Printing to a Windows share in Linux

Printing to a Windows share in Linux

Many people use Linux systems on Windows networks. Thus it is useful to be able to use a shared Windows printer for your output device. You have to work with Windows and with Linux to make this happen. First, you must verify that a Windows share is correctly installed and configured by testing it in Windows. Once that's taken care of, the remaining part of the setup is configuring the Linux client.

Open the /etc/printcap directory, create a directory for your printer at /var/spool/lpd/<printer name>/.config, and then enter the following:

# HP4MP
hp:
:sd=/var/spool/lpd/Epson:
:mx#0:
:sh:
:if=/var/spool/lpd/hp/filter:
:lp=/dev/null:

Once you have done this, check that any users you wish to print to the Windows share have access to

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your printer directory. Next enter the following into the. config file:

share='<servername>HP4MP
hostip=<print server IP#>

Go to the command prompt to enable the print share:
$ lpc up hp
$lpc enable hp

Finally, test your print share by sending it a file:
$ lpr <path>/<filename>

Barrie Sosinsky is president of consulting company Sosinsky and Associates (Medfield MA). He has written extensively on a variety of computer topics. His company specializes in custom software (database and Web related), training and technical documentation.


This was first published in November 2003

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