Share a Printer over Network Regardless of Who is Logged in 1

[kjv1611]

Where I work, we have some machines where people log in and out of them all day. So Suzy Queue will be logged in at 8am, then John Smith logs in at 8:45am. Then again after lunch, Bubba Blue logs in.

What I'd like to do is really a couple of things, but the most recent is what got me to looking at it:
[ol 1]
[li]Add/Install all printers for all users on a computer at one time, rather than with every user's login separately.[/li]
[li]For connected USB printers, would be best to go ahead and share it regardless of who is using the computer (this is my current dilemma)[/li]
[li][/li]
[/ol]
So far, I've been adding printers under my name or else the primary user's name, but on some computers, there is really no primary user, b/c they switch up so often based on what lab tests they are running.

Thanks in advance for any thoughts

"But thanks be to God, which giveth us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ." 1 Corinthians 15:57

 

[hairlessupportmonkey]

Are these machines in a domain? if so:

1) GPO
2) have a dedicated print server (Even NAS boxes these days have this feature) for the USB printers.


ACSS - SME
General Geek

 

[kjv1611]

Yes, on a domain. You mention Group Policy. How can I fix it with Group Policy. Note: the print sharing was fine with an old XP computer connected, and it setup to share the printer. Ever since replacing with a Windows 10 desktop where printer is shared, though I did share the printer, and the other XP computer can see it, it won't let us access it. I tried a few login/password combinations just to see if that did resolve the issue, but it did not.

"But thanks be to God, which giveth us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ." 1 Corinthians 15:57

 

[kjv1611]

Now I've got the same issue at another set of computers.

The consistent items are:
[ul]
[li]Computer connected to printer is running Windows 10 x64 Pro[/li]
[li]Printer connected via USB[/li]
[li]Each printer is a label printer: 2 different manufacturers[/li]
[li]Computers that are unable to connect to each of the printers are both running Windows XP Pro 32 bit[/li]
[li]This exact same setup has worked fine for years when all computers involved were Windows XP[/li]
[/ul]

Some other issues to attend to, but I plan to upload a couple screenshots of what I see on the XP machines. Thanks again for any thoughts in the meantime.

"But thanks be to God, which giveth us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ." 1 Corinthians 15:57

 

[kjv1611]

I may have stumbled on a solution. Found this or similar mentioned in a couple of different forums, but they all basically went this route to get the job done. This seems to be the most original source on the topic:

http://www.windowsnetworking.com/kb...ps/Admin/AddSharedPrinterasaLocalPrinter.html

I've set it up for one set of printer-USB(local PC win10) -> share to domain network PC (winXP). Now waiting for feedback from user in testing, because they were away when I tried the install. So far it worked with no errors, though I did also have to go install the driver from manufacturer's setup utilities, but it then used the manual port I setup. I'll report back once I know if worked correctly or not.



"But thanks be to God, which giveth us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ." 1 Corinthians 15:57

 

[hairlessupportmonkey]

Printers are the bane of IT life.

ACSS - SME
General Geek

 

[kjv1611]

You know, I thought I knew a lot of stuff before I took my current job, but I'm constantly surprised with things I've never heard of as well as things I've forgotten.

"But thanks be to God, which giveth us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ." 1 Corinthians 15:57

 

[xwb]

Just as a matter of interest, how many machines will be connecting to the printer.

In the past (c2006), I have found that I can only connect up to 5 machines in a workgroup. The 6th one often refuses to connect even though the others are not using it. I have to disconnect one of the others from the network before it works.

 

[strongm]

Windows workgroups have always(pretty much) had limits of either 5 or 10 simultaneous connections (not computers, connections) depending on the specific edition of Windows being connected to.

 

[kjv1611]

If I had to guess, I might could see up to 7 different computers where someone might try to print to the printer over the network. However, I've only so far been aware of 2 that actually do. I still don't fully know if the way I set it up is actually working with the first test machine. They had another lab test with some serious issues that took higher priority, obviously, and a couple of different programs hung up, so I figured I'd just wait and see what we find later. I may try to check back sometime in the next little while.

"But thanks be to God, which giveth us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ." 1 Corinthians 15:57

 

[Beilstwh]

Personally I would set up a standalone print server and anything windows, mac, linux can use it. They can be purchased at amazon, newegg, best buy... or any other computer hardware site and are under 200. Why use an existing computer workstation to host the printer.

Bill
Lead Application Developer
New York State, USA

 

[kjv1611]

Most of the printing is done locally at the printer. Some printers are setup via our company print server, but some are setup at workstations. Why? I don't know just yet. One likely reason is we are also currently limited on open LAN ports. Also, just before heading out Wednesday, I was made aware of some local USB print issues, so I've got to redo the driver and such there, see if we can get that resolved. Fun stuff.

"But thanks be to God, which giveth us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ." 1 Corinthians 15:57

 

[Beilstwh]

for less then $100 U.S. dollars you can get an managed 8 port switch and a printer server and share the single wire from the office switch and then the printer would be available to everyone in the office.

Bill
Lead Application Developer
New York State, USA

 

[kjv1611]

The problem isn't the hardware. The problem is getting everything wired. The IT Manager here had already tried asking permission to expand our network for this reason, but the cost was deemed too high. The costs, I'm sure, are for both: high-end equipment as well as paying someone to run the additional cables.

I'll definitely be looking into how I can expand our network in the future, but for now, I've got to get the current problem(s) fixed.

I'm sure the hardware cost side of things is because we've got a pretty good setup, though fairly old, right now, and if they wanted to expand, they wouldn't just buy an 8 port switch, but rather they would replace the older switch with a larger one.

"But thanks be to God, which giveth us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ." 1 Corinthians 15:57

 

[Beilstwh]

you do not have to wire anything. you have a single cable going to the workstation which has the printer attached to the workstation. You take that single cable, plug it into the new unmanaged switch that is sitting next to the computer and then you use 2 ports on the new switch. One has the workstation plugged into it and the other port has the one port print server plugged in and the printer plugged into the print server. Everything will work fine for both devices using the single cable. All for under $100.

Bill
Lead Application Developer
New York State, USA

 

[kjv1611]

Yeah, that won't fly here right now, but thanks for the suggestion. I might consider it down the road once I have time to get to smaller things like this. From what I have seen, that type solution for something else has been frowned upon in the past. I'm willing to try it if it works well, but I'm not going to mess with it yet. Maybe 2 years or so from now.

"But thanks be to God, which giveth us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ." 1 Corinthians 15:57

 

[Beilstwh]

OK. I work for a multi billion dollar company and we use this solution if we need multiple devices at a location and don't want to pull another wire in the complex.

Bill
Lead Application Developer
New York State, USA

 

[kjv1611]

Again, thanks. This is something I want to look at, but cannot for the time being. Notice I did put a pink star on your comment, that means I found it helpful.

"But thanks be to God, which giveth us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ." 1 Corinthians 15:57