setting up printers with Samba and Windows NT workstation

[a.lehman at ieee.org]

Hello all.

I'm a samba newbie given the task of setting up samba to act as a print
server for 5 HP laser printers ranging from the LaserJet 4MV to the
LaserJet 8150N. I've done a search of the samba mailing list archives to
see if my problem has already been addressed, but I have been unable to
find anything that refers to the same error I'm receiving. I am using SWAT
to administer samba, and I have checked the SWAT help pages along with the
documentation on the website, but nothing seems to solve this problem. File
sharing works great, I just can't print.

I am attempting to add a printer using the NT printer wizard and selecting
"network printer server." I can locate my server and the printer name in
the network list, and it will allow me to add the printer. When I try to
print a test page, I get the following error message: "Test page failed to
print. The filename, directory name or volume label syntax is incorrect."
When trying to print from an application, I get either a "printer error"
message or a message stating "unable to start print job due to insufficient
memory or invalid printer specification."

We are running Solaris 2.6 and Samba 2.0.7 on a Sun Ultra 5. Our PC clients
are all running Windows NT Workstation 4.0, with service pack 6a. All
printer drivers reside on the client side rather than on the server, and we
are currently serving the printers via Solaris. I noticed when checking my
global settings through SWAT, the printcap name is set to lpstat. However,
this printing option does not show up under the printer parameters in the
smb.conf file. Here is a snip of the printer parameters from the smb.conf
file:

[kraken]
        comment = samba shared
        path = /var/spool/samba
        guest ok = Yes
        printable = Yes
        print command = lp -d%p -o nobanner %s; rm %s
        printer = kraken
        printer driver =

All of our printers are specified in /etc/printers.conf.

Any help or suggestions would be most appreciated. Thank you for your time.


Andrea D. Lehman
Technical Administrator
IEEE Standards Activities
445 Hoes Lane
Piscataway NJ 08855
email: a.lehman at ieee.org