Printing to a Network Device

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Printing to a Network Device

Solution

Verify basic network connectivity.

Check user rights, protocols, share names, and so on to determine if you can see the server. Copy files to a share on the print server using File Manager in Windows NT 3.x or Windows Explorer in later versions of Windows. If you cannot access the server, you may not be able to access the printer.

Create a local printer and redirect the port to the network server.

Create a local printer and in the Ports section, create a new port. Click Local, and type the server and printer name for the printer (use the \\servername\printername syntax). Use this port for the local printer. This determines whether there is a problem with the copying of files from the server to the workstation that occurs when you use a Connect To Setup or click Network Printer in the Add Printer Wizard.

Printing from an MS-DOS-based program.

Make sure that the NET USE command has been run to map the LPT port to the network share. If it has, delete it and re-map the port. If it then works, there may be an issue with ghosted connections. A command may need to be run in the login script to remap the port each time you log on.

If it is still not printing, try typing "dir > LPT" (without quotation marks) where is the number of the port being mapped. If it still does not print, double-check the networking.

NOTE: Printing from MS-DOS-based programs does not work if the printer is a Postscript Printer.

If you are using LPR or printing to a JetDirect card using the TCP/IP protocol, try these items:

•	Ping the IP address. If it fails, check the network connectivity and verify IP addresses.
•	Create an LPR port to the printer and then create a local printer connected to that port. This is the recommended way to connect to a JetDirect printer. Sharing this printer on the network allows the computer to act as a print queue for the JetDirect printer.

For additional information, click the article numbers below to view the articles in the Microsoft Knowledge Base:

124735 (http://support.microsoft.com/kb/124735/EN-US/) How Windows NT LPD Server Implements LPR Control Characters

124734 (http://support.microsoft.com/kb/124734/EN-US/) Text of RFC1179 Standard for Windows NT TCP/IP Printing

Determine whether you can print locally.

If possible, try printing locally. This determines whether it is a network or computer-specific problem. Also see the "Program" and "Print Stack" sections of this article.

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Article details

Article ID:	39
Category:	HSLAB Print Logger
Date added:	2010-06-19 19:57:43
Views:	266
Rating (Votes):	(2)

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