Samba/Printing & Win2K INF file problem

[John Hawley]

"Gerald (Jerry) Carter" wrote:

> On Wed, 9 Jan 2002, John Hawley wrote:
>
> > Yes, you do need the "printer driver" in each printer section.  And it
>
> No you do not.  Do not use it.  It will only muck things up.
>

comments below..

>
> > must exactly match up with what that drivers description in the *.inf
> > file that you direct it to.  Turns out all my problem printer models
> > had a typo or some incorrect data on this line.  Not sure if the
> > "printer driver location" param is now needed or not, but I have been
> > putting "printer driver location=\\%h\print$" in each section.
>
> No.  Do not use it either.  Just out of curiousity, was this unclear in
> the HOWTO?  If so I will revise it some more....
>

Thanks.  I reread the docs a little closer, and guess my main problem was that I
was doing a "connect" to the printer listed in the root of the Samba server,
instead of going to "properties" of the printer in the Printers folder.

I did as suggested; commenting out both the "printer driver" and "printer driver
location" in the printer description area in smb.conf and the driver install
from the W2k client went fine.  I got the W9x driver to upload also through the
sharing properties (after some fiddling (see below)).  However, when I tried to
test it from a Win98 client, it could not detect that their was a driver on the
server.  I normally install W9x printers by browsing to the Samba server,
finding the printer in the list, and doing a right-click "install".  Isn't this
the proper way to do it?  Anyway, when I went back to the smb.conf and put back
in the "pirnter driver" line, it did install from the server.

>
> > The next problem, is how do you add drivers for other OS's if the
> > description names aren't the same?  As an example, an HP Laserjet 4M+.
> > In W2k its called "HP LaserJet 4/4M Plus PS 300" and in Win98 its
> > called "HP LaserJet 4/4M Plus PS"

>
> See comment above.
>

eh?  Here's what I found works for legacy printers that no longer have any
driver packages available on the vendors web site.  PLEASE anybody let me know
if there is an easier way!

1)  Install the printer locally on the Win9x workstation.  Doesn't matter if you
can really connect to it or not.
2)  Share out the c:\windows\system and c:\windows\inf folders to the network.
3)  Find the INF file that contains the driver install info for the printer in
question (ie an HP LJ IIID w/PS Cart would be in c:\windows\inf\msprint3.inf).
Hack this file if need be to match up the driver description that is used in the
W2K client.  They aren't necessarily the same.  ARRRG!
4)  Go to the W2k client, printer properties, sharing page, and do the
"Additional Driver" thingy.  For the driver location, point it back to the W9x
client network shares INF or SYSTEM as appropriate.
5)  Remove the local printer from the W9x client, and test by reinstalling from
the Samba server. :)

~jh