Apple Event: May 7th at 7 am PT
Hi
I have a MacBook Pro and am trying to connect to my network PC Printer. I have followed all available instructions and they printer appears shared. It appears on my Mac and I can send jobs to print and it says it is printing but nothing comes out.
Help.
MacBook Pro
Details please. What printer, make and model? Describe your configuration.
It is a Canon MX310 printer with Fax and Scanner. Wireless Connectivity. Windows 7 PC. I am not the most tech savy, but the Printer is attached to the PC and my Mac and PC are on the same Network.
Does this help?
Well the specs for the printer don't mention anything about wireless connection capabilities, so how are you accomplishing that?
If your connection is wireless, why is your printer attached to the PC and the Mac?
Please clarify.
It sounds like your printer is connected to your pc. Your pc is connected to the home network, But it doesnt sound like the printer is connected to the network. Try connecting the printer with a cable to the mac. Or Verify that your printer has wireless capabilities. Your printer needs to be able to connect to the wiresless router on its own, not through your pc.
Sorry Lanny
The network connection is wireless - the printer is not. It is attached to the PC.
I have been told I should then be able to set my Mac up to share the PC Printer??
As I said, I am not the most tech savy so my terminology could be ?????
If the printer is attached to the PC, then you would need to set up the PC, not the Mac, for printer sharing. I'm not familiar with Windows 7's printer sharing setup, but there must be a procedure for it. After that the printer should be available to your Mac.
Hey Lanny
Thanks for your help.
I have done a combination of the things you have said. Most I had done before, however not sure what I did different now that fixed it.
Now i can print if I connect the printer cable to the Mac but not through sharing with my PC. Should I be able to do this. I dont want to have to keep swapping the cable and thought I should be able to set it up through sharing.
If Lanny doesn't mind, I'd suggest leaving your printer connected to your Mac, and enable Printer Sharing on your Mac. It is much easier than trying to make that work on a PC.
On the Mac:  menu > System Preferences > Sharing:
Click the box for "Printer Sharing". Then, click the button "Open Print & Scan Preferences", select the printer, and check the box "Share this printer on the network".
On the PC: Download and install Bonjour Print Services for Windows. It makes using shared printers easy, much easier than trying to configure your PC as a print server.
Yes, you should be able to either hook the printer to the PC and use printer sharing on the PC, or hook the printer to the Mac and use printer sharing on the Mac.
After sharing is turned on either one, it should be available to the other.
Yes, I'm in agreement with John Galt, it is easier to do from the Mac side, assuming that you can add the printer from the PC side.
Thanks all.. It seems to me that I may be the problem and not the functionality!!😕 so will try all that you have said. I agree, it seems the MAC to printer and share to PC would be good, but sadly I have a hubby who is anti Mac and wants his beloved PC in the office as the main Hub and my MAC is the mover and shaker. So I will keep on working on the sharing and in the interim plug the cable in the mac..
I am sure it is something simple as the printer is showing shared everyone and all other boxes are ticked.
Thanks heaps for time and help.
You may want to check to see if your wireless router has a USB printer connection too.
Have your hubby consider this advantage: you can leave your printer attached to your MacBook Pro, and as long as it is not shut down (i.e. it can either be "on" or sleeping, just not shut down cold) and he wants to print something, your MacBook will wake up, process the print job, and go back to sleep without any intervention on anyone's part. All you need to do is enable "wake for network access" in Energy Saver.
Newer MacBooks will do this even when the clamshell is closed, as long as it is connected to power.
You also need a router compatible with Bonjour, most newer ones are as well as all AirPort Base Stations of course.
Can't do that on a PC.
You can print to the Canon from the Mac when it is connected to the Windows computer and shared. The key is to use the correct driver that supports this type of connection. The driver provided by Canon and available via Apple Software Update does not support this type of connection. Instead you need to install the Gutenprint driver suite on the Mac and use the MX300 Gutenprint driver to print to your MX310.
To add the shared Windows printer to the Mac, open Print & Scan and click the plus button. With the Add Printer view open select the Windows icon. This will present a window with three columns. The first is the workgroup column and you will probably see the word Workgroup. Select this and the next column will show the name of the Windows computer. Select this and you may get a prompt to authenticate. You need to enter the Windows user name and password into this popup, not your Mac details. With the user name and password correctly entered you will then see the shared printer name. Select this and then select the MX300 - Gutenprint driver in the Print Using menu and OK to finish.
Now the first time that you print to this shared printer you will get another prompt to authenticate. Enter the Windows credentials again and save them to the Mac keychain so that you don't have to enter the details the next time you print.
How do I connect Mac to PC Printer?
