How to allow a windows 10 machine to print to the printer on my mac (mavericks)

Question

How to allow a windows 10 machine to print to the printer on my mac (mavericks)

Have seen references to this problem all over the internet, but no solutions as yet.

I have a MBP running Mavericks to which is attached a Brother HL-5340D printer. I want to print to this from my wife's new laptop running Windows 10. It's as simple as that.

I've had a helluva job getting the Windows machine to see files and folders on the Mac, but the printer it won't see. Don't make me wipe Windows 10 and install linux on her machine or I'll end up in the divorce courts. She's already blaming me for buying a computer with Windows 10 instead of Windows 7.

I have actually moved the printer from the windows machine as I could not print to it there from either of our macs.

MacBook Pro, OS X Mavericks (10.9.4)

Posted on Nov 11, 2016 9:05 AM

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Answer 1

lanstrad1

Level 1

134 points

Dec 22, 2017 2:51 PM in response to Community User

Geee been fooling around with all settings in there...

It detects (under Windows) a Brother HL-2170W, as expected. Tell me *WHY* nether Windows nor Apple can just grab what is needed for THAT printer connected to a MAC in USB and get the thing working before I blast half of the Amazonia trees ???...

Unfortunately my printer stopped responding through network, which is why I now need to either fill the dump with another electronic device, or recycle it by using its USB and ''normal sharing'' capabilities...

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Answer 2

Nov 11, 2016 9:58 AM in response to Community User

Try this.

To print to your Mac-connected USB printer from Windows, here’s all you need to do:

Make sure your printer works as expected in OS X.
Launch System Preferences and go to the Sharing pane. On the Sharing pane, check the box for Printer Sharing, and (if you have more than one locally-connected printer) check the box for the specific printer you’d like to share.
Switch to your virtual or real Windows machine, and download and install Bonjour for Windows. If you need more help with the installation, Dan’s linked article above has more details.
After installing Bonjour, you’ll find a new Bonjour Printer Wizard on your Windows desktop. Launch it, then click Next to get to the Browse for Bonjour Printers screen.
In the Shared Printers section of this screen, you should see your shared Mac-connected printer. Select it, then click Next.
On the Install Bonjour Printer screen, you’ll probably see the Manufacturer as Generic and the Model as either Generic/PostScript or Generic/PCL. Choose Generic/PostScript first—if that doesn’t work, you can try again with PCL later. If you want this to be your default printer, check that box, then click Next.
Click Finish; you’re done.

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Answer 3

Nov 11, 2016 2:19 PM in response to Community User

Thanks, acm001. I actually tried Bonjour several times this afternoon before sending my cry for help. Bonjour does not apparently work with Windows 10, certainly not reliably, at any rate, and I could get no response from it, and found no way of giving it a hint.

Then, after testing my printer attached to a linux box - to which the Windows 10 machine would not connect either - I plugged the printer back into the Mac I had been planning to use. Seeing then your suggestion, I decided to try Bonjour once more, and to my surprise, there was my Mac and its attached printer. However it disappeared again before I had had time properly to install it, and has not since returned.

I now have another problem. Another Mac also has a problem with printing from this printer, even when it is attached to the original Mac. The new Mac appears to send the document to the printer, and no error message is returned, but neither is there any document coming out of the printer. I am beginning to despair!

But thanks anyway for taking the time to reply.

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