Suse 12.1 can no longer access my printer from Win XP laptop

English Network/Internet
1

I have recently upgraded from Suse 11.4 to 12.1 64bit using the Gnome desktop on old and new the version.
I have always been able to set up my HP Deskjet 3900 printer on the LInux machine, set share, and be able to go to my Windows XP laptop and add the printer as a network printer.
Now that I have upgraded to 12.1 I can see the printer from XP when I add a network printer.
I then click on the Deskjet 3900 and Windows tells me that the server for the printer does not have the correct driver installed
This was normal on all the version 11’s I have used and I continue to choose the driver from the laptop and pick up the HP Deskjet 3900 series (which is already installed on the laptop in case I want to plug the printer in to Windows directly).
This used to connect through and I could print normally via the Suse11 server.

but now I go through exactly the same setup I try to choose the HP deskjet 3900 series driver from my laptop I am told the following:

Windows cannot connect to the printer. Either the printer name was typed incorrectly or the specified printer has lost its connection to the server.

I have tried a variety of ways to set up the printer in YAST eg
the alternative HP setup
and searching for the driver HP deskjet 3900 - this provides a CUPS driver and another option - I’ve tried both
and nothing works from the Windows laptop.

To me it looks as though what is being presented to the Windows client through SAMBA has changed in vers 12.1

I have set up SAMBA to share directories and allow guests
and I changed my Network Card Setup, Firewall Zone to Internal Zone (unprotected) - which is what I have always done.

When I set the printer configuration for sharing I do get a message
A Firewall may prevent remote access
but as I understand this having set the Internal Zone (unprotected) the firewall allows CUPS throughput.

2

I ran into a similar problem in 12.1 x64 bit after an upgrade when I moved a Windows printer. What I ended up doing was setting up the LPD server on the Windows system. That worked except that I couldn’t find the list of printer drivers when setting up the printer in YaST and had to do the configuration directly in CUPS via http://localhost:631. After I did that, it is OK.

-r

3

First, switch off firewalls on both machines and see if it works. That would at least bring the problem down to a firewall issue

4

I’ve got exactly the same problem but with a fresh OpenSuSE 12.1 installation. :frowning:

5

I am also haveing the same problem with a new install of 12.1. And I did try switching the firewalls off.

6

I don’t know if it will help, but on the weekend I finally installed openSUSE-12.1 on my main PC, and I took screen shots along the way as to how I setup my HP network printer. Here is my blog on this subject: Connecting openSUSE to an HP wireless printer - Blogs - openSUSE Forums

7

After spending way, way too much time trying to do the same thing with an HP C309g printer, I discovered a 4 year old thread that said HPLIP required the user to be a member of both lp and sys groups. It also said it recommended that the user be a member of the root group too.

SO, I added myself to lp, sys and root groups. Logged out and back in, and deleted all printers in cups, and hplip and then added the printer using only HPLIP. I did use manual discovery as you did but did not use yast (directly) at all. With my new group rights, the addition of the printer went splendidly.

I then removed the sys and root groups from my user account, logged out and in and the printer works just fine. So there!

Don’t know exactly why it worked, the error messages I got were far too obtuse to be of help, and therefore aren’t repeated here. I sure hope this helps someone else who has a problem.

8

Well I have gone round in circles. I’ve tried adding myself to the lp, sys, and root groups and reinstalled the printer in various ways and still get the same response from the Windows laptop.
It’s certainly nothing to do with the firewalls as I have tried after disabling them.
I have installed 3 instances of the printer using the Alternate HP setup, and one of each of the two drivers that I am offered in the Yast setup.
I can’t help thinking that something is faulty in the handshaking in the network (samba or whatever) because Windows is finding the printers on the Linux host but when Windows tries to apply the HP deskjet 3900 driver that is installed on the laptop it then can’t connect to the printer. I don’t know if this makes sense but while it sees the printer it can’t set itself up on it.
Here’s the error message again
Windows cannot connect to the printer. Either the printer name was typed incorrectly or the specified printer has lost its connection to the server.

I have used the same setup for this printer since I was on 11.3 and then in 11.4 and now 12.1 won’t work.

9

Did you try changing printer-name to ensure no underscore or dashes or other characters in name that could cause a problem?

10

As Knurpht suggested, have the firewalls been disabled temporarily? It is a common cause of problems like this where samba cannot communicate…