Windows Server 2003 allows you to set up local printers as well as network-attached printers. Either type of printer can be shared on the network so that it is available to other computers and users. The computer sharing the printer is called a print server, regardless of whether it is actually running a server version of the Windows operating system.
As discussed previously, you can configure more than one logical print device (printer) for a physical print device. The key reason to do this is when you want to use different options, such as when you want to create a priority or scheduled print queue. If you configure multiple printers, you must use a different local name and share name each time. Other than that, you can choose the exact same initial settings each time and modify them as desired.
Note
Windows Server 2003 supports printing for clients running any version of Windows. To support Macintosh and UNIX clients, you must install additional print services. Install Print Services For Macintosh to support Mac users on classic Mac. Install Print Services For Unix to support UNIX and Macintosh OS X (which is built on UNIX).
Typically, a local printer is a desktop version for use by an individual or a small group. Most desktop printers allow you to connect to them using either a parallel printer interface or a USB or FireWire interface. All of these techniques require a cable to connect from the computer to the printer. You might also have the option of using wireless infrared (IrDA or Bluetooth), which doesn't require a cable. Windows Server 2003 supports all of these options.
Inside Out: Choosing an interface type
With any available printer interface option, your key concern shouldn't be having to spend additional money on a cable—spend the money if you have to—it should be on getting the best performance. Consider the following:
A standard parallel printer interface (IEEE 1284–compliant) has a maximum transmission speed of 250 kilobits per second (Kbps).
A high-speed parallel printer interface (ECP/EPP-compliant) has a maximum transmission speed of 3–5 Mbps.
A wireless interface that is IrDA-compliant has a maximum transmission speed of around 4 Mbps; a wireless interface that is Bluetooth-compliant has a speed of 2–3 Mbps.
A USB interface has a maximum transmission speed of 12 Mbps for USB 1 and 480 Mbps for USB 2.
A FireWire (IEEE 1394–compliant) interface has a transmission speed of 100 to 400 Mbps.
Given these transmission speeds and that USB and FireWire are Plug and Play–compliant, they should be the preferred interfaces to use when you have a choice. With USB 2, it is important to note that you get only the speed benefit if both the computer interface and the printer interface are USB 2–compliant.
To set up a local printer, you'll need to use an account that is a member of the Administrators or Print Operators group. To get started, connect the print device to the server. If Windows Server 2003 automatically detects the print device, it begins installing the printer and its drivers. If the drivers aren't found, you might need to insert the Windows Server 2003 distribution CD into the CD-ROM drive or use a driver disk. Windows Server 2003 will then automatically share the printer for network access. The share name is set to the first eight characters of the printer name with spaces removed. You can rename the printer share later if necessary.
If Windows Server 2003 doesn't detect the print device automatically, you must install the print device using the Add Printer Wizard. Follow these steps:
Access the Printers And Faxes folder either by clicking Start and then clicking Printers And Faxes or by clicking Start, pointing to Settings, and then selecting Printers And Faxes.
Select or double-click Add Printer to start the Add Printer Wizard. Click Next.
Select Local Printer Attached To This Computer, as shown in Figure 29-9, and then select Automatically Detect And Install My Plug And Play Printer. Click Next.
If Windows is able to detect the printer and it is Plug and Play–compatible, the New Hardware Found dialog box is displayed and the operating system installs the printer using drivers if they are available or prompts you to insert the Windows Server 2003 distribution CD into the CD-ROM drive or use a driver disk. Windows Server 2003 will then complete the installation by automatically sharing the printer for network access.
If the printer wasn't detected, you must continue with manual installation. On the Select A Printer Port page, select Use The Following Port, and then choose the port to which the printer is attached, as shown in Figure 29-10. Click Next.
On the Install Printer Software page, choose the manufacturer and model of the printer, as shown in Figure 29-11. 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.
Tip
Use a driver disk or check Windows Update
If the print device manufacturer and model you're using aren't displayed in the list or you have a newer driver from the manufacturer, click Have Disk to install a new driver. If you want to check for and download new drivers from the Microsoft Web site automatically, click Windows Update. Make sure the driver you use is digitally signed. This is indicated after you select a manufacturer and model and means that Microsoft has certified the driver for use with Microsoft products. Any drivers downloaded from Windows Update are digitally signed and therefore certified.
Click Next. If a driver is already installed for the printer, as would be the case if you are creating an additional print queue or are installing a second identical print device, you see the Use Existing Driver Page. You can choose to keep the existing driver or replace it. It is recommended that you keep the existing driver. However, if you have a newer driver, you will probably want to use that driver if it is digitally signed and certified by Microsoft. Click Next.
On the Name Your Printer page, type a name for the printer, as shown in Figure 29-12. The name you use is the one you'll see in the Printers And Faxes folder of Control Panel. It shouldn't contain special characters such as commas, backward slashes, or exclamation points, but can contain spaces. You can also set the printer as the local default for the local computer. Click Next.
Tip
Choose names that have the widest compatibility
Although you can use just about any name for a printer, you should keep the printer name as short as possible. For maximum compatibility, it is recommended that the printer name be no more than 31 characters and not contain spaces. This will make the printer easier to work with from the command line and in applications that have printer name limitations.
Choose whether to share the printer by selecting either Do Not Share This Printer or Share Name, as shown in Figure 29-13. If you're sharing the printer, type a share name, and then click Next. Keep in mind the best printer share names are descriptive and help you determine what the printer is used for and where it is. With this in mind, you might name a printer EngPrinter to indicate it is the printer for the Engineering department.
Note
Windows Server 2003 automatically creates an eight-character name for the print share. You can accept this share name or type a new one. For backward compatibility with MS-DOS clients, printer share names are limited to eight characters. If you don't have MS-DOS clients, you don't have to follow this naming rule. Simply enter the name you want to use, click Next, and then click Yes when prompted to confirm that you really want to use the share name.
On the Location And Comment page, enter an optional location and comment. Use the comment to describe the printer and its capabilities. Use the location to detail where the printer is located. Computers running Windows 95, Windows 98, and Windows NT 4 will display the comment in printer-related dialog boxes. Computers running Windows 2000 or later will display both the location and the comment in printer-related dialog boxes, which makes it easier for users to browse Active Directory to find printers by searching according to location. Click Next.
Next you have the opportunity to print a test page. This is a good idea to make sure the printer works and that files can be printed to the print device using this configuration. Choose Yes to print a test page or No to continue without printing a test page, and then click Next.
As shown in Figure 29-14, the final page displays a summary of the configuration settings you selected. Review the information and when you are ready, click Finish to complete the setup and save the configuration. The wizard will then copy the printer drivers as necessary and, if selected, print a test page.
Network-attached printers are printers that have their own network cards. Typically, a network-attached printer is a workgroup-class printer for use by groups of users. Most network-attached printers use the RAW protocol or the LPR protocol to communicate over a standard TCP/IP port. This includes network-attached printers that use TCP/IP as well as those that use network devices such as Hewlett-Packard JetDirect or Intel NetPort.
In some case, you might need to configure other types of network printer connections. To communicate with printers connected to a UNIX computer or using the LPD service, you can configure the printer to use LPR and connect to the LPD service. To communicate with an AppleTalk printer, you can configure the printer to use AppleTalk.
You can set up a network-attached printer using a standard TCP/IP port using an account that is a member of the Administrators or Print Operators group. Follow these steps:
Access the Printers And Faxes folder either by clicking Start and then clicking Printers And Faxes or by clicking Start, pointing to Settings, and then selecting Printers And Faxes.
Select or double-click Add Printer to start the Add Printer Wizard. Click Next.
Select Local Printer Attached To This Computer, and clear the Automatically Detect And Install My Plug And Play Printer check box. Click Next.
On the Select A Printer Port page, select Create A New Port, and then choose Standard TCP/IP Port, as shown in Figure 29-15. Click Next to start the Add Standard TCP/IP Printer Port Wizard.
Make sure the printer is connected to the network and turned on. One way to do this is to ping the printer's IP address. As a final check of the printer, you might want to print its configuration or check its network settings to ensure it has the appropriate IP address and subnet mask. When you are ready to continue, click Next.
On the Add Port page, shown in Figure 29-16, type the printer name or IP address. This must be the actual printer name or IP address as specified in the printer configuration. A port name is filled in for you automatically. Because this port name must be unique on the print server, you can't have two printers with the same port name on a print server.
When you click Next, the wizard will look for the printer on the network. If the wizard is unable to find the print device or needs additional information, select the printer device type using the Standard list, as shown in Figure 29-17.
Note
If the wizard is unable to find the print device on the network, make sure that you entered the printer name or IP address correctly. If you have, make sure the device is on, that it is properly configured, and that the network is set up correctly. If the wizard still can't detect the printer, select the device type and continue with the installation. You will mostly likely need to change the standard TCP/IP port monitor settings before you can use the printer. You can do this by selecting Custom and clicking Settings now, or you can perform the necessary changes later. Both techniques are discussed in the section entitled "Changing Standard TCP/IP Port Monitor Settings" later in this chapter.
Click Next, review the port configuration, and then click Finish. In the Add Printer Wizard, the configuration will continue as it did with local printers. With that in mind, continue with steps 7 through 12 in the section entitled "Adding Local Printers" earlier in this chapter. As noted previously, all printers configured for sharing on Windows Server 2003 systems are automatically listed in Active Directory.
Another way to connect to a network printer is to use an LPR port. This allows the print server to communicate with printers connected to UNIX computers or that use the LPD service. Using an account that is a member of the Administrators or Print Operators group, you can add the LPR printer by following these steps:
Connect the printer to the network and configure the printer with the appropriate TCP/IP settings for the network. Print the configuration if possible so you have it handy.
Next start the installation process for Print Services For Unix. In Control Panel, double-click Add Or Remove Programs. Then in the Add Or Remove Programs dialog box, click Add Windows Components to start the Windows Components Wizard.
On the Windows Components page, select Other Network File And Print Services, and then click Details.
In the Other Network File And Print Services dialog box, select Print Services For Unix. Don't clear other selections if a service has already been installed. Click OK.
Click Next to begin the installation, and then click Finish. This completes the installation process for Print Services For UNIX.
Access the Printers And Faxes folder either by clicking Start and then clicking Printers And Faxes or by clicking Start, pointing to Settings, and then selecting Printers And Faxes.
Select or double-click Add Printer to start the Add Printer Wizard. Click Next.
Select Local Printer Attached To This Computer, and clear the Automatically Detect And Install My Plug And Play Printer check box. Click Next.
On the Select A Printer Port page, select Create A New Port, and then choose LPR Port, as shown in Figure 29-18. Click Next to display the Add LPR Compatible Printer dialog box.
Type the name or IP address of the server running LPD, as shown in Figure 29-19.
Type the name of the printer or the name of the print queue on the LPD server.
When you click OK, the computer will create the port and attempt to connect to the printer or the LPD server. If the wizard is unable to find the print device or needs additional information, click OK at the prompt.
In the Add Printer Wizard, the configuration will continue as it did with local printers. With that in mind, continue with steps 6 through 12 in the section entitled "Adding Local Printers" earlier in this chapter. As noted previously, all printers configured for sharing on Windows Server 2003 systems are automatically listed in Active Directory.
When you have computers running classic Mac OS, you might need to use a Windows server as the print server. To do this, you must install Print Services For Macintosh and then configure the print server to communicate with the AppleTalk printer. It is important to note that Print Services For Macintosh isn't available for 64-bit versions of Windows Server 2003. It is also important to note that once you set up a Windows computer as the print server for an AppleTalk printer, the print service can only be managed by and connected to the Windows print server. This means you cannot also connect the printer to a Macintosh print server.
Using an account that is a member of the Administrators or Print Operators group, you can add the AppleTalk printer by following these steps:
Connect the printer to the network and configure the printer with the appropriate settings for the network. Print the configuration if possible so you have it.
Start the installation process for Print Services For Macintosh. In Control Panel, double-click Add Or Remove Programs.
In the Add Or Remove Programs dialog box, click Add Windows Components to start the Windows Components Wizard. On the Windows Components page, select Other Network File And Print Services, and then click Details.
In the Other Network File And Print Services dialog box, select Print Services For Macintosh. Don't clear other selections if a service has already been installed. Click OK.
Click Next to begin the installation, and then click Finish. This completes the installation of Print Services for Macintosh.
Access the Printers And Faxes folder either by clicking Start and then clicking Printers And Faxes or by clicking Start, pointing to Settings, and then selecting Printers And Faxes.
Select or double-click Add Printer to start the Add Printer Wizard. Click Next.
Select Local Printer Attached To This Computer, but do not select Automatically Detect And Install My Plug And Play Printer. Click Next.
On the Select A Printer Port page, select Create A New Port, and then choose Apple-Talk Printing Devices, as shown in Figure 29-20.
When you click Next, Windows searches the network for AppleTalk printers. Choose the printer in the Available AppleTalk Printing Devices dialog box, and then click OK to install the printer. When prompted to capture the port, click Yes.
In the Add Printer Wizard, the configuration will continue as it did with local printers. With that in mind, continue with steps 6 through 12 from the section entitled "Adding Local Printers" earlier in this chapter. As noted previously, all printers configured for sharing on Windows Server 2003 systems are automatically listed in Active Directory.
Inside Out: Setting permissions for Mac users
With an AppleTalk printer, you can't set permissions on a per-user basis. AppleTalk doesn't support client user names or passwords. You can set permissions for all Macintosh users as a group, however. This would give all Macintosh users the same printer permissions. To do this, you must create a new user account, set print permissions for this account, and then configure Print Services For Macintosh to use this account. Follow these steps:
Create a new user account as discussed in Chapter 37.
Configure the printer security as discussed in the section entitled "Managing Printer Permissions" later in this chapter. Be sure to add the account you created and then set the permissions you want to use for all classic Mac OS clients.
Start the Services utility from the Administrative Tools menu.
In the Services utility, double-click Print Server For Macintosh. You can now set properties for this service.
In the Log On tab, select This Account. Type the name of the user account you created, and then type and confirm the password for this account.
When you click OK, the service is updated to use this account. The account will be granted the right to Log On As A Service on the print server. Click OK twice.
The changes won't take effect until you stop and then start the Print Server For Macintosh service. In the Services utility, right-click Print Server For Macintosh, and then select Restart.
To ensure spooling works for the new user account, you should check the permissions on the spool folder. Users, of which the new user account is a member, are given access to the spool folder and to create files and folders by default. The necessary permissions include Traverse Folder/Execute File, Read Attributes, Read Extended Attributes, Create Files/ Write Data, and Create Folders/Append Data.
The standard TCP/IP port monitor settings determine how a print server connects to a network-attached printer. As discussed previously, most network-attached printers use the RAW protocol or the LPR protocol to communicate over a standard TCP/IP port. If the Add TCP/IP Port Wizard had problems detecting a network-attached printer, the chances are good the printer was set up to use the LPR protocol rather than the RAW protocol. Unfortunately, most current printers use the RAW protocol, including laser printers from HP, Minolta, Epson, and other printer manufacturers.
To change a printer's standard TCP/IP port monitor settings, follow these steps:
If you are currently working with the Add Standard TCP/IP Printer Port Wizard, skip to step 3. Otherwise, access the Printers And Faxes folder either by clicking Start and then clicking Printers And Faxes or by clicking Start, pointing to Settings, and then selecting Printers And Faxes.
Right-click the printer, and select Properties. In the printer's Properties dialog box, select the Ports tab. The port used by the printer is selected and highlighted by default. Click Configure Port.
In the Configure Standard TCP/IP Port Monitor dialog box, shown in Figure 29-21, select the protocol that the printer uses, either RAW or LPR, as follows:
When you select RAW, the Raw Settings panel is available and you can set a port number. Because the default port number used by most RAW printers is 9100, this value is filled in for you. Only change the default setting if the printer documentation instructs you to do so.
When you select LPR, the LPR Settings panel is available. Set the queue name to be used by the port. Because the default queue name used by most LPR printers is crownnet, this value is filled in for you. Only change the default setting if the printer documentation instructs you to do so.
Note
With LPR, you also have the option to enable LPR Byte Counting. When this option is enabled, the printer server counts the bytes in a document before sending it to the printer, and the byte count can be used by the printer to verify that a complete document has been received. However, this option slows down printing and uses processor resources on the print server.
Click OK when you are finished configuring the TCP/IP port monitor settings.
Once a printer is configured and shared, users on client machines can connect to it. The technique is similar for all versions of Windows.
For Windows 95, Windows 98, or Windows NT 4 clients, you install a printer by completing the following steps:
With the user logged on, double-click the Printers icon in Control Panel or select Settings in the Start menu, and then choose the Printers option.
Double-click the Add Printer icon to open the Add Printer Wizard.
Select the Network Printer Server option, and then click Next.
Using the Connect To Printer dialog box, select the shared printer. Click the items in the Shared Printers list to work your way down to the shared printer to which you want to connect. When the printer is selected, click OK.
Determine whether the printer is the default used by Windows applications. Choose Yes or No, and then click Next.
Choose Finish to complete the operation. The user can now print to the network printer by selecting the printer in an application. The Printers tab on the user's computer shows the new network printer.
Tip
Connect through Network Neighborhood
As you might expect, there are several different ways to connect to a network printer. You can also set up a printer by browsing to the print server in Network Neighborhood and then accessing the server's Printers folder by double-clicking it. Next, double-click the icon of the printer to which you want to connect. This opens a management window for the printer. Finally, select Install from the Printer menu.
For Windows 2000 or later, connecting to a printer on a print server is much easier. Users can use any of the following techniques to install a printer:
UNC Path Click Start, and then click Run. In the Run dialog box, shown in the following screen, type the Universal Naming Convention (UNC) path to the printer share, and click OK. That's it. The syntax for UNC paths to printer shares is \ServerNamePrintShareName, where ServerName is the name or IP address of the print server and PrintShareName is the name of the printer share, such as \CorpSvr02 EngMain.
My Network Places In Windows Explorer, expand Control Panel so that the Printers And Faxes entry is visible, and then navigate My Network Places to the print server, as shown in the following screen. With the print server selected in the left pane under My Network Places, select the printer and drag it to the Printers And Faxes folder.
Add Printer Wizard In the Printers And Faxes folder, select or double-click Add Printer to start the Add Printer Wizard. Afterward, as shown in the following screen, select A Network Printer, and then click Next.
In the Specify A Printer dialog box, choose a method for finding the network printer as follows:
Choose Find A Printer In The Directory if you want to search Active Directory for the printer.
Choose Connect To This Printer, and type the printer name or browse the network for shared printers just as you'd browse in My Network Places.
Choose Connect To A Printer On The Internet if you want to enter the Uniform Resource Locator (URL) of an Internet printer.
When the printer is selected, click OK. Select whether the printer is the default used by Windows applications by selecting Yes or No and then clicking Next. Choose Finish to complete the operation.
With any Windows operating system, you can connect users to shared printers using the command line and scripts. In a logon script that uses batch scripting or at the command line, you can use the NET USE command to connect to a network printer. Consider the following example:
net use \corpsvr02engmain /persistent:yes
Here, you use the NET USE command to add a persistent connection to the EngMain printer on CORPSVR02. That's all there is to it.
You could also use Microsoft VBScript in a logon script to set a printer connection. With VBScript, you must initialize the variables and objects you plan to use and then call the AddWindowsPrinterConnection method of the Network object to add the printer connection. If desired, you can also use the SetDefaultPrinter method of the Network object to set the printer as the default for the user. After you are done using variables and objects, it is good form to free the memory they use by setting them to vbEmpty. Consider the following example:
Option Explicit
Dim wNetwork, printerPath
Set wNetwork = WScript.CreateObject("WScript.Network")
printerPath = "\corpsvr02engmain"
wNetwork.AddWindowsPrinterConnection printerPath
wNetwork.SetDefaultPrinter printerPath
Set wNetwork = vbEmpty
Set printerPath = vbEmptyHere, you use the AddWindowsPrinterConnection method to add a connection to the EngMain printer on CORPSVR02. You then use the SetDefaultPrinter method to set the printer as the default for the user.