How to set up network printer in imac

[jsteph]

Hi all,
I'm totally new to macs and I'm wondering how to set up a printer that's on a peer network (all other machines are pc's).

I guess I'm not feelin' the love from Apple here--I'd always heard that everything on a Mac is a snap and my grandmother could set them up. But I looked under Utilities, where I'd read on Apples help that there's supposed to be a printer utility, and there's nothing.

However, if I go into a document and try to print it, *then* a print dialog comes up where I can add a printer--but I click the + sign to 'add printer', and the list is empty. I can find nowhere to add even a local printer, let alone a networked one.

How can I accomplish this?
Thanks,
--Jim

 

[pentode]

What operating system? (10.2, 10.3, etc)?

http://www.ifelix.co.uk/tech/3015.html

 

[jsteph]

Yeah...about that...

I have no idea and have no idea where to find that (!).

It's a 20" iMac (I guess the mac world stratifies machines by monitor size?) that was purchased about 3 months ago. I'd assume it's got whatever the latest os was then...10.5 Leopard is my best guess. I'm not near the machine now so I can't check.

I really am puzzled by this machine because I'm so used to PC's, and I'm like a blind man trying to feel his way around.
--Jim

 

[jmgalvin]

Most things are set up via Apple/menu/System preferences.

Go to that, then Print & Fax and click the Set up printers button.

You should take a look at all the System prefs as that is where you set up everything. Since you have pcs, you'll want to go to Sharing so you can activate Windows sharing.

To find all info about the machine, go to Apple menu/About this Mac. Click the More info button to get ALL info about the machine.

Using OSX 10.3.9 on a G4 & G5

 

[jsteph]

jmgalvin,
Thanks much. There is no "windows Sharing" in system preferences that I can see. There is Printer sharing, and File sharing, and they're both activated.

The os is 10.5.1 btw.

When I go to Printers & Faxes, and click the + to set up printers, an empty list comes up with the 'add' button greyed out.

Where do I go from here?
Thanks,
--Jim

 

[pentode]

In OSX 10.4.11, under Sharing I see Windows Sharing. You don't have that?

 

[jsteph]

pentode,
No, here's the list I have:
Screen Sharing
File sharing
printer sharing
web sharing
remote login
remote management
remote apple events
xgrid sharing
internet sharing
bluetooth sharing

File sharing and Printer sharing are checked.

I also downloaded from HP, the drivers for the printer I'm using, an HP officejet L7500, the drivers for Mac OSx. When I went to run the installer.app, a dialog came up, and then asked if I wanted to join the HP customer improvement program. It had Yes and No buttons, and I first clicked NO, then nothing happened--the install didn't continue. So I then figured they're forcing me to join this thing, and I tried Yes. Still nothing

My reason for installing the drivers on the mac was that I'd hoped that the driver install program might have a dialog that prompted me to put the shared printers name in, but of course I never got that far.
--Jim

 

[Foamcow]

When you go to the Print & Fax preferences panel and see nothing have you tried clicking IP Printer?

You can then specify the IP address of your printer or the print server to which is attached.

You may also need to be logged in with an Administrator account to do this.

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[jsteph]

Foamcow,
I didn't see an option for IP Printer, but I'll check again. I have to think I would have tried that if I'd seen it though. I'm not sure if I'm on as administrator...

Some backstory--this is a client's network that I've been working on. They got an iMac on my recommendation--with the caveat that I may not be able to support it fully--but that my inexperience should be offset by my (so far incorrect) assumption that it would need less support than PC's.

So he put the machine together and got it booted, but his name is the only user (aside from guest) that I see in the the permissions list for file sharing. Is there a 'default' admin user/pwd, such as root/root that imacs come with out of the box?

FWIW, when I installed (that is--attempted to install) the HP drivers, it asked for credentials, I put in his name and pwd and it continued without a credential error (though later in the process that install locked up)..

So could the reason the HP install failed was due to his user not having correct permissions? And shouldn't the credentials dialog have notified me immediately if those creds didn't have the access rights to do the install?

Thanks for any more help on this,
--Jim

 

[jmgalvin]

I'm on osx 10.3 and 10.4

I'm assuming you're connected to network via ethernet and not wireless. The first thing to do is figure if the network is working at all. That would mean can you connect to the windows machnine (s) and can they connect to the mac.

Try going to system prefs/Network. From the Show Drop down, pick network port configurations. Make sure that most are checked, like ethernet, airport, etc,

Go back to Show drop down and pick built in ethernet. Then click on the Appletalk button and check Make Apple talk active.

Go back to Show drop down and pick Network Status, Make sure that it shows you're connected.

Then go to sys prefs/sharing and see if Windows sharing is available. If not go to Help manu and search for windows sharing.

The above is assuming that the printer is connected to a windows machine and shared.

One thing to try, you might try plugging the printer into the mac and see if it shows up.



Using OSX 10.3.9 on a G4 & G5

 

[Foamcow]

So he put the machine together and got it booted

You sure this is an iMac? What exactly needed to be 'put together' (other than plugging they keyboard in - assuming it's not the bluetooth version).

Look in the users preferences panel. You should see the accounts set up on the machine and whether they have admin powers. Since you say there is only 1 account, it's most likely got admin powers. Once you have things sorted re this printer I'd advise changing that. Set up an admin account and give the regular account normal privs. Tell your client not to use the admin account on a day to day basis.

The network browser in the printers prefs panel should pick up any printers on your network. Mine picks up the 5 we have here plus their respective queues on our Small Business Server.

As was said, check the network connection. How are the printers attached to the network?

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[Foamcow]

Sorry, that should have been the "Accounts" preferences panel, not Users.

Another caveat is that I'm using 10.4.9 and not 10.5 as you said you were using.

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[jsteph]

Hi,
Yes network is fine, I get internet and can move files between the PC and iMac, and all the other PC's show up in the finder window, and I can dbl-click and browes the PC's files.

BTW, it is an Imac, all he had to do was basically plug it in, it's all contained in the monitor. But what I was getting at there is that I don't know what dialogs he came across during the first bootup that may have asked to set a root pwd, and how he set up his username. But it does appear that his username has admin rights.

The printer is physically connected to one of the WindowsXP (Pro sp2) machines. In the XP machine's Printer Sharing tab it has a button for 'additional drivers'. There is no mac shown, just a bunch of different windows options (Itanium, i64, alpha, win9x, etc.). So that's why I attempted to run the HP drivers for Mac...thinking that if I ran that on the Mac it might do some magic.

I wanted to also run the Mac drivers-install on the pc (thinking that it would add Mac to the 'additional drivers' tab) but it was a .dmg file which the PC didn't recognize.

What's odd is that in the printer list--the dialog that comes up when I click the plus sign in the printers/fax dialog--everything is greyed out. There is an 'Add' button--greyed out. The list itself doesn't let you put the cursor in any line to hardcode an IP or printer sharename.
--Jim

 

[pentode]

The first username and password he entered is essentially the root user.

 

[jsteph]

Yes, I checked in Accounts and for his username he has the box 'allow this user to administer the computer' checked.

But still no visibility of the printer. I did see as I was poring through the Apple help site that there was something about having to add a printer to a 'printer list'. I assume this is that list that comes up when I click the plus sign on the printers & faxes dialog. Is there a way I can manuall edit that list?

I really want to avoid the workaround that I saw on an Apple site--I believe it was for older OS, like 8.0--but this had a bizarre and complex dog & pony show of linking Postscript emulators and it had this visio diagram that looked more complex than a cpu circuit diagram. I'm really hoping that's no longer necessary...
--Jim

 

[jmgalvin]

When you click the add printer button, you should have a drop down at the top on the next window. Click on it and look for Windows Printing. You might have to set some other things, depending on the printer itself.

In finder go to Help and search "windows printer sharing". That will give you further info.

Again I'm on 10.3 and 10.4 but Apple usually doesn't change basic setup things much between versions.

The username/password that the users entered when first setting up the machine will be the administrator account. Don't confuse "root" with "administrator" on mac. A root user is ONLY for hardcore OSX or Unix geeks setting up real fancy stuff at the deepest system level and requires several steps, via NetInfo manager, to even set up - to preclude people from totally screwing things up. All you need on Mac is administrator.

Using OSX 10.3.9 on a G4 & G5

 

[jmgalvin]

Here's the result of checking "windows printer sharing" from OSX Help.

From this result of the search: Setting up to print to a printer shared by a Windows computer via SMB

1 Open System Preferences and click Print & Fax.
2 Click Printing, and then click the Set Up Printers button.
If the printer already appears in the Printer List, select the In Menu checkbox to add it to your list of available printers. You'll see it in the Printer pop-up menu the next time you print.
3 Choose Printers > Add Printer.
4 Choose Windows Printing from the top pop-up menu, choose a network workgroup from the pop-up menu that appears directly below it, select a workgroup from the list, and click Choose.
Any Windows printers in the network you've chosen appear in the Printer List.
5 Select the printer in the Printer List.
6 To use printer-specific features, choose the item appropriate for your printer from the Printer Model pop-up menu, then select your printer in the Model Name list.
IMPORTANT: Be sure to choose the correct printer model for the printer you're using. For more information, see the documentation that came with the printer. If you have an HP PCL compatible printer that is not listed in the Printer Model pop-up menu, choose the printer model that most closely matches your printer. For a list of compatible printer models you can choose if your printer isn't listed, go to

http://gimp-print.sourceforge.net/p_Supported_Printers.php3.

7 Click Choose.
The printer appears in the Printer List as the default printer (in bold type). It also appears in the Printer pop-up menu when you print a document.



Using OSX 10.3.9 on a G4 & G5

 

[jsteph]

jmgalvin,
Ok...I get lost on step 2. I go into System Preferences and do Print & Fax. In that dialog that comes up, all I see is a window on the left that say's "Click + to add a printer or fax", and on the right a window that says "No printers selected".

Then there's the plus sign below (to add printer or fax) and a dropdown for "Default Printer" and "Select paper size". There is nothing else there like "Printing" or "Set up Printers"

The dropdowns are empty, and clicking the + sign leads to that empty list with the greyed out 'Add' button.
--Jim

 

[jmgalvin]

Click the + button and see if you get a window headed something like Printer browser - with no printers listed. If yes, clcik on teh More Printers button at bottom. The next window should have the top dropdown where you can select Windows sharing.

Sorry, but I had copied from my 10.3 machine rather then the 10.4 one so that's the difference - hopefully the same 10.5.

Again, just go t mac help and search for "windows printer sharing" for more info and help.

Using OSX 10.3.9 on a G4 & G5

 

[jsteph]

jmgalvin,
Thanks...but that's where it stops--that dialog that comes up when I click the + button is completely greyed out. There is an Add button, but it's dead, so are the empty list items, it's as if it's just a picture of the dialog box, I get no control over it whatsoever, except for the close/min/max buttons.

Is there a right-click menu or a ctrl-key combo that might bring up something, or could there be a dialog hidden behind that or invisible? I've move that dialog out of the way because I've seen (in the pc world) where a dialog box might get hidden behind the dialog that called that box.
--Jim