Network Printing issue

[mikeleahy]

hi

i have a printer installed on a 2003 server and shared out through active directory. it prints fine from the server if u do a test page. if you right click the printer on a desktop and click properties, it hangs the pcs. all of them have the same problem. any idea why this happens

rgds
mike

 

[tfg13]

Has the printer made it into DNS? Are the clients pointing to the correct IP/printer name?

 

[mikeleahy]

where wud it show in dns. do u mean active directory. the clients are pointing to the correct printer

 

[tfg13]

I was assumeing that you had the printer hooked up via a print server, and not directly hooked to the AD machine. From your definition, it looks like you have it hooked directly to the AD machine, which could point to an issue with sharing. After creating the share, how did the clients connect? Did you ensure that permissions were set up?

Have you verified the correct drivers are loaded on the DC? Even if you can print a test page, the drivers can still be "hosed".

 

[mikeleahy]

yeah, drivers seem ok. printer is created on server using tcp ip port, then shared out to the pcs. if permissions werre a problem then they wudnt be able to add the printer at all

 

[tfg13]

Any firewall issues? How about "file and print sharing" checked on the network card? Any policies preventing download/installation of printer drivers? Users able to add printers, install drivers?

 

[mikeleahy]

i will have to check the nic settings, but the users are only adding the network printer so thye shudnt need rights to add a printer driver???

 

[sparkbyte]

Mike your users do need the ability to add needed printer drivers for the models of printers that are being connected to.

Also, remember that printer security and share permissions are NOT the same. A user may be able to connect to a printer because the SHARE permissions allow him to, but be unable to use the printer because of it's security.

I have about 350 printers setup in the fassion you describe and I use the printer permissions to disallow access to special use printers. I work for a company in the banking industry and our printers that are used to print checks for the banks use special printer toner so you don't want some HR person mistakenly sending a 100 page report to one of those printers!!

Very expensive mistake. Printer in locked protected area, VERY expensive toner, and equally expensive bank check forms.

So, first verify the share permission, then check and apply/remove permissions to the printers as needed. Once that has been done you should be OK.

This also assumes you can successfuly run a test print job to the remote IP printer.

Hope this helps.

Thanks

John Fuhrman
Titan Global Services

http://www.titangs.com

 

[mikeleahy]

yeah, it prints via a crossover cable connected to a laptop fine. thanks for the info, looks like the share permissions are ok as they can add the printer. i will check the security but i would say that they all have full control. if this is the case, could it be DNS