Plotting from AutoCAD 2000 in a Windows 2000 Environment to a Samba Printer

[Andreas Ricke]

I am having a problem with AutoCAD 2000 plotting when trying to print to a Samba Printer. This only happens for Windows 2000 and not NT4.

Our server is running Solaris 2.6 and Samba 2.0.7

Step by step guide to reproduce the problem.

Create a printer share in samba eg. \\pspool\plotlaser
Install the printer on Windows 2000 as a network printer (I couldn't browse this from 2000 till I upgraded to 2.0.7). The printer works from Word, Excel, etc.

In AutoCAD 2000 under "Plot" select the "Plot Device" as "\\pspool\plotlaser".

go to "Properties" (next to plot device) "Ports" and click "Autospool"

AutoCAD now tries to do a check on the printer of some sort. It reports back "Test Failed". Clicking "OK" takes you to the next window which reports

AutoCAD Warning
plotlaser.pc3: This plotter configuration cannot be used. Either the driver cannot be found, the device cannot be found, or the driver has a problem. The none plot device has been substituted.
 
Printing directly to \\pspool\plotlaser works. Using the same settings on a Windows NT4 computer also works (either way).
 
Doing something similar to a printer on an NT4 server will work ie. you can set it to "Autospool" without any problem.

I believe that AutoCAD is doing some sort of check and samba in conjunction with AutoCAD 2000 is just not reporting back the right thing.

Andreas Ricke
aricke at batessmart.com.au
Bates Smart
(613)94832301

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