can't find office network in yosemite

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can't find office network in yosemite

i can't find my office network using OS X 10.10 yosemite… or OS X 10.9 mavericks, for that matter. i'm currently running OS X 10.7.5 on a mid 2011 iMac (let me know if you need more info to better help). i did the upgrade when mavericks came out but had to revert back b/c i was never able to "install" my RIP "printer" after doing so. this isn't really a printer, but a computer that i send files to via a RTI RIP kit PPD & it is a must that i can attach / "print" to it for my day to day work.

the manner in which i previously set this up is by adding a printer in print & scan w/in system preferences. when the add printer dialog box shows, i select windows then navigate to the RIP computer. after selecting the appropriate location, i select the RTI RIP-Kit v3 PPD from it's location on the iMac via the print using drop down menu.

none of that even shows up when i attempt to do it using yosemite or mavericks… and that "printer" didn't just keep working like our digital press printer did. my assumption for that is b/c the RIP isn't a real printer, but me sending files to a folder on another [windows] computer on our network via a RIP kit PPD (which makes it act like a printer i can use by printing the files via the print command thru the applications i'm using — which is what i'd like to continue doing b/c of how i have to send the files over in order to properly make plates).

my issue is that this is the ONLY thing keeping me from upgrading at work & i can't seem to resolve the problem. i've been trying everything i can think of on my macbook pro, running yosemite, to get past this but i'm stumped.

since i'm pretty sure i didn't really explain this all that clearly, i've attached an image of the add printer dialog box to further illustrate what i'm referring to. none of the network navigation shows up in yosemite or mavericks… neither thru that nor if i use go > connect to server > browse. any ideas as to why this would be? i've never experienced issues like this in all my years of OS X upgrades & am hoping it's something simple i'm just not seeing. thanks!

Mac Pro, Mac OS X (10.7.4)

Posted on Jan 30, 2015 8:36 AM

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Answer 1

PAHU

Level 6

16,743 points

Feb 1, 2015 10:14 PM in response to dorkimusprime

So to confirm, when you try to add using the Windows view on Yosemite, do you see the Workgroup names in the first column (such as mshome, sps-group and workgroup)? If not, then this would suggest the Mac is not talking to the computer on the local network that is acting as the master browser. As to why that would be so, usually this would be due to an IP subnetting issue - so check that the IPv4 subnet mask and IPv4 subnet are the same used by the PC.

If you can see the workgroup names of sps-group and workgroup but not mshome, then at a guess it could be a compatibility issue. I think mshome was last used with Windows XP Home as the default workgroup name. So given the age of the OS and its end-of-life support was last year, then maybe 10.9 and 10.10 are not designed to work with this workgroup? I don't have a WinXP PC here at home to check my theory - but note that it is just a theory and I could be totally wrong. Still, if you can see the other two workgroups, then it might be worth changing the workgroup name on the PC to one you can see.

One other thing to consider would be to enable the LPD service on this RIP PC. If it is WinXP, then here's a link to an MS KB article for the procedure. Once this is enabled then instead of using the Windows view to add the printer, you can select the IP icon and then set the protocol to Line Printer Daemon-LPD. You can then enter the IPv4 address of the RIP PC and for the Queue, the share name for the printer (SpdEco1630). Then select the RTI RIP-Kit PPD in the Use menu and see if that you will let you print.

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