Question is: Now that I have USB 1,2, & 3 available in a guest os, do I need to use cups to access the USB printer of the host or do I use the printer install from the guest OS using the USB?
On previous attempts before USB was working. I tried to define the printer as a network printer which asked for the ip address of the printer and the network name of same. Cups defined the printer as <localhost:631>printers/EPSON_Photo_Stylus_R200 with name EPSON-R200 but under the guest OS I could not figure out what ip the localhost:631 refered to in dotted quad format.
Use the Host IP address in place of “localhost” since the printer is actually mounted by the Host.
You can determine your Host IP address by running “ip addr” on the Host.
You <might> be able to use the Guest’s default gateway, but YMMV.
CUPS finally accepted my printer without complaints about no suitable drivers. They were there but don’t know why cups said no drivers installed on first two attempts. Anyways, in the VM guest I am getting this screen … printer works using gutenprint from host. http://www.we-r-unique.ca/images/printer2k.png
Click “OK” to have the printer drivers installed locally as it’s suggesting.
I find it easier to configure printers as network devices when possible, to me it’s more clear to understand the client/printer connectivity and the printer is typically a network device without configuring another device as a Print Server.
When you “share” a Printer or in this case access a virtualized printer object, it’s less clear and depends on additional technology provided by either the Host or virtualization, which almost certainly needs to be configured.