Printing over network from VirtualBox [SOLVED]

[R. G. Newbury]

On Wed, 2009-06-10 at 23:57 -0400, R. G. Newbury wrote:
 > Has anyone figured out how to create a printer instance to print from a
 > VirtualBox WinXP guest (on F10) to a network attached printer?
 >
 > The docs did not help, nor did google. One 'answer' stated to enter
 > //servername/printers/myprinter as the URI, with the implication that
 > servername is the host computer the printer is connected to, and
 > 'myprinter' is some descriptor of the actual printer.
 >
 > This seems a little disconnected when dealing with a network capable
 > printer (all puns intended).
 >
 > In F10 my printer is called Netprinter2 and accessed as
 > lpd://192.168.1.12/dummy (It's an HP3955 MFC). Various combinations of
 > this info produced only an error box to the effect that Windows could
 > not find a printer...
 > Can anyone help?

Recap: Host computer is Fedora 10, guest is Windows XP
The problem is to create a network printer instance inside the guest.

Answering my own question:

There are TWO DIFFERENT routes to getting printing working depending 
upon how the printer is connected to the network: that is, what sort of 
print server it is attached to.
If you can access the server using http://192.168.1.11:631, follow #1 
below. If you access the server without adding a port, then follow #2.

***************************
#1) Attached to a print server using cups/lpd/lpp

Use the 'network printer' option in the Printer Wizard.
For my HP-1320 LaserJet connected using an SMC one-port print server. 
The server interface is http://192.168.1.11:631 and the device URI in 
Fedora (host) is lpd:192.168.1.11/dummy.
The WinXP guest printer uses:

http://192.168.1.11:631/SCED4C99
where SCED4C99 is the internal 'name' of the print server.

You end up with a TCPIP port 'named' http://192.168.1.11:631/SCED4C99 
and a printer named 'unknown on http://192...etc. (there seems to be no 
way to name this printer).

***************************
#2 Attached to a print server using hplip or some other method.

Do NOT use 'network printer': use 'Local Printer' and create a TCPIP 
port for this printer. Under Fedora this printer shows up as 
'socket:192.168.1.12:9100' and the browser interface to the server is 
accessed directly with http://192.168.1.12.

Since my HP LaserJet MFC 3055 uses tcpip port 9100, I created a port 
9100 and configured the port settings to 'RAW' (not LPD). You can name 
this printer whatever you want.

In both cases, I was able to install printer specific drivers during the 
course of the printer creation. Luckily, I had downloaded (and 
extracted) the postscript drivers prior to attempting the printer 
creation. I selected 'Have Disk' and then found and selected the 'inf' 
file to start the driver installation.

****************
Then go into the printer setup section of your program, and set up the 
printer as desired.

Enjoy


Along the way, I discovered that you MUST have a floppy disk in the 
floppy drive BEFORE mounting it in Fedora, BEFORE the disk will be 
recognized in the WIN guest. I also discovered that a USB key must be 
mounted first under Fedora too.

Geoff


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