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

[Eirik Thorsnes]

Just two short notes:
1) The description by Gary Algier below should be added to the
Samba-howto-collection.pdf !!
2) I have experienced one thing when uploading / downloading from NT4
workstations:
    The workstation will not download drivers for the same printer more
than once - even though
    the drivers on the server are newer. You have to remove all
references to the printer and its drivers
    from the registry, as well as deleting all driver files - reboot -
and then download the drivers.

Eirik Thorsnes

Gary Algier wrote:

>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
>> 
>>  
>> 
>
>