Network Printing with Microsoft Networking

	ACADEMIC COMPUTING and COMMUNICATIONS CENTER

Network Printing
0. Contents	1. Connecting	2. Microsoft Networking	3. Novell	4. LPR	5. Macintosh

Network Printing with Microsoft Networking

Using Microsoft Networking for printer sharing is a common way to connect to and utilize a network printer. The printer itself can be connected to an Ethernet print server (such as the M202), via a network card (such as the HP-JetDirect Card), or to another PC. The PC from which you want to print needs to have Windows 9x or Windows NT installed, and it should be connected to the network.

This method is not recommend for high volume printing or busy printers. Because there is no place for print jobs to queue up, if the printer is busy, each PC sending the job will have to wait until the printer is free again. In a busy printing environment this would not work well because it would keep all the print jobs waiting to be transferred on each individual machine. It also removes the possibility of managing the print jobs from a central location, which makes deleting bad jobs difficult, as well as complicating other management tasks.

The Setup is as follows:

The print server.

If you're using an Ethernet print server or a network card in the printer, it can usually be configured to receive print jobs from Microsoft Networking. Check with the documentation of the server you have in place. If it's an M202 or an HP-JetDirect card, the ACCC can help you configure it remotely. Send an email note to lan@uic.edu if you would like us to do so.

Or, if you are using a PC as the print server, if it is running Windows 95 or Windows NT, you need to setup the printer for sharing. Printer Sharing can be enabled from the Network Control panel under START | SETTINGS | CONTROL PANEL. You must also make sure that the Client for Microsoft Networking is installed as a protocol in the Network Control panel.

Once enabled, right click on the printer you want to share in the printers window ( START | SETTINGS | PRINTERS ), and share the printer with others as desired. You will also have to decide on a name by which the printer will be known on the network. Details can be found under the HELP documentation that comes with Windows 9x or NT (START | HELP).

The print client.

(the PC from which you want to print.) To set up a remote printer with Microsoft Networking, you must find the printer in the Network neighborhood, then double click on it, and then the normal printer setup dialog box will appear. You do this first by finding the print server where the printer resides; then by double clicking on it, then double clicking the printer therein. However, sometimes the server or the printer will not appear. Here are some of the common things to check if the printer does not appear.

Check the WORKGROUP setting in your Network Control Panel. Check to make sure that the name of the Workgroup of the print server is included in your list.
Check that you have Client for Microsoft Networking installed as a protocol in the Network Control panel.
Make sure that your PC and the print server are on the same subnet. You can check the IP address under TCPIP properties in the Network Control Panel. If the first three parts of the IP address are the same, then you are in the same subnet. E.g., the machines designated by 128.248.144.101 and 128.248.144.112 are in the same subnet; but the machines designated by 128.248.111.20 and 128.248.123.20 are not in the same subnet. (it is still possible to print across subnets, but you must then make use of the LMhosts file.)
Check the name of the print server and the name by which the printer is shared. If a Windows PC is being used as the server, you can check the name of the machine under IDENTITY in the Network Control Panel. Otherwise, check with the documentation of your print server or ask the ACCC for help.

Network Printing Previous: 1. Connecting Next: 3. Novell

2004-10-29 CSO