Windows Server 2003 to assign a printer driver to the print device. After you choose a print device manufacturer, choose a printer model. If the print device manufacturer and model you're using isn't displayed in the list, click Have Disk to install a new driver. For example, if you have an HP LaserJet 8150 PCL printer, you'd choose HP as the manufacturer and HP LaserJet 8150 Series PCL as the printer.

    Note

    If a driver for the specific printer model you're using isn't available, you can usually select a generic driver or a driver for a similar print device. Consult the print device documentation for pointers.


  6. Click Next. If a printer driver is already installed, you can choose to keep the existing driver or replace it. Click Next.

  7. Assign a name to the printer. This is the name you'll see in the Printers And Faxes folder of Control Panel. On a local system you can also set the printer as the local default, if you like. Click Next.

    Figure 17-2. Select a print device manufacturer and printer model with the Add Printer Wizard.

    graphics/f17ap02.jpg

  8. Specify whether the printer is available to remote users (see Figure 17-3). To create a printer that's accessible to remote users, select the Share Name option button and enter a name for the shared resource. In a large organization you'll want the share name to be logical and helpful in locating the printer. For example, you might want to name the printer that points to the print device in the northeast corner of the twelfth floor TwelveNE.

  9. If you like, you can enter a location description and comment. This information can help users find a printer and determine its capabilities.

  10. The final page lets you test the installation by printing a test page to the print device. If you want to do this, select Yes. Otherwise select No. When you're ready to complete the installation, click Finish.

    Figure 17-3. Use the Add Printer Wizard to share the network printer and assign it a name.

    graphics/f17ap03.jpg

When the Add Printer Wizard finishes installing the new printer, the Printers And Faxes folder will have an additional icon with the name set the way you specified. You can change the printer properties and check printer status at any time. For more information, see the section of this chapter entitled "Configuring Printer Properties."

Tip

If you repeat this process, you can create additional printers for the same print device. All you need to do is change the printer name and share name. Having additional printers for a single print device allows you to set different properties to serve different needs. For example, you could have a high priority printer for print jobs that need to be printed immediately and a low priority printer for print jobs that aren't as urgent.


Installing Network-Attached Print Devices

A network-attached print device is a print device that's attached directly to the network through a network adapter card. Network-attached printers are configured as network print devices so that they're accessible to network users as shared print devices. Remember that the server on which you configure the print device becomes the print server for the device you're configuring.

Install a network-attached print device by completing these steps:

  1. Access the Printers And Faxes folder on the computer you want to configure as a print server.

    • On a local system, you can access this folder by clicking Printers And Faxes on the Start Menu or by clicking Printers And Faxes in Control Panel.

    • On a remote system, you can access this folder through My Network Places. In My Network Places, access a domain, select a computer whose printer settings you want to manage, and then select Printers And Faxes.

  2. Double-click Add Printer to start the Add Printer Wizard. Click Next.

  3. If you're accessing the computer through a local logon, select Local Printer, clear Automatically Detect And Install My Plug And Play Printer, and then click Next.

  4. If you're accessing the computer remotely, the Add Printer Wizard doesn't try to detect local printers and you jump directly to the Select A Printer Port page.

  5. As shown in Figure 17-4, select Create A New Port and then set the type of port to Standard TCP/IP Port. Click Next to start the Add Standard TCP/IP Printer Port Wizard.

    Figure 17-4. Use the Select A Printer Port page to configure a TCP/IP port for the network-attached printer.

    graphics/f17ap04.jpg

  6. Click Next. As shown in Figure 17-5, type the printer name or Internet Protocol (IP) address for the printer device. A port name is filled in for you automatically. For example, if you type the IP address 192.168.12.8, the port name is entered as IP_192.168.12.8.

    Tip

    The port name doesn't matter as long as it's unique on the system. If you're configuring multiple printers on the print server, be sure to write down the port to printer mapping.


    Figure 17-5. Use the Add Port page to enter the IP address of the network printer.

    graphics/f17ap05.jpg

  7. Click Next and the wizard attempts to automatically detect the print device. If the wizard is unable to detect the print device, make sure that

    • The print device is turned on and connected to the network.

    • The printer is configured properly.

    • You typed the correct IP address or printer name in the previous page.

  8. Click Back if the IP address or printer name is incorrect and then retype this information.

  9. If the information is correct, you might need to identify the device further. In the Device Type area, click Standard, and then select the printer or network adapter used by the printer. Or click Custom and then click Settings to define custom settings for the printer, such as protocol and Simple Network Management Protocol (SNMP) status.

  10. Click Next and then click Finish. This completes the configuration of the new port. You now need to continue with the printer installation in the Add Printer Wizard.

  11. You must now specify the print device manufacturer and model. This allows Windows Server 2003 to assign a printer driver to the print device. After you choose a print device manufacturer, choose a printer model. If the print device manufacturer and model you're using isn't displayed in the list, click Have Disk to install a new driver.

  12. Click Next. If a printer driver is already installed, you can choose to keep the existing driver or replace it. Click Next.

    Note

    If a driver for the specific printer model you're using isn't available, you can usually select a generic driver or a driver for a similar print device. Consult the print device documentation for pointers.


  13. Assign a name to the printer. This is the name you'll see in the Printers And Faxes folder of Control Panel. On a local system you can also set the printer as the local default, if you like. Click Next

  14. Check the share name for the printer. By default, the share name is set to the first eight characters of the printer name ”not including spaces. Any spaces in the printer name are omitted. Thus, the printer name Canon LBP-8IV is set to the printer share CanonLBP. In a large organization you'll want the share name to be logical and helpful in locating the printer. For example, you might want to name the printer that points to the print device in the northeast corner of the twelfth floor TwelveNE.

  15. Click Next. If you like, you can enter a location description and comment. This information can help users find a printer and determine its capabilities.

  16. The final window lets you test the installation by printing a test page to the print device. If you want to do this, select Yes. Otherwise select No. When you're ready to complete the installation, click Finish.

When the Add Printer Wizard finishes installing the new printer, the Printers And Faxes folder will have an additional icon with the name set the way you specified. You can change the printer properties and status at any time. For more information, see the section of this chapter entitled "Configuring Printer Properties."

Tip

If you repeat this process, you can create additional printers for the same print device. All you need to do is change the printer name and share name. Having additional printers for a single print device allows you to set different properties to serve different needs. For example, you could have a high priority printer for print jobs that need to be printed immediately and a low priority printer for print jobs that aren't as urgent.


Connecting to Printers Created on the Network

Once you create a network printer, remote users can connect to it and use it much like any other printer. You'll need to set up a connection on a user-by-user basis or have users do this themselves . To create the connection to the printer on a Windows Server 2003 system, follow these steps:

  1. With the user logged on, access the Printers And Faxes folder.

  2. Select or double-click Add Printer to start the Add Printer Wizard. Afterward, select A Network Printer, and then click Next.

  3. In the Specify A Printer dialog box, choose a method for finding the network printer. The available options are:

    • Find A Printer In The Directory Choose this option if you want to search Active Directory directory service for the printer. All printers configured for sharing on Windows Server 2003 systems are automatically listed in Active Directory. Printers can be removed from the directory, however.

    • Type The Printer Name, Or Click Next To Browse For A Printer Choose this option if you want to browse the network for shared printers just as you'd browse in My Network Places.

    • Connect To A Printer On The Internet Or On Your Intranet Choose this option if you want to enter the Uniform Resource Locator (URL) of an Internet printer.

  4. When the printer is selected, click OK.

  5. Determine whether the printer is the default used by Windows applications. Select Yes or No, and then click Next.

  6. Choose Finish to complete the operation.

The user can now print to the network printer by selecting the printer in an application. The Printers And Faxes folder on the user's computer shows the new network printer. You can configure local property settings using this icon. By default, the printer name is set to Printer On Computer , such as HP DeskJet On ENGSVR01.

Solving Spooling Problems

Windows Server 2003 uses a service to control the spooling of print jobs. If this service isn't running, print jobs can't be spooled. You can check the status of the Print Spooler using the Services utility. Follow these steps to check and restart the Print Spooler service:

  1. In Administrative Tools, click or double-click Computer Management.

  2. Right-click the Computer Management entry in the console tree and select Connect To Another Computer on the shortcut menu. You can now choose the system whose services you want to manage.

  3. Expand the Services And Applications node by clicking the plus sign (+) next to it, and then choose Services.

  4. Select the Print Spooler service. The Status should be Started. If it isn't, right-click Print Spooler and then select Start. The Startup Type should be Automatic. If it isn't, double-click Print Spooler and then set Startup Type to Automatic.

  5. If this doesn't resolve the problem, you might want to check other related services, including

    • TCP/IP Print Server (if installed)

    • Print Server for Macintosh (if installed)

    • Print Server for UNIX (if installed)

    Tip

    Spoolers can become corrupted. Symptoms include a frozen printer or one that doesn't send jobs to the print device. Sometimes the print device might print pages of garbled data. In most of these cases stopping and starting the Print Spooler service resolves the problem. Other spooling problems might be related to permissions. See the section of this chapter entitled "Setting Printer Access Permissions" for details.




Microsoft Windows Server 2003 Administrator[ap]s Pocket Consultant
Microsoft Windows Server 2003 Administrator[ap]s Pocket Consultant
ISBN: 735622450
EAN: N/A
Year: 2003
Pages: 141

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