Printer Sharing – Vista to Mac OS X 10.4 Overview

Printer sharing is one of the handiest features of both the Mac OS and Windows. By sharing an existing printer between multiple computers, regardless of the operating system in use, you not only save the cost of additional printers, you also get to wear a networking guru hat and show off your technical skills to your friends and family.

You’re going to need that hat when it comes to sharing a printer that’s connected to a computer running Windows Vista.

Getting Vista to share a printer with Mac or Linux computers can be a bit of a challenge, but you’re up to it. Put on your networking hat and we’ll get started.

Samba and Vista

When the host computer runs Vista, printer sharing is a bit more work than if it runs Windows XP, because Vista disables the default authentication that Samba (Server Message Block) uses to establish a connection when sharing a printer with a Mac or Unix computer. With authentication disabled, all you’ll see when you try to print from your Mac to a Vista-hosted printer is a “Waiting for authentication” status message.

There are two methods of enabling authentication, depending on whether you’re using Vista Home Edition or one of the Business/Enterprise/Ultimate Editions. I’ll cover both methods.

In addition, getting your OS 10.4.x-based Mac to print to a Vista shared printer involves turning on an older Unix printing protocol in Vista. This isn’t required for Macs running 10.5; for some reason, Vista and 10.4 just don’t seem to get along.

What You Need

• A working network, either wired or wireless Ethernet.
  
  
• A printer that’s directly connected to a PC running Vista.
  
  
• A common workgroup name for the PCs and the Mac network.
  
  
• About half an hour of your time.

Printer Sharing – Enable Authentication in Vista Home Edition

Before we can start setting up Vista for printer sharing, we must first enable the default Samba authentication. To do this, we need to edit the Vista registry.

WARNING: Back up your Windows Registry before you make any changes to it.

Enable Authentication in Vista Home Edition

1. Start the Registry Editor by selecting Start, All Programs, Accessories, Run.
   
   
2. In the ‘Open’ field of the Run dialog box, type regedit and click the ‘OK’ button.
   
   

1. The User Account Control system will ask for permission to continue. Click the ‘Continue’ button.
   
   
2. In the Registry window, expand the following:
   1. HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE
   2. SYSTEM
   3. CurrentControlSet
   4. Control
   5. Lsa
3. In the ‘Value’ pane of the Registry Editor, check to see if the following DWORD exists: lmcompatibilitylevel. If it does, perform the following:
   1. Right-click lmcompatibilitylevel and select ‘Modify’ from the pop-up menu.
   2. Enter a Value data of 1.
   3. Click the ‘OK’ button.
4. If the lmcompatibilitylevel DWORD does not exist, create a new DWORD.
   1. From the Registry Editor menu, select Edit, New, DWORD (32-bit) Value.
   2. A new DWORD called ‘New Value #1’ will be created.
   3. Rename the new DWORD to lmcompatibilitylevel.
   4. Right-click lmcompatibilitylevel and select ‘Modify’ from the pop-up menu.
   5. Enter a Value data of 1.
   6. Click the ‘OK’ button.

Restart your Windows Vista computer.

Printer Sharing – Enable Authentication in Vista Business, Ultimate, Enterprise

Before we can start setting up Vista for printer sharing, we must first enable the default Samba authentication. To do this, we must use Vista's Group Policy Editor, which will result in a change to the Registry.

WARNING:Back up your Windows Registry before you make any changes to it.

Enable Authentication in Vista Business, Ultimate, and Enterprise

1. Start the Group Policy Editor by selecting Start, All Programs, Accessories, Run.

1. In the 'Open' field of the Run dialog box, type gpedit.msc and click the 'OK' button.
2. The User Account Control system will ask for permission to continue. Click the 'Continue' button.
3. Expand the following objects in the Group Policy Editor:
   1. Computer Configuration
   2. Windows Settings
   3. Security Settings
   4. Local Policies
   5. Security Options
4. Right-click the 'Network security: LAN Manager authentication level' policy item, and select 'Properties' from the pop-up menu.
5. Select the 'Local Security Settings' tab.
6. Select 'Send LM & NTLM - user NTLMv2 session security if negotiated' from the dropdown menu.
7. Click the 'OK' button.
8. Close the Group Policy Editor.
   Restart your Windows Vista computer.
   

Printer Sharing – Enable LPD Services in Vista

When it comes to printer sharing, Vista and OS X 10.4 just can't get along. In order to get around their differences, we will turn to LPD (also known as Line Printer Daemon), an older Unix printing service that both Vista and OS X 10.4 support. It would be preferable to use a more modern protocol, such as Samba, as we are able to do with Vista and OS X 10.5, or with Windows XP and any version of OS X, but Vista and OS X 10.4 stubbornly refuse to give us that option.

Enable LPD Services in Vista

1. Select Start, Control Panel.
2. Select 'Programs' in the Control Panel window.
3. Select 'Turn Windows features on or off' from the Programs and Features group.
4. The User Account Control system will ask for permission to continue. Click the 'Continue' button.
5. The Windows Features window will display.
6. Expand the 'Print Services' item.
7. Place a check mark next to 'LPD Print Service' and click the 'OK' button.
8. Windows Vista will install and enable the LPD services for you; this can take a bit of time. Once the process is complete, you can close the Windows Features window.
9. Make a note of your Vista computer's IP address, because you will need this information to complete the printer setup on your Mac.
   1. Select Start, Control Panel.
   2. Select 'View network status and task' from the Network and Internet group.
   3. The Network and Sharing Center window will open.
   4. Click the 'View Status' link in the Network section.
   5. Click the 'Details' button in the Local Area Connection Status window.
   6. Write down the IPv4 address listed in the Network Connection Details window.
   7. Click the 'Close' button.

Windows Vista uses a default workgroup name of WORKGROUP. If you haven’t made any changes to the workgroup name on the Windows computers connected to your network then you’re ready to go, because the Mac also creates a default workgroup name of WORKGROUP for connecting to Windows machines.

If you have changed your Windows workgroup name, as my wife and I have done with our home office network, then you’ll need to change the workgroup name on your Macs to match.

Change the Workgroup Name on Your Mac (Tiger OS X 10.4.x)

1. Launch the Directory Access application, located at /Applications/Utilities/Directory Access.
   
   
2. Click the ‘Lock’ icon in the lower left corner of the Directory Access window.
   
   
3. Authenticate by entering your administrator username and password.
   
   
4. Click the ‘Services’ tab.
   
   
5. Select the ‘SMB/CIFS’ entry.
   
   
6. Click the ‘Configure’ button.
   
   
7. In the sheet that drops down, enter the workgroup name.
   
   
8. Click the ‘OK’ button.
   
   
9. Quit the Directory Access application.
   
   

Your now ready to inform Vista that you would like to share an attached printer.

Enable Printer Sharing in Windows Vista

1. Select ‘Control Panel' from the Start menu.
   
   
2. Select ‘Printer’ from the Hardware and Sound group.
   
   
3. A list of installed printers and faxes will display.
   
   
4. Right-click on the icon of the printer you wish to share and select ‘Sharing’ from the pop-up menu.
   
   
5. Click the ‘Change sharing options’ button.
   
   

1. The User Account Control system will ask for permission to continue. Click the ‘Continue’ button.
   
   
2. Place a check mark next to the ‘Share this printer’ item.
   
   
3. Enter a name for the printer in the ‘Share name’ field. . This name will appear as the printer’s name on your Mac.
   
   
4. Click the ‘Apply’ button.
   
   

Close the printer’s Properties window and the Printers and Faxes window.

With the Windows printer and the computer it’s connected to active, and the printer set up for sharing, you’re ready to add the printer to your Mac.

Add the Shared Printer to Your Mac

1. Launch System Preferences by clicking its icon in the Dock.
   
   
2. Click the ‘Print & Fax’ icon in the System Preferences window.
   
   
3. Click the ‘Printing’ tab.
   
   
4. The Print & Fax window will display a list of currently configured printers that your Mac can use.
   
   

1. Click the plus (+) sign, located just below the list of installed printers.
   
   
2. The printer browser window will appear.
   
   
3. Click the ‘Default Browser’ tab.
   
   
4. Hold down the option key and click the ‘More Printers’ button.
   
   
5. Select ‘Advanced’ from the dropdown menu at the top of the Printer Browser sheet.
   
   
6. Select ‘LPD/LPR Host or Printer’ from the Device dropdown menu.
   
   
7. Enter a name for the printer in the ‘Device Name’ field. This name will identify this device when you select a printer to use on your Mac.
   The next step is to enter the shared printer’s device URL, in the following format:
   
   lpd://IPaddress/PrinterName
   
   An example from my home network would look like this:
   lpd://192.168.1.40/hp8500
   
   The IPaddress is the address you wrote down earlier.
   
   The PrinterName is the ‘Share name’ you entered in Vista.
   
   
8. Enter the shared printer’s URL in the ‘Device URL’ field.
   
   
9. Select ‘Generic’ from the Printer Model dropdown menu. You can try using one of the specific printer drivers from the list. The drivers most likely to work are labeled ‘Gimp Print’ or ‘PostScript.’ These drivers usually include the proper protocol support for shared network printing.
   
   

1. Click the ‘Add’ button.

Your shared Windows printer is now ready to be used by your Mac. When you’re ready to print from your Mac, simply select the ‘Print’ option in the application you’re using and then select the shared printer from the list of available printers.

Remember that in order to use the shared printer, both the printer and the computer it’s connected to must be on. Happy printing!