I have managed to set this up, though not to a Windows Box, but another Linux machine. In any case I can’t say it works well. And in my case proved far too troublesome to use. There may be something I was missing, I don’t know.
If the Linux systems I was using were both Ubuntu/Mint they would work no problem. (I suspect this is due to the lack of Firewall on those systems and a more open security policy generally)
I too do not have a wireless printer. So for now my easiest solution is to copy my print jobs the Box. By that I just mean the files are copied over and then printed from the Box. You should be able to connect to your windows machine to do that. I use ssh between my openSUSE machines.
Fortunately this isn’t a showstopper for me. But IMO it’s an area that needs some improvement.
I’ve never used SWAT, but did you have it installed yet? (It’s not by default).
For Windows printer discovery, ports 139 and 445 need to be open on the Linux box. (While configuring, you may just want to drop the firewall temproarily.)
Proceed to configuring CUPS via your browser http://locahost:631/admin
Enter your root credentials when requested, and select ‘Windows Printer via SAMBA’
Alternatively, you can use the yast utility to do this, or ‘system-config-printer’.
Actually, I think I got confused here. :\ Ports 137, 139 have to be open on the Windows server for file/print sharing to work. (It’s been a while since I had to worry about printers connected to Windows machines. Network-attached printers have made things so much easier.)
Agreed,
Using a reference created in 2011 is almost certainly outdated, there have been many Linux improvements since then.
As described,
Nowadays, CUPS should discover the printer resource on the network if the printer share has been set up properly.
I also typically install HPLIP if it’s not already installed automatically, it’s a good “helper” app to improve printer discovery and management, even if the printer isn’t an HP.
Try configuring via the browser as I explained already in post #3 (ie using the CUPS web interface). You may find the windows printer is detected without issue. (As tsu2 mentioned, the ‘hp-setup’ utility is also good at detecting remote printers, so worth a go to obtaine correct smb://… URI. Once you know that you can configure manually anyway.
If not successful, try the following
nmbstatus
The link I provided also mentioned using ‘smbclient’ to capture print share info (assuming you know the print server hostname)
Setup server. On your Windows box, this should be pretty automatic if you use the Printer Add wizard. Be sure to enable opening the FW ports (and write down the ports to be opened if you can’t remember them).
On your openSUSE, launch CUPs. A web page should open where you can also launch a wizard to discover/add printers.
If this works, you’re done.
If not working, then you need to troubleshoot.
Like any other networking resource scenario, verify the printer ports are open and responding. I use telnet to probe individual ports.
Know your OSI model which is fundamental to troubleshooting all computing. Work from the bottom up, ie. physical problems, then your network card, then your protocol layers, then your application layer.
If you have problems, repost <what you try>. It’s not enough to just say you’re technically challenged, you need to describe what you’ve done and the <exact issue> you run into and cannot solve (like an error message).