# USB printing to a windows computer



## whiteTail (Dec 18, 2005)

I have seen many posts around with people with the same problem im having... unfortunately not one of them have I seen any closure on the issue. I would like to work this out and set it straight for everybody.

I want to be able to print to a HP Color LaserJet 3550 that is connected to a PC via USB. As instructed by other posts I have installed ESP GhostScript and HPIJS (not that I understand how they are working with each other). Now I have gone into my Print Setup Utility -> Add -> More printers... Selected the workgroup then the computer and entered in a login and password. But the printer still wont show up.

I can go into advanced by option + More printers... but im not even that sure what im meant to be entering into the device URI section (i have been trying smb://computers.ip.address/printer_shared_name)... but even then I have to select the printer model manually and I cant find it in the list even though it is specifically listed as a supported printers... thats the HP Color LaserJet 3550 (not the DeskJet).

If any of you geniuses could PLEASE HELP?


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## gsahli (Dec 18, 2005)

Check out these guides:
http://www.ifelix.co.uk/tech/macosx.html


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## whiteTail (Dec 19, 2005)

Ok so there are only two tutorials there that are relevant to me there. No the first one does not work because the printer does not show up under that computer. 

The second tutorial I just tried then... Because I cant find the HP Color LaserJet 3550 in the drop-down list I have selected just the Generic Printer Driver. Now when I try to print to this printer I get an error "Unable to connect to SAMBA host, will retry in 60 seconds...ERROR: Connection failed with error".

Any ideas?


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## gsahli (Dec 19, 2005)

I'm sure you realize there could be 1000's of things that could cause this...
Lets focus on Windows first. You have to have printer sharing on in Printer "Properties." You should have a user account that is the same as your usernameassword on the Mac. An alternative is to turn on the guest account. If you want to try another alternative from the iFelix site, you could turn on the Windows LPD server, otherwise known as TCP/IP printing service.

Hope this helps.


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## whiteTail (Dec 19, 2005)

Im afraid no it didn't... but still I do appreciate the help. Firstly I cant understand why I would need to have an exact login on the server when I have to enter in Name and Password when I select the computer that is sharing the printer... I had been entering the servers admin details and I would assume that would be more than enough authentication. Anyway I still added a duplicate user on the server and also tried turning on LPD server (and yes yes and yes printer sharing is turned on... it is shared as HPcolourLASER)... so I have also tried the following in the advanced menu

guest@192.168.2.101/HPcolourLASER
web1@192.168.2.101/HPcolourLASER -> web1 is the admin login
web8@192.168.2.101/HPcolourLASER -> web8 is my mac

none of these worked and it goes without saying that the printer is still not showing up in the standard windows printing section. Isn't there meant to be a command I can type into the command line from the mac to tell me if it can see the printer that might be of use here????

Also can anybody still fill me in as to why my HP Color LaserJet 3550 is not listed in my driver listing when it is listed in the HPIJS website.

Thanks for your help so far Gsahli... Im hopping one day I can get this working... its so frustrating!


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## gsahli (Dec 19, 2005)

try this in Terminal:
smbclient -NL 192.168.2.101

This will give you output like:
Anonymous login successful
Domain=[WORKGROUP] OS=[Unix] Server=[Samba 3.0.10]

        Sharename       Type      Comment
        ---------                ----      -------
        IPC$              IPC       IPC Service (schooner)
        ADMIN$          IPC       IPC Service (schooner)
        pdf_writer        Printer   Generic PostScript Printer
        R200               Printer   Local Raw Printer
        Socket_4ML      Printer   HP LaserJet 4ML v2013.003
Anonymous login successful
Domain=[WORKGROUP] OS=[Unix] Server=[Samba 3.0.10]

        Server               Comment
        ---------            -------
        SCHOONER             schooner

        Workgroup            Master
        ---------            -------
        MSHOME               NEW_ANCHOR
        MYGROUP              OUTRIGGER


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## whiteTail (Dec 19, 2005)

Anonymous login successful
Domain=[WORKGROUP] OS=[Windows 5.0] Server=[Windows 2000 LAN Manager]

        Sharename       Type      Comment
        ---------       ----      -------
Error returning browse list: NT_STATUS_ACCESS_DENIED
session request to 192.168.2.101 failed (Called name not present)
session request to 192 failed (Called name not present)
Anonymous login successful
Domain=[WORKGROUP] OS=[Windows 5.0] Server=[Windows 2000 LAN Manager]

        Server               Comment
        ---------            -------

        Workgroup            Master
        ---------            -------


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## gsahli (Dec 19, 2005)

Something isn't right on WinXP.
Try turning off the firewall.


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## whiteTail (Dec 19, 2005)

Its not running XP its running 2000... Its not running a 3d party firewall and I dont even know how to check 2000's built in firewall options.


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## gsahli (Dec 19, 2005)

Don't have Win2K here. I'd focus on troubleshooting Windows from this point.

Good luck.


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## whiteTail (Dec 19, 2005)

Gee thanks...

Alright what I might do is get somebody here with an XP laptop to operate as the print server and see if I can share to that.


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## whiteTail (Dec 19, 2005)

I did manage to get the printer to do something just then... Using the advanced option and then in the URI I put the following

smb://web1assword@192.168.2.100/HPcolourLASER and then I selected the Generic printer. only problem was it was printing out rubbish. Now Im not sure but I think the driver for the printer Im after might be in HPIJS version 2.1.4... but the downloadable binary is only for version 2.0.2. I dont know how to compile tars... anybody think this may be the case??

and if so would somebody be able to help me out with compiling the tar?


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## gsahli (Dec 19, 2005)

Haven't heard of any similar problem with hpijs (you did install ESP ghostscript too, right?)
Generic is "generic postscript," so you should expect rubbish - postscript code.

BTW, I see they did omit the LJ 3550 PPD from the hpijs install. Download it from:
http://www.linuxprinting.org/show_printer.cgi?recnum=HP-Color_LaserJet_3550
To use it, select model "Other," then a file selector dialog comes up and you can choose this PPD.


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## whiteTail (Dec 21, 2005)

I got a machine in that is using XP... Now I still dont have the printer listing in  the standard window for Windows printing... but I am finding that when I try to print from advanced and use the PPD from the HPIJS website that when I print I get a message come up on the printers LCD "Chosen Personality not available"... According to the printers manual the personalty refers to features that the print has... so in other words the PPD does not seem to be working in a compatible way.

Can anybody suggest my next step?


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## gsahli (Dec 21, 2005)

That could be explained by not having ghostscript installed - is that possible?


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## whiteTail (Dec 22, 2005)

On what machine... I didnt know I would have to have it installed on either but it is already on the PC when I was try'n a different test.


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## gsahli (Dec 23, 2005)

hpijs requires ghostscript.
http://www.linuxprinting.org/macosx/hpijs/

Good luck.


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## whiteTail (Dec 25, 2005)

Oh ESP Ghost scripts... yeah I have that installed.


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