Installing and Configuring Printers on Windows Servers


Installing and Configuring Printers on Windows Servers

All versions of Windows server operating systems support multiple printing protocols. In this section you will learn how to install and configure printers using Windows NT, Windows 2000, and Windows XP. Although Windows XP Professional is a client operating system, it is included here because it can provide print services in a small network (such as the SOHO environment) where a server operating system is not needed. Windows 2003 server operating systems use similar or the same wizard dialog boxes as used by Windows 2000 computers.

Also, you'll learn what some of the prompts mean and how you can improve printer performance on the network.

Windows NT 4.0

To begin adding a new printer, select Add Printer from the Printers folder that you find under My Computer. The Add Printer Wizard asks you a few simple questions.

Where Will the Printer Be Managed?

This first question can be confusing if you are not familiar with Windows NT 4.0 printing. These are the available choices:

  • My Computer

  • Network Printer Server

The wizard is not asking you where the printer will be connected . For example, if you select My Computer, this does not mean that the physical printer device will be connected to the LPT1: port on your server (although it might be). Instead, the prompt is asking you where the printer will be managed . If you select My Computer, the necessary drivers for the printer are loaded on the local computer and are responsible for any settings or other management functions for the printer on this computer.

If you select Network Printer Server, the wizard enables you to connect to a printer that is already on the network or is being offered by another server (such as a Unix host). The wizard then prompts you to load a driver for the printer, unless one is already loaded on the server that hosts the printer. When you connect to a printer using this method, you can send print jobs to the printer but you cannot manage its properties.

Port Selection

If you chose My Computer as the place where the printer will be managed, the next wizard prompt asks for the name of the port to which the printer is attached. This can be a local port, such as LPT1:, LPT2:, or even COM1:, and so on. You can select to have the printer set up to send the print job to a file instead, although this is a feature more useful for tasks such as capturing the output from an application that doesn't provide such a function.

If you want this logical printer to manage documents that are sent to a printer elsewhere on the network, select Add Port, and then supply the necessary configuration information that the wizard needs in order to create a port for the printer. The following kinds of ports are supported under Windows NT Server 4.0:

  • Digital Equipment Corporation Network Port

  • Hewlett-Packard Network Port

  • Lexmark DLC Network Port

  • Lexmark TCP/IP Network Port

  • LPR Port

Note

Not all the ports listed here will necessarily be displayed. For the Hewlett-Packard Network Port to appear, you must first install the DLC protocol. For the LPR Port option to appear, you must first install the Microsoft TCP/IP Printing service. Both can be installed by using the Network applet in the Control Panel, after which you will have to reboot the server.

Highlight the port you want to create, and then click the New Port button. Depending on the choice you make, a dialog box appears to prompt you for more information for the specific kind of port you want to create.

Fill in the name you want to give the port, and then select the 12-digit LAN (MAC) hardware address that corresponds to the address of the printer. You can get the address for the HP printer by printing a self-test page, or, if you're really bored, by going through the printer's I/O configuration menus . If no addresses appear on this dialog box, the printer might be powered off or there might be a network error preventing the server from obtaining it. If you click the Options or Timers button, you can customize this printer port further by specifying such things as the logging level that will be performed (information, warning, error) and values for timers associated with the DLC protocol.

Selecting Printer Drivers

After you complete the dialog box for the port you want to use and return to the main dialog box, click the Next button to bring up a dialog box from which you can specify the manufacturer and type of printer. This information is used to determine which drivers Windows NT needs to load for this printer. You also can click the Have Disk button if your printer is not listed and you have a driver from the manufacturer that you can use.

Because the purpose of a print server is to accept print jobs from clients , be sure to load drivers for each kind of operating-system client on the network that needs access to this printer. When the client prints the first time, it downloads the driver from the server so that the print job can be rendered into the correct format for the particular printer.

Giving the Printer a Name

Next, the wizard prompts you to enter a name to use for the printer. This name won't be used as the printer share name; instead, it's a descriptive name for the printer. Use the radio buttons at the bottom of the dialog box to set this printer as the default for this server if applicable . This does not set the printer as the default for users who connect to it over the network; it sets the printer as the default that shows up when you send print jobs from applications while you are logged in to this server locally.

Sharing the Printer on the Network

The last dialog box you see enables the printer to be offered as a printer share for network clients. In this dialog box you must select the Shared radio button, and then give the printer a name that will be displayed to users. Note that the Share Name field defaults to the type of printer and the first eight characters to be available to clients that have restrictions on the length of resource names , such as older MS-DOS clients. You can edit this field and use any name that makes sense to your users. It's usually best to use a name that indicates both the location of the printer and the kind of printer.

This dialog box also can be used to load additional drivers for clients that connect to the printer over the network. For example, if you have Windows 95 clients on your network, you should select Windows 95 from the dialog box. When this type of client must send a print job to the printer, Windows NT Server downloads the driver to the client so that the print job is formatted correctly for the printer. If the driver you specify is not already loaded on the system (for another printer, for example), you are prompted for the location of the driver. When you have finished specifying a share name for the printer and have selected any additional printer drivers you want to load, click the Next button.

Another dialog box asks whether you want to print a test page. This step is highly recommended because if the test page doesn't print, nothing else is going to print. If the test page does not print, review the selections you have made to be sure they are accurate. Or you might have a network problem that needs to be looked into. If this is a TCP/IP-networked printer, for example, you might try pinging the printer to determine whether it's reachable on the network. If you are using another protocol, try printing from a different computer that is configured similarly and determine whether this succeeds. If not, a network problem (such as a router configuration) might need to be resolved.

Print Server Properties, Printer Properties, and Document Properties for Windows NT 4.0 Server

Windows NT 4.0 Server enables you to configure properties for the print server as a whole and configure properties that are specific to each printer you create. You can also configure default properties that are applied to documents printed on the server.

Print Server Properties

To bring up the properties sheet for the print server, choose File, Properties in the Printers folder. There are three tabs on this properties sheet:

  • Forms Use this tab to define forms that are available to users who use printers on this server.

  • Ports This tab enables you to add, delete, or reconfigure ports (it's similar to the dialog box presented when you created a printer).

  • Advanced This tab enables you to set up logging and notifications for the print server, and specify the spooling directory.

Forms are used to define certain properties of the output page that will be printed, including the size of the paper and the margins. Windows NT Server comes with several standard forms already defined, including most standard paper sizes and envelopes. If you have a special form that you have created for your business, such as an invoice format, you can define a new form using the Forms tab.

If you plan to set up several printers but want to get some of the work out of the way beforehand, you can use the Ports tab to create the necessary ports. When you actually get around to creating the printers, you can select the appropriate port rather than create it. This also can be useful in an environment in which one administrator is responsible for network functions and another is responsible for printing. The network administrator who is aware of network addresses used by certain devices can create the ports and send a list to the printer administrator, who can then create and manage the printers that use the ports.

The Advanced tab is an important one to remember for troubleshooting purposes in which the more information you have, the better chance you have of solving your problem. You can enable the following notification and logging categories:

  • Log Spooler Error Events

  • Log Spooler Warning Events

  • Log Spooler Information Events

  • Beep on Errors of Remote Documents

  • Notify When Remote Documents Are Printed

The Log Spooler Error Events option sets a logging severity level for events that will be placed into the System Event Log. You can use the Event Viewer administrative tool to examine the logged events. If users are complaining that their print jobs are not being printed, enable all three of the Log Spooler check boxes and, after they have attempted to print, review the records found in the Event Log.

Note

Under Windows NT 4.0, the Event Log is made up of three separate log files: System, Security, and Application. The events you can enable on the Print Server Properties page show up in the System Event Log. Matters related to printer security, discussed later in this chapter, show up in the Security Event Log. If applications have been written to use the Windows NT Event Logging service, and if the administrator has enabled the logging of these kinds of events, they might create events in the Application Event Log.

The information recorded in the Event Log helps you determine why the users' jobs are not printing. The Log Spooler Information Events check box also can be used to keep track of the pages printed by individual users.

It can be tedious to use the graphical interface provided by the Event Viewer to review each record. To overcome this obstacle , you can create a comma-delimited file that contains the information found in the file. However, to do this you need the Dump Event Log (DUMPEL.EXE) utility, which can be found in the Windows NT Server 4.0 Resource Kit.

Another useful thing you can do on this tab of the properties sheet is change the spooling directory used by the server. If performance is a problem with the server, you might want to locate the spooling directory on a disk by itself to speed up access. For a low-volume print server, this probably won't be necessary.

Printer Properties

You can access the properties page for any printer by using either of the following:

  • In the Printers folder, highlight the printer you want to work with and choose File, Properties.

  • In the Printers folder, double-click the printer you want to work with. From the dialog box that appears, select Printers, Properties.

The properties page for a printer is divided into six property sheets that enable you to control a wide variety of properties for each printer on an individual basis:

  • General

  • Ports

  • Scheduling

  • Sharing

  • Security

  • Device Settings

The General tab enables you to modify informational text about the printer that users can view, such as the location of the printer. You also can use this tab to select an existing separator page or create a new separator page. Separator pages can be used to print a page before each user 's job so that it's easy for an operator to separate each print job on a high-volume printer used by many users. Separator pages also can be used to send printer-specific codes to a printer that determines how it prints the document. Windows NT Server comes with three separator pages designed for this purpose:

  • PSCRIPT.SEP This separator page changes the printer into PostScript mode. No actual separator page is printed.

  • SYSPRINT.SEP This page also switches a printer into PostScript mode but does print a separator page.

  • PCL.SEP This page switches the printer into PCL mode (HP's Printer Control Language) and prints a separator page.

Note

You might not have to use a separator page to cause a printer to change between PostScript and PCL modes. Many newer printers can autosense the kind of print mode the job requires and make the change automatically. Refer to the documentation for the printer to determine whether you must use a separator page for this purpose.

You can design your own separator pages using escape codes to include information such as the user's name, print job number, date, and any additional text you want on the page.

You also can print a test page from the General tab when troubleshooting the printer. Another useful feature on this page is the New Driver button, which you can use to load an updated printer driver. This might be necessary when a manufacturer releases a printer driver that is more current than the one found on the Windows NT Server source CDs.

The Ports tab is similar to the ports display that you see when you create a printer or when you view ports using the Print Server properties page. Here, however, you can change the port used by this printer, which comes in handy when a printer is moved to a new location and a new network connection is required. You don't have to delete and re-create the printer; just go to the Ports tab and select or create the new port after the printer has been moved. Then, go back to the General tab and print a test page to determine whether the port has been successfully created.

The Scheduling tab enables you to set the time of day that a printer is available for use. Generally, a printer is available 24 hours per day, but you can use this tab to change that if you need to. Note that users can still send print jobs to a printer outside its available time range. Their documents are stored and then printed when the printer is available for use. If you allow users to schedule jobs to be printed later, you also must be aware of the disk space that will be used for spooling the documents that must wait. For large files, such as those containing complex graphics, you'll need a lot of space.

This feature can be used to force certain print jobs, such as lengthy reports , to be delayed until after-hours when ordinary users no longer need the printer. For example, you can set up several logical printers. You can make one logical printer available to your normal workday users and set another to allow printing after hours. Applications that produce voluminous print jobs can send their documents to this latter printer, and users can retrieve their documents the next morning when they come into work.

The Scheduling tab enables you to specify several other configuration options:

  • Spool Print Documents So the Program Finishes Printing Faster This allows the application to send a print job quickly because the output is directed to a spooler file rather than directly to the physical printer. Generally, it takes longer to send a job directly to the printer unless it has enough memory to buffer the entire print job.

  • Print Directly to the Printer This is the opposite of the preceding option. An application can stall until the printer has finished receiving the entire print job from the user.

  • Hold Mismatched Documents This option retains a print job that does not match the current printer settings instead of discarding it. You then can change the printer or disable this option to cause the document to print.

  • Print Spooled Documents First Generally a spooled print job begins to print before the document has been completely spooled to a temporary file. This option specifies that jobs already completely written to the spool file will print before those that are still spooling. This setting can override the priority of a spooling print job and allow a completely spooled lower priority job to print first.

  • Keep Documents After They Have Printed This setting causes spooled print jobs to remain in the spool directory after they have printed. This can be useful for troubleshooting print problems. You can look at the original print job and possibly send it to another printer to determine whether the original printer is exhibiting unusual behavior when trying to print.

Normally, your documents must be spooled before they print so that users notice a faster response time. However, when troubleshooting, you might want to send documents directly to the printer, bypassing the spooling operation. Also, if space becomes a problem on the disk that holds the spooling directory, you can cause jobs to be sent directly to the printer to avoid using additional disk space. Because this option is selectable by printer, you can set up some printers to use the spool directory and others to send jobs directly to the printer.

The Sharing tab enables you to modify the selections you chose when you created the printer and to either allow or disallow the printer to be shared with network users. You also can use this tab to load additional client drivers when new clients are brought into the network, or to change the share name the printer uses on the network.

The Security tab enables you to set up permissions that control which users or groups can use this printer, and that control auditing features for the printer. Users can be denied access to the printer, be allowed to print and manage documents, or be given full control to the printer. Full control allows users to perform the following functions:

  • Print

  • Change document settings

  • Pause or restart the printer

  • Delete print jobs

  • Change the priority (printing order) of jobs

  • Delete the printer

  • Change permissions for the printer

Usually, only print operators or network administrators are given full control over a printer. Most users need only the Print permission. This enables users to send print jobs and control their print jobs, but not those of other users. Auditing can help print operators and network administrators monitor printer usage to determine whether changes in permissions are necessary. The Auditing functions on the Security tab allow you to record events to the Event Log for later review.

See Chapter 47, "Auditing and Other Monitoring Measures," to learn more about auditing print events and using the Event Viewer to review the data captured.


The Device Settings tab enables you to configure device-specific values for the printer. This includes information on tray selection, font cartridges, and so on, depending on the features available for the specific printer type.

Managing Printers

After you create a printer, users can connect to it and use it to print. The administrator, or other users who have the appropriate permissions, can view the status of documents waiting to print and can manage the printer. You can access this dialog box by double-clicking a printer in the Printers folder.

Documents that are currently being printed or waiting to print are displayed, showing the title of the document, the user, the size of the print job, the port the printer uses, and the date and time the job was submitted. You can use the Printer menu and the Document menu to manage the printer or any document. The Printer menu allows you to perform the following actions:

  • Pause the printer

  • Set the printer to be the default on this computer

  • Change the defaults for documents sent to this printer

  • Change the sharing aspects of the printer

  • Remove all documents from the printer

  • View or modify properties for the printer

This menu is useful when you're experiencing problems with a particular printer. You can pause the printer, which stops printing but keeps any documents waiting to print, to fix a minor problem and then resume printing after the trouble has been resolved. You also can remove all documents from the printer, which is handy when a user or an application has sent numerous documents to a printer by mistake. You can bring up the Properties page for the printer, discussed earlier in this chapter, and modify items as you see fit.

The Documents menu is used to individually pause, restart, or cancel print jobs. You can selectively highlight individual documents waiting to print and then cancel them.

This view of the printer is most often used by print operators who are responsible for managing printer resources on the network.

Adding a Printer on a Windows 2000 Server

Again, Microsoft provides the Add Printer Wizard to guide you through installing a printer on a Windows 2000 Server. Earlier in this chapter, for Windows NT 4, you learned the basic steps for creating a printer using a TCP/IP port. Now, you'll see the other possible choices you have for a Windows 2000 Server. To bring up the Add Printer Wizard, click Start, Settings, Printers and then double-click the Add Printer icon.

In the same manner as with the Windows NT 4.0 Wizard, you are prompted to create a printer for a local printer or a networked printer. Remember, this refers to where the printer will be managed. If you want to connect to a network printer so that the server can send documents to that printer, select the Network Printer check box. However, you won't be able to manage this printer or offer it as a share to other computers. If you want to manage the printer locally (even if it is a printer on the network), select Local Printer and click the Next button.

In the next dialog box, titled Select the Printer Port (shown in Figure 45.3), you choose an existing port by selecting the Use the Following Port option button. The list should include the standard printer ports (that is, LPT1:), as well as any ports you might have created in the past. To connect to a networked printer, however, use the Create a New Port option button. This selection can also be used to create local ports.

Figure 45.3. You can connect to a printer that is directly attached to the computer or one that resides on the network.

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If you select Local Port as the new kind of port to create, you have the following options:

  • Print to File You can specify a path and filename to which output is directed when this printer is used by a client. The file is overwritten each time the printer is used.

  • Print to File Share You can enter the UNC (Universal Naming Convention) share name of a printer, for example.

  • The NUL Device You can use this option to dump printer output into another dimension. Generally, you set up a printer for use with the NUL device to assist in troubleshooting printer connectivity problems without wasting paper.

  • Infrared Port This option is available if your computer supports an infrared port. Printers must meet specifications of the Infrared Data Association (IrDA).

Note

Some ports won't appear in your local port selection list, as was pointed out in the Infrared Port option. USB ports also won't show up unless Windows 2000 has detected a printer attached. If they do show up, you can use the port to create additional printers, and manage them as if they were different physical devices with the output all going to the same physical printer.

In addition to using local ports, you can use the Create a New Port option to create ports for printers that reside on the network. The options that you'll find depend on the protocols and services you've installed on the Windows 2000 server. The following additional ports can be created:

  • Standard TCP/IP Port This is probably the option you'll use most of the time. Most printers today that support networking also support TCP/IP printing.

  • AppleTalk Printing Devices This port type allows you to connect to printers that use the AppleTalk protocol. The AppleTalk protocol has to be installed first.

  • Hewlett-Packard Network Port Use this port type for older printers that support the Data Link Control (DLC) protocol. For all practical purposes, you shouldn't have to use this older protocol. If you have a printer this old, it's probably time to replace it! However, Windows 2000 still supports this kind of port, provided you install the DLC protocol.

  • LPR Port LPR (Line Printer Remote) is an older TCP/IP-based printing standard that was discussed in the preceding chapter. You can use this to connect to printers on Unix servers, or other servers that support the lpr/lpd printing system. First you'll have to install Print Services for Unix.

  • Port for NetWare You can use this port type to connect to NetWare printing resources. The NWLink protocol and Client Services for NetWare must be installed first.

In the preceding list, the most likely choice today is to create a standard TCP/IP port, because almost all printers and printing appliances support it. However, if you need to use one of the other port types, be sure to install the prerequisite protocols or services. For example, to install Print Services for Unix, you can add the component easily by clicking Start, Settings, Network, Dial-up Connections. Next, select Add Network Components. In Figure 45.4, you can see the dialog box that allows you to add networking components . Note that the last check box is Other Network File and Print Services.

Figure 45.4. You must first install the necessary protocols and services for some printers.

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To choose which protocols to install, select the Other Network File and Print Services check box and click the Details button. In Figure 45.5, you see the additional printing services that can be installed on a Windows 2000 computer.

Figure 45.5. You can select which printing service to install from this dialog box.

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You can install print services for Macintosh or Unix printers. After you make your selection, you are prompted for additional information, and the service is installed.

To install additional protocols, such as AppleTalk or DLC, use the following steps:

  1. Select Start, Settings, Network, Dial-Up Connections.

  2. Right-click your LAN connection and select Properties from the menu that pops up. The properties sheet is shown in Figure 45.6.

    Figure 45.6. You can click the Install button to add additional network protocols to the Windows 2000 server.

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  3. Click the Install button. A small dialog box pops up and prompts you to install one of the following: a client, a service, or a protocol. Select Protocol and click the Add button.

  4. The Select Network Protocol dialog box pops up and allows you to choose the network protocol to be added (see Figure 45.7).

    Figure 45.7. You can choose the network protocol to install from this dialog box.

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  5. Continue to add protocols as needed. When you are done, close the properties page for the local connection, and the protocols should be ready for use.

After you have installed the necessary protocol(s) and service(s), you should see them as options when you elect to create a printer port on a Windows 2000 server. The remaining prompts displayed by the Add Printer Wizard depend on the protocol you've chosen . As with Windows NT 4.0, you also must select the printer manufacturer and the model of the printer. You are prompted to make the printer your default on the local computer and are asked whether you want to share it on the network. Finally, you get to print a test page, and then you're done with the Add Printer Wizard.

Print Server Properties, Printer Properties, and Document Properties for Windows 2000 Server

Just as with Windows 4.0 Server, you can manage Windows 2000 print servers and individual printers. You can also set up default properties for documents. To begin, click Start, Settings, Printers to bring up the Printers window. Choose File, Server Properties. As you can see in Figure 45.8, Windows 2000 adds a new Drivers tab to the Print Server Properties page.

Figure 45.8. The Print Server Properties page allows you to manage global properties for the print server.

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The other standard tabs are there, and work just like they did for Windows NT 4.0 Server. You can design forms, modify ports, and use the Advanced tab to set up logging and other notifications.

The Drivers tab, shown in Figure 45.9, allows you to load additional printer drivers for clients that will access the printer.

Figure 45.9. You can load additional printer drivers for clients on your network using the Drivers tab.

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To add additional printer drivers, click the Add button. The Add Printer Wizard pops up again. Click Next to go back to the dialog box that allows you to choose a manufacturer and a printer model. Or you can use the Have Disk option to load a driver that is not part of the standard Windows 2000 distribution.

You also can remove drivers by highlighting them and clicking the Remove button. If you need to update a driver, use the Update button. This is a powerful function because, in this one place, you can update a driver that is used by multiple printers. The Properties button allows you to view properties pages specific to the driver you have highlighted. Casual users shouldn't change items on a printer driver's properties page. Make these changes only if you are thoroughly proficient in the printer workings and understand the changes you are making.

Printer Properties

Again, the properties page for a printer in Windows 2000 is similar to that used in Windows NT 4.0 Server, but with a few differences, as you can see in Figure 45.10.

Figure 45.10. You can manage properties for each printer individually.

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Note that the Scheduling tab no longer shows up. This function is now located on the new Advanced tab. In addition to the tabs that were available under the Windows NT 4.0 Server version, the following tabs now show up on a printer's properties page:

  • Configuration This tab shows items specific to the printer model, such as additional trays that can be installed and whether a duplex (two-sided printing) module is installed. What you see here depends on the type of printer.

  • Advanced The scheduling functions have been moved to this tab. Other functions, as you can see in Figure 45.11, have also been moved to this page. For example, you use this tab now to select a separator page (this function used to reside on the General tab).

    Figure 45.11. The Advanced tab contains functions that used to be on other tabs.

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All the other functions found in Windows NT 4.0 are still here; you might have to spend just a minute or two looking through the various tabs to find them.

Managing Printer Properties

For day-to-day printer management, you double-click a printer icon in the Printers folder. You can start, stop, and pause the printer or a particular document. You can also purge the printer of all documents waiting to print or selectively cancel documents.

Publishing Printers in the Active Directory

The Active Directory can hold information about users, computers, and resources such as printers. First, you can publish a printer in the Active Directory if you are logged in to a domain that is part of the Active Directory (for either Windows 2000 or Windows Server 2003). To do so, follow these steps:

  1. Bring up the properties for a printer by right-clicking on the printer icon (in the Printers folder).

  2. Select the Sharing entry from the menu that appears. Note that a printer must be shared before if it is to be published in the Active Directory.

  3. On the Sharing properties page that appears, select List in Directory.

  4. To share a printer, on the Sharing tab click on Shared As and fill in the fields, such as the name you want the printer to appear as on the network.

If you want to share a printer that is not managed by a Windows 2000 or Windows Server 2003 computer, the process is a little different. First you must create the printer on the computer (such as a Windows NT Server). The printer share will then be accessible on the network using the Universal Naming Convention (UNC). For example, \\zira\hplj would indicate that a printer named hplj on the computer named zira is being offered to the network as a printer share.

Next, use the Active Directory Users and Computers utility to add the printer to the directory. For Windows 2000, use Start, Programs, Administrative Tools, and then select the Active Directory Users and Computers utility. For Windows Server 2003, click on Start, Administrative Tools, and then Active Directory Users and Computers.

Choose the container object where you want to place the printer. This can be a domain, or a container object beneath a domain, or a container object that holds several domains.

For more information about container objects and domains in the Active Directory, see Chapter 31, "Using the Active Directory."


Right-click on the container object, and select New, Printer. In the dialog box that appears, enter the UNC name described previously for the printer you want to publish. Click OK.

Managing Printers Using the Internet Printing Protocol (IPP)

One new feature that Windows 2000 offers is support for the Internet Printing Protocol (IPP) that was discussed in the preceding chapter. In addition to allowing clients to use a browser to connect to a printer on a Windows 2000 print server, you can also use a browser to manage printers.

To use IPP, you must install Internet Information Services (IIS) on the print server as a prerequisite. This can be done during the initial operating-system installation. Or use the Add/Remove Programs icon in the Control Panel and select Add/Remove Windows Components to install IIS later. When you've installed IIS, you'll find a new entry in the Administrative Tools folder: Internet Services Manager.

Managing Access to the Web-Based Printers Folder

As with the other administrative tools, the Internet Services Manager is written as a snap-in for the Microsoft Management Console (MMC). When you first launch the application, you'll see the MMC console tree in the left pane, listing the IIS Web servers that are in your domain. Select a server by clicking it once, and then click the plus sign that appears next to the server to expand the tree. A list of Web sites for the server appears. In the example shown in Figure 45.12, you can see that the Default Web Site has been expanded to show the objects that fall beneath it in the tree. The Printers folder is at the bottom of the list.

Figure 45.12. You can manage printers using IPP from the Internet Services Manager application.

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Right-click the Printers folder and select Properties. In Figure 45.13, you can see the properties page that appears, with the Virtual Directory tab selected.

Figure 45.13. You can manage printers via an Internet browser using Windows 2000 and IPP.

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Note

When first presented with the Properties page for the Printers folder in the IIS MMC management application, some of the items don't seem to relate to printing. That's because, in general, they don't. This is the properties page for managing how printers are presented as a Web page (using the Documents tab), how security is configured to allow or deny access to the printers, and so on. You'll learn more about directly managing individual printers shortly.

For the most part, you can ignore most of this first tab and keep the defaults. If you are running a Web site using IIS, you might have reason to make changes here, but for ordinary printing tasks the defaults should suffice. Leave the virtual directory on the local computer so that information about printers will be stored on the print server. You'll need to leave Read Access enabled so that users can browse for printers. The Log Visits check box can be useful for troubleshooting purposes later.

You can configure permissions to restrict access to this Web-printing management on the Directory Security tab (see Figure 45.14).

Figure 45.14. You can restrict access to printer management using the Directory Security tab.

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If you click the Edit button under Anonymous Access and Authentication Control, you can select the kind of access allowed for managing printers. You can choose the authentication method for users wanting to connect to a printer from the following:

  • Anonymous Access This allows anyone to manage printers, without requiring any sort of authentication. You can also configure the account that is used with anonymous access. The default is the account created when IIS is installed: IUSR_ servername .

  • Basic Authentication This method allows for a username/password exchange when connecting to the resource, but sends the information via clear text. For some non-Windows clients, this might be the only kind of authentication you can use. However, keep in mind that sending password information on the network as clear text can pose a security problem.

  • Digest Authentication for Windows Domain Servers This method uses a challenge/response mechanism to authenticate the user and is more secure than the basic authentication method. This method is new with IIS 5.0 and sends a hashed value over the network rather than the password.

  • Integrated Windows Authentication This last method uses a cryptographic exchange based on the Kerberos method.

You can use the IP Address and Domain Name Restrictions section on the Directory Security tab to further control access. When you click the Edit button for this section, you'll see a dialog box similar to that shown in Figure 45.15.

Figure 45.15. You can allow or deny access based on IP addresses.

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You can choose to add records for IP addresses that are allowed to use the printer, or you can specify those addresses that are denied access.

To allow access to most users, and restrict just a few addresses, select the Granted Access option and use the Add button to add exclusions. This is the easiest method for granting access if the printer is to be available to most of your users. Alternatively, you can choose the Denied Access option and use the Add button to add IP addresses of those specific computers that are allowed to access the Printers folder on this server.

Figure 45.16 shows the dialog box that appears when you click the Add button. In this example, the Group of Computers option is selected, which is more efficient than entering individual IP addresses. Instead, you specify a network ID and the subnet mask for that network. Thus, you can allow or deny entire groups of computers based on their network address. This is helpful when using DHCP to configure client computers. In that situation, you know the network address for any particular subnet, but you don't know which IP address will be assigned to any particular client. If your network is organized in a logical manner by department, for example, you can control access for different departments if they are each on a different subnet. Simply specify the subnet network address and address mask using this dialog box.

Figure 45.16. You can specify an individual address or a particular network using the Add Button dialog box.

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Note also that you can use the Domain Name option in the Add Button dialog box, in which case you can control access based on a domain name. This method, however, requires additional overhead and can slow server performance.

Finally, the Directory Security tab allows you to require secure communications using a certificate server. You must have a certificate server on the network for this functionality to be available. This is the most secure form of communications you can choose for managing the Printers folder.

Managing Printers Using a Web Browser

To view the printers on a print server that has been IPP enabled by the installation of IIS, use the URL http:// servername /printers . In Figure 45.17, you can see a listing of the printers that are shared on the print server Popeye. You can quickly check the status of printers using this URL.

Figure 45.17. You can view all the printers shared by a Windows 2000 print server.

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To see details about a particular printer, click the printer in this display. Figure 45.18 shows the page that is displayed for a single printer.

Figure 45.18. You can view information about each printer using a Web browser.

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In this figure, the functions available are just about the same as you get when you double-click a printer icon in the Printers folder. However, the display is in Web-browser form instead of the traditional dialog boxes and windows used in the past.

Most of the display is used to show documents waiting to print and status information, such as the owner and when the print job was submitted. On the left side of the Web page, you'll see three sections of options for management purposes:

  • View This section provides a listing of documents (the default). You can also choose to view the properties of the printer, view the status of the device, or return to the Web page that lists all printers on the server.

  • Printer Actions This section lets you do the normal management functions: pause the printer, resume the printer, or cancel all documents that are waiting to print.

  • Document Actions This section allows you to do the same functions on the document level instead of the printer level. Use these options to pause, resume, or cancel a particular document you've first highlighted in the document listing.

Figure 45.19 shows the Properties page for a printer. This is helpful when choosing a printer.

Figure 45.19. Use the Properties page for a printer when trying to decide which printer to use, based on the printer's capabilities.

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The Properties page for a printer can be used to determine a printer's capabilities. The Comment and Location fields would have been nice to see in this figure. When this printer was created, the administrator was obviously in a hurry.

Finally, Figure 45.20 shows the Device Status page for a printer, which can be useful when troubleshooting. Note the other information you can see from this view, including information from the printer's front panel display, the status of paper trays, and any error messages that might be outstanding for the printer.

Figure 45.20. You can check the status of the device using this Web-based view.

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Because IPP allows you to print to printers literally anywhere on the Internet, it will be more widely implemented in the near future as the standards committee finishes the next version of the specification. Although the usual Windows printer-management utilities allow you to manage printers remotely, by using a browser you can manage printers from just about anywhere , as long as you set up management user access securely.

Installing and Configuring Printing on a Windows XP Computer

Although Windows XP Professional is a client operating system, and not in the same class as Windows server operating systems, it is very popular in SOHO networks that contain just a few computers and do not require a more robust server operating system. If you are operating in the SOHO environment, Windows XP can be configured to share printer(s) as well as file shares. In this section you will find out how to configure a printer on Windows XP Professionalusing TCP/IPto enable it to share printers with other computers.

Windows XP Professional can share a printer that is directly connected to the computer via its physical ports (such as a parallel port, USB, or FireWire port). In addition, like Windows 2000, Windows XP Professional can be used to satisfy client print requests by sending print jobs to printers on other computers, or printers that have their own network connection. If you do not need to use the Windows XP computer as a print server, you can also let clients connect to any printer on the network. Thus, there are three ways you can set up a printer connection in a Windows SOHO network. Each client can make a connection directly to a networked printer (in which case the XP computer is not required to act as a server), a connection can be made directly to a printer physically connected to an XP computer, or a client can print to a shared printer on a Windows XP client that is redirected to a networked printer that the XP computer communicates with. In Figure 45.21 you can see an overview of the choices.

Figure 45.21. There are a few ways you can connect clients in a SOHO network to a printer that uses Windows XP Professional.

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The first scenario demonstrates that network computers can connect to a printer that has its own network connection. This can be an easy solution in a small network where you do not need to control access to networked printers, but rather let clients connect directly to the printers they want to use.

In the second example, a Windows XP computer has a print device connected to one of its ports, and clients send print jobs to the Windows XP computer, which then sends the print job to the physical printer. By using this method, the Windows XP computer can act as a gateway controlling access to the computer. This means that you can create print shares on the Windows XP computer and grant or deny access to individual clients on the LAN.

In the third example, a Windows XP computer can establish connections to printers that are attached to the network. As with the second example, clients send their print requests to the Windows XP computer and it will make the connection to the networked printer. This example also allows the Windows XP computer to control access to the printer.

Note

In the third example shown in Figure 45.21, the Windows XP Professional computer is used to forward print jobs from clients to networked printers. If security is an important issue for your network (and it should be in today's environment), then you should be aware that it may be possible to circumvent the Windows XP computer. If the user of a client computer knows the IP address of one or more networked printers, the user might just decide to side-step the Windows XP computer and create a direct network connection to a printer.

Configuring a Printer Using Windows XP Professional

Tip

If you have a printer that uses Plug and Play, and if the printer uses a USB or FireWire (IEEE 1934) connectionor any other hot pluggable portthen you probably will not have to use the following steps to configure the printer. Instead, if the printer is one that Windows XP Professional recognizes and already has a driver for, you can simply plug in the printer and Windows XP Professional will automatically configure the printer for you. However, you can still use the steps outlined here if you want to bypass Plug and Play. For example, your printer may come with an updated driver and you might want to use the CD that contains the printer driver, and possibly other software, and install the printer manually.

Use the following steps to easily configure Windows XP for printing:

  1. Click on Start, Printers and Faxes.

  2. In the Printers and Faxes window, look under Printer Tasks on the left side of the window and click on Add a Printer. The Add Printer Wizard pops up. Click Next.

  3. In Figure 45.22 you can see the Wizard's next dialog box. Here you can use the radio buttons to specify whether you are configuring a printer that is attached to the Windows XP computer, or whether you want to connect to a printer on the network or on another computer. For this example, a printer attached to the XP computer has been selected. In addition, the Automatically Detect and Install My Plug and Play Printer check box is selected. Click Next to continue.

    Figure 45.22. This Add Printer dialog box lets you choose to configure a printer attached to the Windows XP computer, or to a printer on the network.

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  4. The New Printer Detection dialog box pops up and Windows XP tries to locate and install any plug-and-play printers connected to the computer. In Figure 45.23 you can see that Windows XP was successful in finding the printer and installing the printer driver. This dialog box also enables you to send a test page to the printer to ensure that the configuration is correct. Click on the Yes radio button and then the Next button to accomplish this.

    Figure 45.23. The Add Printer Wizard can automatically detect and configure plug-and-play printers that are attached to the computer.

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    Tip

    It is a good idea to send a test page to the printer during the configuration process. If you do not, you cannot be sure that the configuration was properly completed until you send a print job to the printer. You might as well find out at the start if the configuration was successful. If not, you can backtrack and try to determine what went wrong.

  5. When the next dialog box appears, click the Finish button. If you have selected the option to print a test page, a test page is then sent to the printer.

  6. A small pop-up dialog box tells you that the test page has been sent to the printer. If the page has printed, click the OK button. If not, click the Troubleshoot button.

After you have configured the printer, you can use the Properties pages for the printer to enable sharing the printer with other computers.

Use the following steps to enable sharing the printer with other client computers on the network:

  1. Click on Start, Printers and Faxes. In the Printers and Faxes window you will see a printer icon with a short description of the printer next to it. Right-click on the icon. A menu lets you select from many options, depending on the printer.

  2. Click on the Sharing menu option, or click on Properties and then select the Sharing tab. In Figure 45.24 you can see the Sharing tab for the printer.

    Figure 45.24. This property sheet can be used to enable sharing the printer on the network.

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  3. In Figure 45.24 you can select the radio button labeled Share This Printer if you want other clients on the network to be able to connect to and use your printer.

  4. In the Share Name field enter a name that the printer will be known by on the network.

  5. At the bottom of the property sheet shown in Figure 45.24, you can see a Drivers section. If your network uses only Windows XP computers, you can ignore this part of the property sheet. However, if you have other computers on the network, click on the Additional Drivers button. This will allow you to load drivers for other operating systems so that they can use this printer. The current selections include Windows operating systems from Windows 95 through Windows 2000 and Windows Me.

    Tip

    If you choose to load drivers for other operating systems, Windows XP will prompt you for the location for the drivers you want to install. If the manufacturer of your printer does not include drivers for other operating systems, check its Web site to determine whether a driver exists. In any case, a dialog box will ask you to enter the location for the additional drivers.

  6. When you have finished loading other operating-system drivers (or not), click on the Apply button and then the OK button shown in Figure 45.24 to continue.

To ensure that the printer has been properly configured for sharing on the network, use another computer on the network to connect to the printer share and print a document.

In addition to the Sharing tab on the printer's properties sheets, you will find other tabs, depending on the type of printer you have configured on the system. For example, a Color Management tab would be present for a color printer but not for a monochrome laser printer. You might want to check out all of these tabs that are created for your printer to determine whether there are other features you might want to configure.



Upgrading and Repairing Networks
Upgrading and Repairing Networks (5th Edition)
ISBN: 078973530X
EAN: 2147483647
Year: 2003
Pages: 434

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