SAMBA printer share and NT

[Anthony Farrow]

All,


I did some testing on one of our Samba servers running version 1.9.18p2 of
Samba. I wanted to create a printer share on the samba server that can be accessed by
standard users of Windows NT 4.0. and to store the printer drivers for 
the printer share on the Samba server. 

I created the following share in smb.conf:

[testprinter]
   comment = testprinter
   path = /usr/spool/testprinter
   printer = testprinter
   printer driver = HP LaserJet 4/4M PS
   printer driver file = /var/adm/samba/Hp4m3_v1.ppd
   public = yes
   writable = no
   printable = yes


I created a dummy HP LaserJet 4M printer called testprinter. Found the NT driver
PPD file on one of our NT servers and copied it to the samba server. Restarted
the samba server. I tried to connect to the printer share thru NT using Network
neighbourhood. NT comes back and says the printer share has to be set up on the
local machine. If you click YES, NT tries to install the driver for the printer
share on the local PC but fails saying that the user does not have sufficient
privileges to do this. I tried the same thing again but this time logged in as
local administrator on my machine. It worked - NT added the printer share to my
desktop. 

So it looks like you need to be administrator for the local PC to add the
printer share to the desktop because it is trying to add the printer driver to
the PC. 

Two hitches here - first we want the driver to stay on the samba
server, not be loaded onto the local PC, and secondly, users will not have the
required privileges to add the printer to their desktop when they login. 

I would like to know if anyone out there has found a way round this. I know the
notes for Samba say the above scenario can be implemented for Win95 clients but
can it be also applied to NT 4.0 clients and can the Samba server be used to
hold the printer drivers, not just for serving the drivers down to PC clients.

Regards,

	Anthony Farrow

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  Anthony Farrow BSc.(Hon.)
  Systems Programmer
  Cranfield University, England

  Tel   : (01234) 754200 ext. 2833
  Email : a.n.farrow at cranfield.ac.uk

Home Page under construction (slow!) at :
	http://www.cranfield.ac.uk/~ccanf

"Peace Through Superior Firepower"
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