[Samba] Information on setting up printers for windows clients (win2k/win9x)

[Gary Algier]

I would not do this if I were you.  See the recent thread on
"Can't print duplex".  After a lot of playing around I find that
a freshly installed Win2k system can print duplex to a Samba server,
but only if the Samba server has had all its drivers removed and
the nt*.tdb files removed that reference them.  I don't know yet
what the problem is, but I am guessing one of the following:
	1) The HP drivers I downloaded from www.hp.com and uploaded
	   to the Samba server are bad.
	2) The fact that I uploaded HP drivers for non-duplexing
	   printers as well as duplexing printers and Samba folded
	   these into one common driver.
	3) Downloaded drivers just don't act the same as the native
	   Win2k drivers.
	4) One or more of the *.tdb files that records the
	   driver information is corrupt.  I tried to delete
	   what I thought mattered, but I don't know exactly how
	   the *.tdb files are used.

I discovered that installing a driver from the Samba server makes my
system unable to print duplex.  The properties for the printer say
that the duplex unit is installed, but the Layout Tab used upon
printing will not offer two-sided print.  This holds true even
after removing the drivers from the Samba server and removing all
printers from the Win2k client.  The only way to print two sided is
to then do it from a "virgin" Win2k system.  I even did a reinstall
of Win2k over my previous system (using the Win2k Pro CD in "upgrade"
mode) and it did not fix the problem.  One must wipe out the disk
on the Win2k client and re-install the system from scratch.  It
seems as if once it has bad drivers for a printer, one can't make
it forget them.

If you want to upload the drivers, the docs are a bit off and there
are several things I learned that should be there as warnings.  Here's
the proceedure that I made work (with notes):
[If I am doing something wrong, somebody please correct me, but the
proceedure in the Samba Docs just does not work (see note (c))]
--------------------------------------------------------------------------
How to install printer drivers to a print server from Windows 2k.

1) Open the server.  Use something like \\server in the "Run..." box.
2) Open "Printers" folder.
3) Right click on printer and select "Properties".
4) You will get a dialog box displaying:
         Device settings cannot be displayed.  The driver for the
         specified printer is not installed.  Only spooler properties
         will be displayed.  Do you want to install the driver now?
    Select "Yes".
5) The Add Printer Driver Wizard will come up.  Select "Next".
6) If you are using the "built-in" drivers from Win2k, skip to step 9.
7) Select "Have Disk".
8) Browse to the drivers, either on external media or in a folder on your
    system.  Be sure to get the correct drivers for the OS.  Some drivers
    come as "Win2k", some as "Win2k and WinNT", etc.  You want the Win2k
    drivers because that is what you are using.  This first driver install
    is to install a copy on your client.
9) Select the correct printer and PS/PCL choice.
10) Select "Next", etc. whenever prompted until finally you select "Finish".
11) The Properties dialog will come up.  Select the "Advanced" tab.
12) Select "New Driver".
13) Go through the Wizard again, this time you will be uploading the
     driver to the server.  You want to upload the same driver as before.
14) Back at the Properties window, select the "Sharing" tab.
15) Select the "Additional Drivers" button.
16) Your OS should be selected, but grey.  Select the other platforms
     you wish to support (and for which you have drivers).  Select "OK".
17) It will ask for the Win2k Server disk.  Using the Win2k server disk
     to get the drivers is of dubious usefulness as many printer's drivers
     are not there.  It is better to download the drivers before hand
     from the vendor's websites.
18) Select "OK", whether you have the CD or not.
19) Select "Browse" and browse to the location of the drivers.  Be sure
     to get the drivers to match the platform.
20) Select "Open" at the end of your browsing.
21) Select "OK".
22) It will copy these files to the server.
23) Repeat steps 17 through 22 as necessary to install all your drivers.
24) Select "Apply".
     This is necessary to cause the Properties window to have the correct
     set of optional tabs.
25) Select the "Device Settings".
26) Make any changes necessary.  This is especially true of the
     "Installable Options" section.  Having the "Duplex Unit" option
     wrong will cause problems for the users.  Be sure to note
     whether there is a Tray 4 (sometimes known as an HCL) and get
     the amount of RAM and disk right.
27) Also check out any "Configure" or "Color Management" tabs and make
     any changes necessary.
28) Close.

Notes:

a) Sometimes you will be prompted for a file it can't seem to fine.
    The requested file will be right where it is looking, it just can't
    see it.  To continue, just select "Browse" and then select "Open" in the
    file selection dialog box.  It will find the file it was looking for.

b) When installing second and subsequent printers of the same model,
    when you select the "Sharing" tab and the "Additional Drivers" button
    you will see the other OS drivers already installed.  However, you
    will still need to install the driver locally as well as the first
    remote driver.

c) It may be tempting to skip the local driver install.  Don't.  You will
    be able to upload the network driver correctly, but you will never
    be able to upload the drivers for the other platforms.  If you try
    you will get an error.  You can't install the local driver after the
    network driver, so the only way to fix this is to find another
    Windows 2k client that has never used these printers.  This also
    means that the client used to install all "Other Platform" drivers
    must have had local drivers installed before ever trying to print
    to the print server as setting a client up for printing will
    download network drivers precluding the use of local drivers.

d) Any system used to upload all these drivers can't be used to test
    auto install of network drivers as the local drivers must be installed
    first (see above) and that precludes driver downloads.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------

Blanchard, Michael wrote:
> I have been looking for some documentation on setting up printers for 
> win2k/win98 clients.  I've setup a PRINTER$ share, made the 
> subdirectories, and it seems to work, except for all the new clients it 
> asks "no suitable driver found..." after that it works fine though.  Is 
> this normal?  It doesn't seem to put anything in the subdirectories of 
> PRINTER$.  Also, is there a way to set it up so it will automatically 
> download drivers to the clients no matter if they're win2k or win98?  
> And finally, what about manufacturer drivers?  how do you install HP 
> drivers instead of windows?
> 
>  
> 
> 
> *Mike Blanchard*
> *Network Administrator*
> *Webmaster - www.gaepilots.com*
> Grand Aire, Inc MIS Z-team
> 
>  
> 


-- 
Gary Algier, WB2FWZ          gaa at ulticom.com             +1 856 787 2758
Ulticom Inc., 1020 Briggs Rd, Mt. Laurel, NJ 08054      Fax:+1 856 866 2033