I constantly get asked if I mind being asked stupid questions. My answer is always the same, “No. The only stupid questions are the ones that aren’t asked.” I believe and live that statement every single day.
When it comes to computers, I love researching and hunting down solutions to problems or questions I’m trying to solve. However, I also know when to say when and ask for help. Tonight is one of those points. My daughter received a MacBook from her grandparents for her birthday and it works great. However, I have a shared printer hooked to a Windows XP machine that I print to from my Vista machine and XP laptop just fine, but the MacBook won’t see the network or the printer.
Through much reading and searching, I was able to setup a shared folder on her MacBook with Mac OS 10.5 (Leopard). I can now see and write to that folder from the Windows machines. In order for her to see her data on the XP machine, I had to setup a user on the XP machine with a password enabled, then use a smb command to connect to it with the Mac. However, the entire Windows workgroup is still invisible to the Mac.
My question to Mac experts who can help is: How can I get a Macintosh computer running OS 10.5 (Leopard) to print to a printer hooked to an XP computer on a Windows network?
I’m sure there is something I have overlooked, but I never drive more than 10 minutes without knowing for sure where I’m going. And I won’t spend more than two days tackling a computer problem I know someone else has had and found the solution.
Thanks for your help.
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Rick,
The standard procedure is Apple Menu–>System Preferences–>Print & Fax, then click the add button on the lower left, then the Windows button on the next pane. I assume you’ve tried that? If you can’t see the computer on the workgroup from there, I’d make sure you can see the computer (and the shared printer) from another XP box.
Yep, I’ve tried the standard stuff and the printer and network are available from all other Windows machines. I appreciate the ideas!
And there’s no firewall that might be preventing the Mac from seeing the XP box, right?
It could be a thousand things, of course. Not being as skilled as you, I can’t tell without looking at the Mac.
You might try installing Bonjour for Windows (http://www.apple.com/support/downloads/bonjourforwindows.html). Bonjour is Apple’s zero-conf networking protocol and while I’ve found virtually no difference between Bonjour printing, IP printing and printing through sharing, it might help in this case.
Yep, tried that and there is no firewall problem, because I can see the Mac from the PC’s, and I can do the SMB:// command and get to a shared folder manually from the Mac, but it won’t browse or see the workgroup or the shared printer.
Frustrating part to is that I spent two hour on hold with Mac with two different people and they couldn’t tell me either. I need to try calling again tomorrow.
Yesterday, using 10.4 I had no problems with
printing. Actually I was amazed how easy it
was to set up Mac to Windows printing under 10.4.
Today I upgraded (applied 10.5.1 patch too) and
nope. Workgroup printing fails. I had to
follow other folks’ advice and add the printer
(hp 1300 on an XP sp2) through the SMB procedure.
I also learned to use the
to add the advanced setup to the print setup.
In the end, I created a non prived user account
with a password and use that with the setting
smb//username/ipaddress/sharedprintername
When I print it asks for a password. I changed the
username to the shared account and entered the password
and checked the “key chain” option.
I did that once for every user on the MAC. A pain
for now. I hope this helps and Apple fixes this
or clearly states that this is how it will be in the
future. I hope not.
Dave
Yes, I tried the smb: route as well and can’t get it to go. I will try again and see what happens. It is quite strange because I can see the Mac from the PC’s, but the Mac only saw the PC’s and workgroup one time. I can use “log into server” to see the shares on a PC, but it won’t come automatically and the printing is fruitless. Ughh. Otherwise, the Mac has been a joy.