Print from MAC to shared Windows printer

I have the same issue as willjm. I have an iMac and Airport Extreme. I have two windows xp machines networked with iMac through the AE. The xp boxes each have a printer, and each can use the other's printer. However, the iMac cannot see either printer. I can see file folders on the xps from the iMac, and I can open files from them on the iMac, but I can't get to the printers.

I tried waynewat's suggestion for using CUPS:
"I found this procedure worked perfectly.

1) go to http://localhost:631/. This starts up Apple's Common Unix Printing System (CUPS) already on your Mac.
2) click Add Printer, log in with your name/password, and then start filling in the blanks.
3) on Device page, select Windows Printer via SAMBA.
4) for Device URI, enter smb://windowsipaddress/printersharedname"

but it didn't work. I suspect I may be using the wrong entry for "windowsipaddress". I used the address of the pc, since I didn'tknow where to find an address for the printer. As the "printersharedname," I used the Share name from the printer properties entry under the Properties box for my printer.
Does anyone have a suggestion?

waynewat's steps are a simplified version - when you already have a driver that works using samba (a CUPS driver) or, you have a postscript printer(s) - because postscript "drivers" are, by default, CUPS-capable drivers.

What's missing in this puzzle? You haven't told us what printer models you have, so we can consider what drivers are available.

By the way, you just want the IP address of the Windows computer - the printer doesn't have its own IP address. The printer share name is the printer's address.

Thanks for the quick response. I have an hp Officejet 6210. I used CUPS with the Windows SAMBA option. I found a 6200 driver in one of the menus and selected it.

I continued searching around the forums, and I found this solution from "Templeton Peck" (I was once an "A-Team" fan too) that worked for me:

"http://support.apple.com/kb/HT3049
http://support.apple.com/kb/HT3771

Always remember to search!

iMac 2.66Ghz, 2.4Ghz MacBook Pro, iPhone 3G Mac OS X (10.6.1) "

I'm now fully operational. Thanks for the help!

Wish I could say it worked for me. I followed all the steps, and it found, and installed, the Canon MP500 printer on the Windows network, but it still won't print to it. I can't even get a test page to print. I would have suspected the firewall on my wife's (Windows) computer, but I've gone in and manually added my new Mac to the "Trusted Sites" - and even tried temporarily disabling the firewall - but it still doesn't work.

I have my iMac on the same workgroup, and I can swap files back and forth from any of the Windows computers with no problems; I just can't print to the Windows printer. This is driving me crazy.

Not enough to go back to Micro$oft, mind you; I'm well rid of them. But I'd sure like for someone to tell me how to resolve this without having to set up yet ANOTHER clunky printer here on my desk. 😟

Yes please let's get this issue resolved once and for all. I'm using Leopard trying to print to an XP networked HP Deskjet 3620. When I try to print from the MAC it bogs down the print spoller on my PC and I have to stop it via the command line and reboot the XP machine to return the spooler to normal. Let's hook this up people...anybody chime in here!

Thanks!

Solan

I found a solution that worked for me.

When it was suggested to me by my brother-in-law (who's a Linux freak) that I use an open-source third-party application, I was skeptical; however, after perusing some articles around the Web, and following their instructions, I discovered the ol' boy actually knows what he's talking about.

In my situation, the problem was not with the network connectivity, nor even the Windows machine not wanting to play nice (my first suspicion), but rather the printer driver that came with Snow Leopard.

Details: I was trying to print from my iMac (OS X 10.6.2 Snow Leopard) to a Canon MP500 that was on my wife's Windows XP computer. My iMac saw her computer (and vice versa) and they even played well together, which should have alerted me that it wasn't the networking that was the problem, but the printer driver.

Anyways...I hope this will help someone else out. Check out the following link, and follow his leads. The article is a couple years old, but the info is still pertinent, and the links are still good. I just printed a full document to that Windows printer with no problem.

http://www.zisman.ca/Articles/2006/LEM-Print-to-Windows.html

Ciao,

Shubes

Hi Guys,

I just switch from PC to MAC this month, I might say its pretty satisfying until I have this problem and its been a week.

I've been figuring out how to print on my MBP on a Windows XP Home machine that has an Epson NX400 shared printer, I tried using CUPS, unfortunately PrintFab doesnt support the printer and almost all the solutions I found on the net regarding this problem.

It's frustrating in a way, but I have to give a credit since It's been my first time using MBP, but if this problem persist within the next few days... I rather go back to PC.

Any suggestion guys?

Thanks.

Thanks, this was beginning to drive me nuts. Now it's easy and works for 10.6.2 too 🙂 Although I did have to type in the smb address like this:

smb://username:password@servername/printersharedname

I have spent hours trying to resolve this and I have used every idea out there. No luck. Let me know if you have a solution that works please.