1 <?xml version="1.0" encoding="iso-8859-1"?>
2 <!DOCTYPE chapter PUBLIC "-//Samba-Team//DTD DocBook V4.2-Based Variant V1.0//EN" "http://www.samba.org/samba/DTD/samba-doc">
3 <chapter id="classicalprinting">
7 <firstname>Kurt</firstname><surname>Pfeifle</surname>
9 <orgname>Danka Deutschland GmbH</orgname>
10 <address><email>kpfeifle@danka.de</email></address>
15 <pubdate>May 31, 2003</pubdate>
18 <title>Classical Printing Support</title>
21 <title>Features and Benefits</title>
24 <indexterm><primary>mission-critical</primary></indexterm>
25 Printing is often a mission-critical service for the users. Samba can provide this service reliably and
26 seamlessly for a client network consisting of Windows workstations.
30 <indexterm><primary>print service</primary></indexterm>
31 <indexterm><primary>domain member server</primary></indexterm>
32 <indexterm><primary>standalone server</primary></indexterm>
33 <indexterm><primary>file serving</primary></indexterm>
34 <indexterm><primary>dedicated print server</primary></indexterm>
35 <indexterm><primary>print server</primary></indexterm>
36 <indexterm><primary>printing support</primary></indexterm>
37 <indexterm><primary>Point'n'Print</primary></indexterm>
38 <indexterm><primary>Add Printer Wizard</primary></indexterm>
39 <indexterm><primary>upload drivers</primary></indexterm>
40 <indexterm><primary>manage drivers</primary></indexterm>
41 <indexterm><primary>install drivers</primary></indexterm>
42 <indexterm><primary>print accounting</primary></indexterm>
43 <indexterm><primary>Common UNIX Printing System</primary><see>CUPS</see></indexterm>
44 A Samba print service may be run on a standalone or domain member server, side by side with file serving
45 functions, or on a dedicated print server. It can be made as tightly or as loosely secured as needs dictate.
46 Configurations may be simple or complex. Available authentication schemes are essentially the same as
47 described for file services in previous chapters. Overall, Samba's printing support is now able to replace an
48 NT or Windows 2000 print server full-square, with additional benefits in many cases. Clients may download and
49 install drivers and printers through their familiar <literal>Point'n'Print</literal> mechanism. Printer
50 installations executed by <literal>Logon Scripts</literal> are no problem. Administrators can upload and manage
51 drivers to be used by clients through the familiar <literal>Add Printer Wizard</literal>. As an additional
52 benefit, driver and printer management may be run from the command line or through scripts, making it more
53 efficient in case of large numbers of printers. If a central accounting of print jobs (tracking every single
54 page and supplying the raw data for all sorts of statistical reports) is required, this function is best
55 supported by the newer Common UNIX Printing System (CUPS) as the print subsystem underneath the Samba hood.
59 <indexterm><primary>BSD</primary></indexterm>
60 <indexterm><primary>CUPS</primary></indexterm>
61 This chapter outlines the fundamentals of Samba printing as implemented by the more traditional UNIX
62 BSD- and System V-style printing systems. Much of the information in this chapter applies also to CUPS. If
63 you use CUPS, you may be tempted to jump to the next chapter, but you will certainly miss a few things if you
64 do. For further information refer to <link linkend="CUPS-printing">CUPS Printing Support</link>.
69 <indexterm><primary>Windows XP Professional</primary></indexterm>
70 <indexterm><primary>Windows 200x/XP</primary></indexterm>
71 <indexterm><primary>Windows NT4</primary></indexterm>
72 Most of the following examples have been verified on Windows XP Professional clients. Where this document
73 describes the responses to commands given, bear in mind that Windows 200x/XP clients are quite similar but may
74 differ in minor details. Windows NT4 is somewhat different again.
81 <title>Technical Introduction</title>
84 <indexterm><primary>printing support</primary></indexterm>
85 <indexterm><primary>print subsystem</primary></indexterm>
86 <indexterm><primary>printing system</primary></indexterm>
87 Samba's printing support always relies on the installed print subsystem of the UNIX OS it runs on. Samba is a
88 <literal>middleman.</literal> It takes print files from Windows (or other SMB) clients and passes them to the real
89 printing system for further processing; therefore, it needs to communicate with both sides: the Windows print
90 clients and the UNIX printing system. Hence, we must differentiate between the various client OS types, each
91 of which behave differently, as well as the various UNIX print subsystems, which themselves have different
92 features and are accessed differently.
96 <indexterm><primary>UNIX printing</primary></indexterm>
97 <indexterm><primary>CUPS</primary></indexterm>
98 This chapter deals with the traditional way of UNIX printing. The next chapter covers in great detail the more
103 <indexterm><primary>CUPS</primary></indexterm>
104 CUPS users, be warned: do not just jump on to the next chapter. You might miss important information only found here!
108 <indexterm><primary>print configuration</primary></indexterm>
109 <indexterm><primary>problematic print</primary></indexterm>
110 <indexterm><primary>print processing</primary></indexterm>
111 <indexterm><primary>print filtering</primary></indexterm>
112 It is apparent from postings on the Samba mailing list that print configuration is one of the most problematic
113 aspects of Samba administration today. Many new Samba administrators have the impression that Samba performs
114 some sort of print processing. Rest assured, Samba does not perform any type of print processing. It does not
115 do any form of print filtering.
119 <indexterm><primary>data stream</primary></indexterm>
120 <indexterm><primary>local spool area</primary></indexterm>
121 <indexterm><primary>spooled file</primary></indexterm>
122 <indexterm><primary>local system printing</primary></indexterm>
123 Samba obtains from its clients a data stream (print job) that it spools to a local spool area. When the entire
124 print job has been received, Samba invokes a local UNIX/Linux print command and passes the spooled file to it.
125 It is up to the local system printing subsystems to correctly process the print job and to submit it to the
130 <title>Client to Samba Print Job Processing</title>
133 Successful printing from a Windows client via a Samba print server to a UNIX
134 printer involves six (potentially seven) stages:
138 <listitem><para>Windows opens a connection to the printer share.</para></listitem>
140 <listitem><para>Samba must authenticate the user.</para></listitem>
142 <listitem><para>Windows sends a copy of the print file over the network
143 into Samba's spooling area.</para></listitem>
145 <listitem><para>Windows closes the connection.</para></listitem>
147 <listitem><para>Samba invokes the print command to hand the file over
148 to the UNIX print subsystem's spooling area.</para></listitem>
150 <listitem><para>The UNIX print subsystem processes the print job.</para></listitem>
152 <listitem><para>The print file may need to be explicitly deleted
153 from the Samba spooling area. This item depends on your print spooler
154 configuration settings.</para></listitem>
159 <title>Printing-Related Configuration Parameters</title>
162 <indexterm><primary>global-level</primary></indexterm>
163 <indexterm><primary>service-level</primary></indexterm>
164 <indexterm><primary>printing behavior</primary></indexterm>
165 There are a number of configuration parameters to control Samba's printing behavior. Please refer to the man
166 page for &smb.conf; for an overview of these. As with other parameters, there are global-level (tagged with a
167 <emphasis>G</emphasis> in the listings) and service-level (<emphasis>S</emphasis>) parameters.
171 <varlistentry><term>Global Parameters</term>
172 <listitem><para> These <emphasis>may not</emphasis> go into
173 individual share definitions. If they go in by error,
174 the <command>testparm</command> utility can discover this
175 (if you run it) and tell you so.
179 <varlistentry><term>Service-Level Parameters</term>
180 <listitem><para> These may be specified in the
181 <smbconfsection name="[global]"/> section of &smb.conf;.
182 In this case they define the default behavior of all individual
183 or service-level shares (provided they do not have a different
184 setting defined for the same parameter, thus overriding the
194 <title>Simple Print Configuration</title>
197 <indexterm><primary>BSD Printing</primary></indexterm>
198 <indexterm><primary>simple printing</primary></indexterm>
199 <indexterm><primary>enables clients to print</primary></indexterm>
200 <indexterm><primary>print environment</primary></indexterm>
201 <link linkend="simpleprc">Simple Configuration with BSD Printing</link> shows a simple printing configuration.
202 If you compare this with your own, you may find additional parameters that have been preconfigured by your OS
203 vendor. Following is a discussion and explanation of the parameters. This example does not use many
204 parameters. However, in many environments these are enough to provide a valid &smb.conf; file that enables
205 all clients to print.
208 <example id="simpleprc">
209 <title>Simple Configuration with BSD Printing</title>
211 <smbconfsection name="[global]"/>
212 <smbconfoption name="printing">bsd</smbconfoption>
213 <smbconfoption name="load printers">yes</smbconfoption>
215 <smbconfsection name="[printers]"/>
216 <smbconfoption name="path">/var/spool/samba</smbconfoption>
217 <smbconfoption name="printable">yes</smbconfoption>
218 <smbconfoption name="public">yes</smbconfoption>
219 <smbconfoption name="writable">no</smbconfoption>
224 <indexterm><primary>testparm</primary></indexterm>
225 <indexterm><primary>misconfigured settings</primary></indexterm>
226 <indexterm><primary>pager program</primary></indexterm>
227 This is only an example configuration. Samba assigns default values to all configuration parameters. The
228 defaults are conservative and sensible. When a parameter is specified in the &smb.conf; file, this overwrites
229 the default value. The <command>testparm</command> utility when run as root is capable of reporting all
230 settings, both default as well as &smb.conf; file settings. <command>Testparm</command> gives warnings for all
231 misconfigured settings. The complete output is easily 360 lines and more, so you may want to pipe it through a
236 <indexterm><primary>configuration syntax</primary></indexterm>
237 <indexterm><primary>syntax tolerates spelling errors</primary></indexterm>
238 <indexterm><primary>case-insensitive</primary></indexterm>
239 The syntax for the configuration file is easy to grasp. You should know that is not very picky about its
240 syntax. As has been explained elsewhere in this book, Samba tolerates some spelling errors (such as
241 <smbconfoption name="browseable"/> instead of <smbconfoption name="browsable"/>), and spelling is
242 case-insensitive. It is permissible to use <parameter>Yes/No</parameter> or <parameter>True/False</parameter>
243 for Boolean settings. Lists of names may be separated by commas, spaces, or tabs.
247 <title>Verifying Configuration with <command>testparm</command></title>
250 <indexterm><primary>printing-related settings</primary></indexterm>
251 <indexterm><primary>lp</primary></indexterm>
252 <indexterm><primary>print</primary></indexterm>
253 <indexterm><primary>spool</primary></indexterm>
254 <indexterm><primary>driver</primary></indexterm>
255 <indexterm><primary>ports</primary></indexterm>
256 <indexterm><primary>testparm</primary></indexterm>
257 <indexterm><primary>smbd</primary></indexterm>
258 <indexterm><primary>print configuration</primary></indexterm>
259 <indexterm><primary>printer shares </primary></indexterm>
260 <indexterm><primary>spooling path</primary></indexterm>
261 To see all (or at least most) printing-related settings in Samba, including the implicitly used ones, try the
262 command outlined below. This command greps for all occurrences of <constant>lp</constant>,
263 <constant>print</constant>, <constant>spool</constant>, <constant>driver</constant>,
264 <constant>ports</constant>, and <constant>[</constant> in <command>testparm</command>'s output. This provides
265 a convenient overview of the running <command>smbd</command> print configuration. This command does not show
266 individually created printer shares or the spooling paths they may use. Here is the output of my Samba setup,
267 with settings shown in <link linkend="simpleprc">the example above</link>:
269 &rootprompt;<userinput>testparm -s -v | egrep "(lp|print|spool|driver|ports|\[)"</userinput>
270 Load smb config files from /etc/samba/smb.conf
271 Processing section "[homes]"
272 Processing section "[printers]"
278 printcap name = /etc/printcap
282 deleteprinter command =
283 show add printer wizard = Yes
286 max print jobs = 1000
289 print command = lpr -r -P'%p' %s
290 lpq command = lpq -P'%p'
291 lprm command = lprm -P'%p' %j
295 use client driver = No
300 path = /var/spool/samba
306 You can easily verify which settings were implicitly added by Samba's default behavior. <emphasis>Remember: it
307 may be important in your future dealings with Samba.</emphasis>
311 The <command>testparm</command> in Samba-3 behaves differently from that in 2.2.x: used without the
312 <quote>-v</quote> switch, it only shows you the settings actually written into! To see the complete
313 configuration used, add the <quote>-v</quote> parameter to testparm.
319 <title>Rapid Configuration Validation</title>
322 <indexterm><primary>troubleshoot</primary></indexterm>
323 <indexterm><primary>testparm</primary></indexterm>
324 <indexterm><primary>parameters</primary></indexterm>
325 <indexterm><primary>verify</primary></indexterm>
326 Should you need to troubleshoot at any stage, please always come back to this point first and verify if
327 <command>testparm</command> shows the parameters you expect. To give you a warning from personal experience,
328 try to just comment out the <smbconfoption name="load printers"/> parameter. If your 2.2.x system behaves like
329 mine, you'll see this:
333 &rootprompt;grep "load printers" /etc/samba/smb.conf
334 # load printers = Yes
335 # This setting is commented out!!
337 &rootprompt;testparm -v /etc/samba/smb.conf | egrep "(load printers)"
342 <indexterm><primary>commenting out setting</primary></indexterm>
343 <indexterm><primary>publishing printers</primary></indexterm>
344 I assumed that commenting out of this setting should prevent Samba from
345 publishing my printers, but it still did. It took some time to figure out
346 the reason. But I am no longer fooled ... at least not by this.
348 &rootprompt;<userinput>grep -A1 "load printers" /etc/samba/smb.conf</userinput>
350 # The above setting is what I want!
351 # load printers = Yes
352 # This setting is commented out!
354 &rootprompt;<userinput>testparm -s -v smb.conf.simpleprinting | egrep "(load printers)"</userinput>
359 <indexterm><primary>explicitly set</primary></indexterm>
360 Only when the parameter is explicitly set to <smbconfoption name="load printers">No</smbconfoption> would
361 Samba conform with my intentions. So, my strong advice is:
365 <listitem><para>Never rely on commented-out parameters.</para></listitem>
367 <listitem><para>Always set parameters explicitly as you intend them to
368 behave.</para></listitem>
370 <listitem><para>Use <command>testparm</command> to uncover hidden
371 settings that might not reflect your intentions.</para></listitem>
375 The following is the most minimal configuration file:
377 &rootprompt;<userinput>cat /etc/samba/smb.conf-minimal</userinput>
382 <indexterm><primary>testparm</primary></indexterm>
383 <indexterm><primary>smbd</primary></indexterm>
384 This example should show that you can use <command>testparm</command> to test any Samba configuration file.
385 Actually, we encourage you <emphasis>not</emphasis> to change your working system (unless you know exactly
386 what you are doing). Don't rely on the assumption that changes will only take effect after you restart smbd!
387 This is not the case. Samba rereads it every 60 seconds and on each new client connection. You might have to
388 face changes for your production clients that you didn't intend to apply. You will now note a few more
389 interesting things; <command>testparm</command> is useful to identify what the Samba print configuration would
390 be if you used this minimalistic configuration. Here is what you can expect to find:
392 &rootprompt;<userinput>testparm -v smb.conf-minimal | egrep "(print|lpq|spool|driver|ports|[)"</userinput>
393 Processing section "[printers]"
394 WARNING: [printers] service MUST be printable!
395 No path in service printers - using /tmp
399 printcap name = /etc/printcap
403 deleteprinter command =
404 show add printer wizard = Yes
407 max print jobs = 1000
410 print command = lpr -r -P%p %s
411 lpq command = lpq -P%p
413 use client driver = No
420 <command>testparm</command> issued two warnings:
424 <listitem><para>We did not specify the <smbconfsection name="[printers]"/> section as printable.</para></listitem>
425 <listitem><para>We did not tell Samba which spool directory to use.</para></listitem>
429 <indexterm><primary>compile-time options</primary></indexterm>
430 <indexterm><primary></primary></indexterm>
431 <indexterm><primary></primary></indexterm>
432 <indexterm><primary></primary></indexterm>
433 However, this was not fatal, and Samba will default to values that will work. Please, do not rely on this and
434 do not use this example. This was included to encourage you to be careful to design and specify your setup to
435 do precisely what you require. The outcome on your system may vary for some parameters given, since Samba may
436 have been built with different compile-time options. <emphasis>Warning:</emphasis> do not put a comment sign
437 <emphasis>at the end</emphasis> of a valid line. It will cause the parameter to be ignored (just as if you had
438 put the comment sign at the front). At first I regarded this as a bug in my Samba versions. But the man page
439 clearly says: <literal>Internal whitespace in a parameter value is retained verbatim.</literal> This means
440 that a line consisting of, for example,
442 <smbconfcomment>This defines LPRng as the printing system</smbconfcomment>
443 <smbconfoption name="printing"> lprng</smbconfoption>
448 will regard the whole of the string after the <literal>=</literal> sign as the value you want to define. This
449 is an invalid value that will be ignored, and a default value will be used in its place.
457 <title>Extended Printing Configuration</title>
460 <indexterm><primary>Extended BSD Printing</primary></indexterm>
461 <indexterm><primary>BSD-style printing</primary></indexterm>
462 <indexterm><primary>CUPS</primary></indexterm>
463 <indexterm><primary>testparm</primary></indexterm>
464 <link linkend="extbsdpr">Extended BSD Printing Configuration</link> shows a more verbose configuration for
465 print-related settings in a BSD-style printing environment. What follows is a discussion and explanation of
466 the various parameters. We chose to use BSD-style printing here because it is still the most commonly used
467 system on legacy UNIX/Linux installations. New installations predominantly use CUPS, which is discussed in a
468 separate chapter. The example explicitly names many parameters that do not need to be specified because they
469 are set by default. You could use a much leaner &smb.conf; file, or you can use <command>testparm</command> or
470 <command>SWAT</command> to optimize the &smb.conf; file to remove all parameters that are set at default.
473 <example id="extbsdpr">
474 <title>Extended BSD Printing Configuration</title>
476 <smbconfsection name="[global]"/>
477 <smbconfoption name="printing">bsd</smbconfoption>
478 <smbconfoption name="load printers">yes</smbconfoption>
479 <smbconfoption name="show add printer wizard">yes</smbconfoption>
480 <smbconfoption name="printcap name">/etc/printcap</smbconfoption>
481 <smbconfoption name="max print jobs">100</smbconfoption>
482 <smbconfoption name="lpq cache time">20</smbconfoption>
483 <smbconfoption name="use client driver">no</smbconfoption>
485 <smbconfsection name="[printers]"/>
486 <smbconfoption name="comment">All Printers</smbconfoption>
487 <smbconfoption name="printable">yes</smbconfoption>
488 <smbconfoption name="path">/var/spool/samba</smbconfoption>
489 <smbconfoption name="browseable">no</smbconfoption>
490 <smbconfoption name="guest ok">yes</smbconfoption>
491 <smbconfoption name="public">yes</smbconfoption>
492 <smbconfoption name="read only">yes</smbconfoption>
493 <smbconfoption name="writable">no </smbconfoption>
495 <smbconfsection name="[my_printer_name]"/>
496 <smbconfoption name="comment">Printer with Restricted Access</smbconfoption>
497 <smbconfoption name="path">/var/spool/samba_my_printer</smbconfoption>
498 <smbconfoption name="browseable">yes</smbconfoption>
499 <smbconfoption name="printable">yes</smbconfoption>
500 <smbconfoption name="writable">no</smbconfoption>
501 <smbconfoption name="hosts allow">0.0.0.0</smbconfoption>
502 <smbconfoption name="hosts deny">turbo_xp, 10.160.50.23, 10.160.51.60</smbconfoption>
503 <smbconfoption name="guest ok">no</smbconfoption>
504 </smbconfblock></example>
507 <indexterm><primary></primary></indexterm>
508 <indexterm><primary></primary></indexterm>
509 <indexterm><primary></primary></indexterm>
510 This is an example configuration. You may not find all the settings that are in the configuration file that
511 was provided by the OS vendor. Samba configuration parameters, if not explicitly set, default to a sensible
512 value. To see all settings, as <constant>root</constant> use the <command>testparm</command> utility.
513 <command>testparm</command> gives warnings for misconfigured settings.
517 <title>Detailed Explanation Settings</title>
520 The following is a discussion of the settings from <link linkend="extbsdpr">Extended BSD Printing
521 Configuration</link>.
525 <title>The [global] Section</title>
528 <indexterm><primary>global section</primary></indexterm>
529 <indexterm><primary>special sections</primary></indexterm>
530 <indexterm><primary>individual section</primary></indexterm>
531 <indexterm><primary>share</primary></indexterm>
532 The <smbconfsection name="[global]"/> section is one of four special sections (along with <smbconfsection
533 name="[homes]"/>, <smbconfsection name="[printers]"/>, and <smbconfsection name="[print$]"/>). The
534 <smbconfsection name="[global]"/> contains all parameters that apply to the server as a whole. It is the place
535 for parameters that have only a global meaning. It may also contain service-level parameters that define
536 default settings for all other sections and shares. This way you can simplify the configuration and avoid
537 setting the same value repeatedly. (Within each individual section or share, you may, however, override these
538 globally set share settings and specify other values).
542 <varlistentry><term><smbconfoption name="printing">bsd </smbconfoption></term>
544 <indexterm><primary>default print commands</primary></indexterm>
545 <indexterm><primary>RFC 1179</primary></indexterm>
546 <indexterm><primary>printing</primary></indexterm>
547 <indexterm><primary>CUPS</primary></indexterm>
548 <indexterm><primary>LPD</primary></indexterm>
549 <indexterm><primary>LPRNG</primary></indexterm>
550 <indexterm><primary>SYSV</primary></indexterm>
551 <indexterm><primary>HPUX</primary></indexterm>
552 <indexterm><primary>AIX</primary></indexterm>
553 <indexterm><primary>QNX</primary></indexterm>
554 <indexterm><primary>PLP</primary></indexterm>
555 <indexterm><primary>queue control</primary></indexterm>
556 Causes Samba to use default print commands applicable for the BSD (also known as RFC 1179 style or LPR/LPD)
557 printing system. In general, the <parameter>printing</parameter> parameter informs Samba about the print
558 subsystem it should expect. Samba supports CUPS, LPD, LPRNG, SYSV, HPUX, AIX, QNX, and PLP. Each of these
559 systems defaults to a different <smbconfoption name="print command"/> (and other queue control commands).
563 <indexterm><primary>service-level</primary></indexterm>
564 <indexterm><primary>SOFTQ printing system</primary></indexterm>
565 The <smbconfoption name="printing"/> parameter is normally a service-level parameter. Since it is included
566 here in the <smbconfsection name="[global]"/> section, it will take effect for all printer shares that are not
567 defined differently. Samba no longer supports the SOFTQ printing system.
569 </listitem></varlistentry>
571 <varlistentry><term><smbconfoption name="load printers">yes </smbconfoption></term>
573 <indexterm><primary>printer shares</primary></indexterm>
574 <indexterm><primary>printcap</primary></indexterm>
575 <indexterm><primary>separate shares</primary></indexterm>
576 <indexterm><primary>UNIX printer</primary></indexterm>
577 Tells Samba to create automatically all available printer shares. Available printer shares are discovered by
578 scanning the printcap file. All created printer shares are also loaded for browsing. If you use this
579 parameter, you do not need to specify separate shares for each printer. Each automatically created printer
580 share will clone the configuration options found in the <smbconfsection name="[printers]"/> section. (The
581 <parameter>load printers = no</parameter> setting will allow you to specify each UNIX printer you want to
582 share separately, leaving out some you do not want to be publicly visible and available).
584 </listitem></varlistentry>
586 <varlistentry><term><smbconfoption name="show add printer wizard">yes </smbconfoption></term>
588 <indexterm><primary>Add Printer Wizard</primary></indexterm>
589 <indexterm><primary>Printers</primary></indexterm>
590 <indexterm><primary>Network Neighborhood</primary></indexterm>
591 <indexterm><primary>net view</primary></indexterm>
592 <indexterm><primary>uploaded driver</primary></indexterm>
593 Setting is normally enabled by default (even if the parameter is not specified in &smb.conf;). It causes the
594 <guiicon>Add Printer Wizard</guiicon> icon to appear in the <guiicon>Printers</guiicon> folder of the Samba
595 host's share listing (as shown in <guiicon>Network Neighborhood</guiicon> or by the <command>net
596 view</command> command). To disable it, you need to explicitly set it to <constant>no</constant> (commenting
597 it out will not suffice). The <parameter>Add Printer Wizard</parameter> lets you upload a printer driver to
598 the <smbconfsection name="[print$]"/> share and associate it with a printer (if the respective queue exists
599 before the action), or exchange a printer's driver for any other previously uploaded driver.
601 </listitem></varlistentry>
603 <varlistentry><term><smbconfoption name="max print jobs">100 </smbconfoption></term>
605 <indexterm><primary>print jobs</primary></indexterm>
606 Sets the upper limit to 100 print jobs being active on the Samba server at any one time. Should a client
607 submit a job that exceeds this number, a "no more space available on server" type of error message will be
608 returned by Samba to the client. A setting of zero (the default) means there is <emphasis>no</emphasis> limit
611 </listitem></varlistentry>
613 <varlistentry><term><smbconfoption name="printcap name">/etc/printcap </smbconfoption></term>
615 <indexterm><primary>CUPS</primary></indexterm>
616 <indexterm><primary>available printerd</primary></indexterm>
617 <indexterm><primary>printcap</primary></indexterm>
618 Tells Samba where to look for a list of available printer names. Where CUPS is used, make sure that a printcap
619 file is written. This is controlled by the <constant>Printcap</constant> directive in the
620 <filename>cupsd.conf</filename> file.
621 </para></listitem></varlistentry>
623 <varlistentry><term><smbconfoption name="lpq cache time">20 </smbconfoption></term>
625 <indexterm><primary>lpq command</primary></indexterm>
626 <indexterm><primary>lpq cache time</primary></indexterm>
627 Controls the cache time for the results of the lpq command. It prevents the lpq command being called too often
628 and reduces the load on a heavily used print server.
629 </para></listitem></varlistentry>
631 <varlistentry><term><smbconfoption name="use client driver">no </smbconfoption></term>
633 <indexterm><primary>Windows NT/200x/XP</primary></indexterm>
634 If set to <constant>yes</constant>, only takes effect for Windows NT/200x/XP clients (and not for Win
635 95/98/ME). Its default value is <constant>No</constant> (or <constant>False</constant>). It must
636 <emphasis>not</emphasis> be enabled on print shares (with a <constant>yes</constant> or
637 <constant>true</constant> setting) that have valid drivers installed on the Samba server. For more detailed
638 explanations, see the &smb.conf; man page.
639 </para></listitem></varlistentry>
645 <title>The [printers] Section</title>
648 <indexterm><primary>printers section</primary></indexterm>
649 <indexterm><primary>printcap</primary></indexterm>
650 The printers section is the second special section. If a section with this name appears in the &smb.conf;,
651 users are able to connect to any printer specified in the Samba host's printcap file, because Samba on startup
652 then creates a printer share for every printer name it finds in the printcap file. You could regard this
653 section as a convenient shortcut to share all printers with minimal configuration. It is also a container for
654 settings that should apply as default to all printers. (For more details, see the &smb.conf; man page.)
655 Settings inside this container must be share-level parameters.
659 <varlistentry><term><smbconfoption name="comment">All printers </smbconfoption></term>
661 The <smbconfoption name="comment"/> is shown next to the share if
662 a client queries the server, either via <guiicon>Network Neighborhood</guiicon> or with
663 the <command>net view</command> command, to list available shares.
667 <varlistentry><term><smbconfoption name="printable">yes </smbconfoption></term>
669 The <smbconfsection name="[printers]"/> service <emphasis>must</emphasis>
670 be declared as printable. If you specify otherwise, smbd will refuse to load at
671 startup. This parameter allows connected clients to open, write to, and submit spool files
672 into the directory specified with the <smbconfoption name="path"/>
673 parameter for this service. It is used by Samba to differentiate printer shares from
678 <varlistentry><term><smbconfoption name="path">/var/spool/samba </smbconfoption></term>
680 Must point to a directory used by Samba to spool incoming print files. <emphasis>It
681 must not be the same as the spool directory specified in the configuration of your UNIX
682 print subsystem!</emphasis> The path typically points to a directory that is world
683 writable, with the <emphasis>sticky</emphasis> bit set to it.
687 <varlistentry><term><smbconfoption name="browseable">no </smbconfoption></term>
689 Is always set to <constant>no</constant> if
690 <smbconfoption name="printable">yes</smbconfoption>. It makes
691 the <smbconfsection name="[printer]"/> share itself invisible in the list of
692 available shares in a <command>net view</command> command or in the Explorer browse
693 list. (You will of course see the individual printers.)
697 <varlistentry><term><smbconfoption name="guest ok">yes </smbconfoption></term>
699 If this parameter is set to <constant>yes</constant>, no password is required to
700 connect to the printer's service. Access will be granted with the privileges of the
701 <smbconfoption name="guest account"/>. On many systems the guest
702 account will map to a user named "nobody." This user will usually be found
703 in the UNIX passwd file with an empty password, but with no valid UNIX login. On some
704 systems the guest account might not have the privilege to be able to print. Test this
705 by logging in as your guest user using <command>su - guest</command> and run a system
710 <userinput>lpr -P printername /etc/motd</userinput>
714 <varlistentry><term><smbconfoption name="public">yes </smbconfoption></term>
716 Is a synonym for <smbconfoption name="guest ok">yes</smbconfoption>.
717 Since we have <smbconfoption name="guest ok">yes</smbconfoption>, it
718 really does not need to be here. (This leads to the interesting question, <quote>What if I
719 by accident have two contradictory settings for the same share?</quote> The answer is that the
720 last one encountered by Samba wins. <command>testparm</command> does not complain about different settings
721 of the same parameter for the same share. You can test this by setting up multiple
722 lines for the <parameter>guest account</parameter> parameter with different usernames,
723 and then run testparm to see which one is actually used by Samba.)
727 <varlistentry><term><smbconfoption name="read only">yes </smbconfoption></term>
729 Normally (for other types of shares) prevents users from creating or modifying files
730 in the service's directory. However, in a <emphasis>printable</emphasis> service, it is
731 <emphasis>always</emphasis> allowed to write to the directory (if user privileges allow the
732 connection), but only via print spooling operations. Normal write operations are not permitted.
736 <varlistentry><term><smbconfoption name="writable">no </smbconfoption></term>
738 Is a synonym for <smbconfoption name="read only">yes</smbconfoption>.
745 <title>Any [my_printer_name] Section</title>
748 <indexterm><primary>loading printer drivers</primary></indexterm>
749 <indexterm><primary>name conflict</primary></indexterm>
750 If a <parameter>[my_printer_name]</parameter> section appears in the &smb.conf; file, which includes the
751 parameter <smbconfoption name="printable">yes</smbconfoption> Samba will configure it as a printer share.
752 Windows 9x/Me clients may have problems with connecting or loading printer drivers if the share name has more
753 than eight characters. Do not name a printer share with a name that may conflict with an existing user or file
754 share name. On client connection requests, Samba always tries to find file shares with that name first. If it
755 finds one, it will connect to this and will not connect to a printer with the same name!
760 <varlistentry><term><smbconfoption name="comment">Printer with Restricted Access </smbconfoption></term>
762 The comment says it all.
766 <varlistentry><term><smbconfoption name="path">/var/spool/samba_my_printer </smbconfoption></term>
768 Sets the spooling area for this printer to a directory other than the default. It is not
769 necessary to set it differently, but the option is available.
773 <varlistentry><term><smbconfoption name="browseable">yes </smbconfoption></term>
775 This makes the printer browseable so the clients may conveniently find it when browsing the
776 <guiicon>Network Neighborhood</guiicon>.
780 <varlistentry><term><smbconfoption name="printable">yes </smbconfoption></term>
782 See <link linkend="ptrsect">Section 20.4.1.2</link>.
786 <varlistentry><term><smbconfoption name="writable">no </smbconfoption></term>
788 See <link linkend="ptrsect">Section 20.4.1.2</link>.
792 <varlistentry><term><smbconfoption name="hosts allow">10.160.50.,10.160.51. </smbconfoption></term>
794 Here we exercise a certain degree of access control by using the <smbconfoption name="hosts allow"/>
795 and <smbconfoption name="hosts deny"/> parameters. This is not by any means a safe bet. It is not a
796 way to secure your printers. This line accepts all clients from a certain subnet in a first evaluation of
801 <varlistentry><term><smbconfoption name="hosts deny">turbo_xp,10.160.50.23,10.160.51.60 </smbconfoption></term>
803 All listed hosts are not allowed here (even if they belong to the allowed subnets). As
804 you can see, you could name IP addresses as well as NetBIOS hostnames here.
808 <varlistentry><term><smbconfoption name="guest ok">no </smbconfoption></term>
810 This printer is not open for the guest account.
817 <title>Print Commands</title>
820 <indexterm><primary>print command</primary></indexterm>
821 <indexterm><primary>print subsystem</primary></indexterm>
822 <indexterm><primary>temporary location</primary></indexterm>
823 <indexterm><primary>shell scripts</primary></indexterm>
824 In each section defining a printer (or in the <smbconfsection name="[printers]"/> section),
825 a <parameter>print command</parameter> parameter may be defined. It sets a command to process the files
826 that have been placed into the Samba print spool directory for that printer. (That spool directory was,
827 if you remember, set up with the <smbconfoption name="path"/> parameter). Typically,
828 this command will submit the spool file to the Samba host's print subsystem, using the suitable system
829 print command. But there is no requirement that this needs to be the case. For debugging or
830 some other reason, you may want to do something completely different than print the file. An example is a
831 command that just copies the print file to a temporary location for further investigation when you need
832 to debug printing. If you craft your own print commands (or even develop print command shell scripts),
833 make sure you pay attention to the need to remove the files from the Samba spool directory. Otherwise,
834 your hard disk may soon suffer from shortage of free space.
839 <title>Default UNIX System Printing Commands</title>
842 <indexterm><primary>default print command</primary></indexterm>
843 You learned earlier that Samba, in most cases, uses its built-in settings for many parameters if it cannot
844 find an explicitly stated one in its configuration file. The same is true for the <smbconfoption name="print
845 command"/>. The default print command varies depending on the <smbconfoption name="printing"/> parameter
846 setting. In the commands listed in <link linkend="printOptions">Default Printing Settings</link> , you will
847 notice some parameters of the form <emphasis>%X</emphasis> where <emphasis>X</emphasis> is <emphasis>p, s,
848 J</emphasis>, and so on. These letters stand for printer name, spool file, and job ID, respectively. They are
849 explained in more detail in <link linkend="printOptions">Default Printing Settings</link> presents an overview
850 of key printing options but excludes the special case of CUPS, is discussed in <link
851 linkend="CUPS-printing">CUPS Printing Support</link>.
854 <table frame='all' id="printOptions">
855 <title>Default Printing Settings</title>
856 <tgroup cols='2' align='left' colsep='1' rowsep='1'>
857 <colspec align="left"/>
858 <colspec align="left"/>
861 <entry>Setting</entry>
862 <entry>Default Printing Commands</entry>
867 <entry><smbconfoption name="printing">bsd|aix|lprng|plp</smbconfoption></entry>
868 <entry>print command is <command>lpr -r -P%p %s</command></entry>
871 <entry><smbconfoption name="printing">sysv|hpux</smbconfoption></entry>
872 <entry>print command is <command>lp -c -P%p %s; rm %s</command></entry>
875 <entry> <smbconfoption name="printing">qnx</smbconfoption></entry>
876 <entry>print command is <command>lp -r -P%p -s %s</command></entry>
879 <entry><smbconfoption name="printing">bsd|aix|lprng|plp</smbconfoption></entry>
880 <entry>lpq command is <command>lpq -P%p</command></entry>
883 <entry><smbconfoption name="printing">sysv|hpux</smbconfoption></entry>
884 <entry>lpq command is <command>lpstat -o%p</command></entry>
887 <entry><smbconfoption name="printing">qnx</smbconfoption></entry>
888 <entry>lpq command is <command>lpq -P%p</command></entry>
891 <entry><smbconfoption name="printing">bsd|aix|lprng|plp</smbconfoption></entry>
892 <entry>lprm command is <command>lprm -P%p %j</command></entry>
895 <entry><smbconfoption name="printing">sysv|hpux</smbconfoption></entry>
896 <entry>lprm command is <command>cancel %p-%j</command></entry>
899 <entry><smbconfoption name="printing">qnx</smbconfoption></entry>
900 <entry>lprm command is <command>cancel %p-%j</command></entry>
903 <entry><smbconfoption name="printing">bsd|aix|lprng|plp</smbconfoption></entry>
904 <entry>lppause command is <command>lp -i %p-%j -H hold</command></entry>
907 <entry><smbconfoption name="printing">sysv|hpux</smbconfoption></entry>
908 <entry>lppause command (...is empty)</entry>
911 <entry><smbconfoption name="printing">qnx</smbconfoption></entry>
912 <entry>lppause command (...is empty)</entry>
915 <entry><smbconfoption name="printing">bsd|aix|lprng|plp</smbconfoption></entry>
916 <entry>lpresume command is <command>lp -i %p-%j -H resume</command></entry>
919 <entry><smbconfoption name="printing">sysv|hpux</smbconfoption></entry>
920 <entry>lpresume command (...is empty)</entry>
923 <entry><smbconfoption name="printing">qnx</smbconfoption></entry>
924 <entry>lpresume command (...is empty)</entry>
931 <indexterm><primary>CUPS API</primary></indexterm>
932 <indexterm><primary>cupsd.conf</primary></indexterm>
933 <indexterm><primary>autogenerated printcap</primary></indexterm>
934 <indexterm><primary>libcups</primary></indexterm>
935 For <parameter>printing = CUPS</parameter>, if Samba is compiled against libcups, it uses the CUPS API to
936 submit jobs. (It is a good idea also to set <smbconfoption name="printcap">cups</smbconfoption> in case your
937 <filename>cupsd.conf</filename> is set to write its autogenerated printcap file to an unusual place).
938 Otherwise, Samba maps to the System V printing commands with the -oraw option for printing; that is, it uses
939 <command>lp -c -d%p -oraw; rm %s</command>. With <parameter>printing = cups</parameter>, and if Samba is
940 compiled against libcups, any manually set print command will be ignored!
946 <title>Custom Print Commands</title>
949 <indexterm><primary>print job</primary></indexterm>
950 <indexterm><primary>spooling</primary></indexterm>
951 After a print job has finished spooling to a service, the <smbconfoption name="print command"/> will be used
952 by Samba via a system() call to process the spool file. Usually the command specified will submit the spool
953 file to the host's printing subsystem. But there is no requirement at all that this must be the case. The
954 print subsystem may not remove the spool file on its own, so whatever command you specify, you should ensure
955 that the spool file is deleted after it has been processed.
959 <indexterm><primary>traditional printing</primary></indexterm>
960 <indexterm><primary>customized print commands</primary></indexterm>
961 <indexterm><primary>built-in commands</primary></indexterm>
962 <indexterm><primary>macros</primary></indexterm>
963 There is no difficulty with using your own customized print commands with the traditional printing systems.
964 However, if you do not wish to roll your own, you should be well informed about the default built-in commands
965 that Samba uses for each printing subsystem (see <link linkend="printOptions">Default Printing
966 Settings</link>). In all the commands listed in the last paragraphs, you see parameters of the form
967 <emphasis>%X</emphasis>. These are <emphasis>macros</emphasis>, or shortcuts, used as placeholders for the
968 names of real objects. At the time of running a command with such a placeholder, Samba will insert the
969 appropriate value automatically. Print commands can handle all Samba macro substitutions. In regard to
970 printing, the following ones do have special relevance:
974 <listitem><para><parameter>%s, %f</parameter> &smbmdash; the path to the spool file name.</para></listitem>
975 <listitem><para><parameter>%p</parameter> &smbmdash; the appropriate printer name.</para></listitem>
976 <listitem><para><parameter>%J</parameter> &smbmdash; the job name as transmitted by the client.</para></listitem>
977 <listitem><para><parameter>%c</parameter> &smbmdash; the number of printed pages of the spooled job (if known).</para></listitem>
978 <listitem><para><parameter>%z</parameter> &smbmdash; the size of the spooled print job (in bytes).</para></listitem>
982 <indexterm><primary>default printer</primary></indexterm>
983 The print command must contain at least one occurrence of <parameter>%s</parameter> or
984 <parameter>%f</parameter>. The <parameter>%p</parameter> is optional. If no printer name is supplied,
985 the <parameter>%p</parameter> will be silently removed from the print command. In this case, the job is
986 sent to the default printer.
990 <indexterm><primary>global print command</primary></indexterm>
991 <indexterm><primary>spool files</primary></indexterm>
992 If specified in the <smbconfsection name="[global]"/> section, the print command given will be
993 used for any printable service that does not have its own print command specified. If there is neither a
994 specified print command for a printable service nor a global print command, spool files will be created
995 but not processed! Most importantly, print files will not be removed, so they will consume disk space.
999 <indexterm><primary>nobody account</primary></indexterm>
1000 <indexterm><primary>guest account</primary></indexterm>
1001 Printing may fail on some UNIX systems when using the <emphasis>nobody</emphasis> account. If this happens, create an
1002 alternative guest account and give it the privilege to print. Set up this guest account in the
1003 <smbconfsection name="[global]"/> section with the <parameter>guest account</parameter> parameter.
1007 <indexterm><primary>environment variables</primary></indexterm>
1008 <indexterm><primary>print commands</primary></indexterm>
1009 <indexterm><primary>print job</primary></indexterm>
1010 You can form quite complex print commands. You need to realize that print commands are just
1011 passed to a UNIX shell. The shell is able to expand the included environment variables as
1012 usual. (The syntax to include a UNIX environment variable <parameter>$variable</parameter>
1013 in the Samba print command is <parameter>%$variable</parameter>.) To give you a working
1014 <smbconfoption name="print command"/> example, the following will log a print job
1015 to <filename>/tmp/print.log</filename>, print the file, then remove it. The semicolon (<quote>;</quote>)
1016 is the usual separator for commands in shell scripts:
1019 <para><smbconfblock>
1020 <smbconfoption name="print command">echo Printing %s >> /tmp/print.log; lpr -P %p %s; rm %s</smbconfoption>
1021 </smbconfblock></para>
1024 You may have to vary your own command considerably from this example depending on how you normally print
1025 files on your system. The default for the <smbconfoption name="print command"/>
1026 parameter varies depending on the setting of the <smbconfoption name="printing"/>
1027 parameter. Another example is:
1030 <para><smbconfblock>
1031 <smbconfoption name="print command">/usr/local/samba/bin/myprintscript %p %s</smbconfoption>
1032 </smbconfblock></para>
1037 <sect1 id="cups-msrpc">
1038 <title>Printing Developments Since Samba-2.2</title>
1041 <indexterm><primary>LanMan</primary></indexterm>
1042 <indexterm><primary>MS-RPC</primary></indexterm>
1043 <indexterm><primary>SPOOLSS</primary></indexterm>
1044 Prior to Samba-2.2.x, print server support for Windows clients was limited to <emphasis>LanMan</emphasis>
1045 printing calls. This is the same protocol level as Windows 9x/Me PCs offer when they share printers.
1046 Beginning with the 2.2.0 release, Samba started to support the native Windows NT printing mechanisms. These
1047 are implemented via <emphasis>MS-RPC</emphasis> (Remote Procedure Calls).
1048 MS-RPCs use the <emphasis>SPOOLSS</emphasis> named pipe for all printing.
1052 The additional functionality provided by the new SPOOLSS support includes:
1057 <indexterm><primary>Point'n'Print</primary></indexterm>
1058 Support for downloading printer driver files to Windows 95/98/NT/2000 clients upon
1059 demand (<emphasis>Point'n'Print</emphasis>).
1063 <indexterm><primary>Add Printer Wizard</primary></indexterm>
1064 Uploading of printer drivers via the Windows NT <emphasis>Add Printer Wizard</emphasis> (APW)
1065 or the <ulink url="http://imprints.sourceforge.net/">Imprints</ulink> tool set.
1069 <indexterm><primary>MS-RPC</primary></indexterm>
1070 <indexterm><primary>printing calls</primary></indexterm>
1071 <indexterm><primary>StartDocPrinter</primary></indexterm>
1072 <indexterm><primary>EnumJobs()</primary></indexterm>
1073 <indexterm><primary>Win32 printing API</primary></indexterm>
1074 Support for the native MS-RPC printing calls such as StartDocPrinter, EnumJobs(), and so on. (See the
1075 <ulink url="http://msdn.microsoft.com/">MSDN documentation</ulink> for more information on the
1076 Win32 printing API).
1080 <indexterm><primary>ACL</primary></indexterm>
1081 <indexterm><primary>printer objects</primary></indexterm>
1082 Support for NT Access Control Lists (ACL) on printer objects.
1086 <indexterm><primary>printer queue</primary></indexterm>
1087 Improved support for printer queue manipulation through the use of internal databases for spooled
1088 job information (implemented by various <filename>*.tdb</filename> files).
1093 <indexterm><primary>ADS</primary></indexterm>
1094 <indexterm><primary>LDAP</primary></indexterm>
1095 A benefit of updating is that Samba is able to publish its printers to Active Directory (or LDAP).
1099 <indexterm><primary>publish printers</primary></indexterm>
1100 A fundamental difference exists between MS Windows NT print servers and Samba operation. Windows NT
1101 permits the installation of local printers that are not shared. This is an artifact of the fact that
1102 any Windows NT machine (server or client) may be used by a user as a workstation. Samba will publish all
1103 printers that are made available, either by default or by specific declaration via printer-specific shares.
1107 <indexterm><primary>SMB</primary></indexterm>
1108 <indexterm><primary>MS-RPC</primary></indexterm>
1109 <indexterm><primary>Everyone group</primary></indexterm>
1110 <indexterm><primary>privileges</primary></indexterm>
1111 <indexterm><primary>printer default permissions</primary></indexterm>
1112 Windows NT/200x/XP Professional clients do not have to use the standard SMB printer share; they can
1113 print directly to any printer on another Windows NT host using MS-RPC. This, of course, assumes that
1114 the client has the necessary privileges on the remote host that serves the printer resource. The
1115 default permissions assigned by Windows NT to a printer gives the print permissions to the well-known
1116 <emphasis>Everyone</emphasis> group. (The older clients of type Windows 9x/Me can only print to shared
1121 <title>Point'n'Print Client Drivers on Samba Servers</title>
1124 <indexterm><primary>printer drivers</primary></indexterm>
1125 There is much confusion about what all this means. The question is often asked, <quote>Is it or is
1126 it not necessary for printer drivers to be installed on a Samba host in order to support printing from
1127 Windows clients?</quote> The answer to this is no, it is not necessary.
1131 <indexterm><primary>install drivers</primary></indexterm>
1132 <indexterm><primary>print queue</primary></indexterm>
1133 Windows NT/2000 clients can, of course, also run their APW to install drivers <emphasis>locally</emphasis>
1134 (which then connect to a Samba-served print queue). This is the same method used by Windows 9x/Me
1135 clients. (However, a bug existed in Samba 2.2.0 that made Windows NT/2000 clients
1136 require that the Samba server possess a valid driver for the printer. This was fixed in Samba 2.2.1).
1140 <indexterm><primary>printer drivers</primary></indexterm>
1141 <indexterm><primary>uploading</primary></indexterm>
1142 But it is a new capability to install the printer drivers into the <smbconfsection name="[print$]"/>
1143 share of the Samba server, and a big convenience, too. Then <emphasis>all</emphasis> clients
1144 (including 95/98/ME) get the driver installed when they first connect to this printer share. The
1145 <emphasis>uploading</emphasis> or <emphasis>depositing</emphasis> of the driver into this
1146 <smbconfsection name="[print$]"/> share and the following binding of this driver to an existing
1147 Samba printer share can be achieved by different means:
1152 Running the <emphasis>APW</emphasis> on an NT/200x/XP Professional client (this does not work from 95/98/ME clients).
1156 Using the <emphasis>Imprints</emphasis> toolset.
1160 Using the <emphasis>smbclient</emphasis> and <emphasis>rpcclient</emphasis> command-line tools.
1164 Using <emphasis>cupsaddsmb</emphasis> (only works for the CUPS printing system, not for LPR/LPD, LPRng, and so on).
1169 <indexterm><primary>uploaded drivers</primary></indexterm>
1170 <indexterm><primary>Point'n'Print</primary></indexterm>
1171 Samba does not use these uploaded drivers in any way to process spooled files. These drivers are utilized
1172 entirely by the clients who download and install them via the <quote>Point'n'Print</quote> mechanism
1173 supported by Samba. The clients use these drivers to generate print files in the format the printer
1174 (or the UNIX print system) requires. Print files received by Samba are handed over to the UNIX printing
1175 system, which is responsible for all further processing, as needed.
1180 <title>The Obsoleted [printer$] Section</title>
1183 <indexterm><primary>printer$ share</primary></indexterm>
1184 <indexterm><primary>printer driver</primary></indexterm>
1185 Versions of Samba prior to 2.2 made it possible to use a share named <parameter>[printer$]</parameter>. This
1186 name was taken from the same named service created by Windows 9x/Me clients when a printer was shared by them.
1187 Windows 9x/Me printer servers always have a <smbconfsection name="[printer$]"/> service that provides
1188 read-only access (with no password required) to support printer driver downloads. However, Samba's initial
1189 implementation allowed for a parameter named <parameter>printer driver location</parameter> to be used on a
1190 per-share basis. This specified the location of the driver files associated with that printer. Another
1191 parameter named <parameter>printer driver</parameter> provided a means of defining the printer driver name to
1192 be sent to the client.
1196 <indexterm><primary>printer driver file</primary></indexterm>
1197 <indexterm><primary>read-write access</primary></indexterm>
1198 <indexterm><primary>ACLs</primary></indexterm>
1199 These parameters, including the <parameter>printer driver file</parameter> parameter,
1200 are now removed and cannot be used in installations of Samba. The share name
1201 <smbconfsection name="[print$]"/> is now used for the location of downloadable printer
1202 drivers. It is taken from the <smbconfsection name="[print$]"/> service created
1203 by Windows NT PCs when a printer is shared by them. Windows NT print servers always have a
1204 <smbconfsection name="[print$]"/> service that provides read-write access (in the context
1205 of its ACLs) to support printer driver downloads and uploads. This does not mean Windows
1206 9x/Me clients are now thrown aside. They can use Samba's <smbconfsection name="[print$]"/>
1207 share support just fine.
1212 <title>Creating the [print$] Share</title>
1215 <indexterm><primary>printer driver</primary></indexterm>
1216 In order to support the uploading and downloading of printer driver files, you must first configure a
1217 file share named <smbconfsection name="[print$]"/>. The public name of this share is hard coded
1218 in the MS Windows clients. It cannot be renamed, since Windows clients are programmed to search for a
1219 service of exactly this name if they want to retrieve printer driver files.
1223 You should modify the server's file to add the global parameters and create the
1224 <smbconfsection name="[print$]"/> file share (of course, some of the parameter values, such
1225 as <smbconfoption name="path"/>, are arbitrary and should be replaced with appropriate values for your
1226 site). See <link linkend="prtdollar">[print\$] Example</link>.
1229 <example id="prtdollar">
1230 <title>[print$] Example</title>
1232 <smbconfsection name="[global]"/>
1233 <smbconfcomment>...</smbconfcomment>
1235 <smbconfsection name="[printers]"/>
1236 <smbconfcomment>...</smbconfcomment>
1238 <smbconfsection name="[print$]"/>
1239 <smbconfoption name="comment">Printer Driver Download Area</smbconfoption>
1240 <smbconfoption name="path">/etc/samba/drivers</smbconfoption>
1241 <smbconfoption name="browseable">yes</smbconfoption>
1242 <smbconfoption name="guest ok">yes</smbconfoption>
1243 <smbconfoption name="read only">yes</smbconfoption>
1244 <smbconfoption name="write list">@ntadmin, root</smbconfoption>
1249 Of course, you also need to ensure that the directory named by the
1250 <smbconfoption name="path"/> parameter exists on the UNIX file system.
1256 <title>[print$] Stanza Parameters</title>
1259 <indexterm><primary>special section</primary></indexterm>
1260 <indexterm><primary>special stanza</primary></indexterm>
1261 <indexterm><primary>potential printer</primary></indexterm>
1262 <indexterm><primary>driver download</primary></indexterm>
1263 <indexterm><primary>local print driver</primary></indexterm>
1264 The <smbconfsection name="[print$]"/> is a special section in &smb.conf;. It contains settings relevant to
1265 potential printer driver download and is used by Windows clients for local print driver installation.
1266 The following parameters are frequently needed in this share section:
1270 <varlistentry><term><smbconfoption name="comment">Printer Driver Download Area </smbconfoption></term>
1272 The comment appears next to the share name if it is listed in a share list (usually Windows
1273 clients will not see it, but it will also appear up in a <command>smbclient -L sambaserver
1278 <varlistentry><term><smbconfoption name="path">/etc/samba/printers </smbconfoption></term>
1280 The path to the location of the Windows driver file deposit from the UNIX point of view.
1284 <varlistentry><term><smbconfoption name="browseable">no </smbconfoption></term>
1286 Makes the <smbconfsection name="[print$]"/> share invisible to clients from the
1287 <guimenu>Network Neighborhood</guimenu>. By excuting from a <command>cmd</command> shell:
1289 &dosprompt; <command>net use g:\\sambaserver\print$</command>
1291 you can still mount it from any client. This can also be done from the
1292 <guimenu>Connect network drive</guimenu> menu from Windows Explorer.
1296 <varlistentry><term><smbconfoption name="guest ok">yes </smbconfoption></term>
1298 Gives read-only access to this share for all guest users. Access may be granted to
1299 download and install printer drivers on clients. The requirement for <parameter>guest ok
1300 = yes</parameter> depends on how your site is configured. If users will be guaranteed
1301 to have an account on the Samba host, then this is a non-issue.
1305 If all your Windows NT users are guaranteed to be authenticated by the Samba server
1306 (for example, if Samba authenticates via an NT domain server and the user has already been
1307 validated by the domain controller in order to log on to the Windows NT session), then guest
1308 access is not necessary. Of course, in a workgroup environment where you just want
1309 to print without worrying about silly accounts and security, then configure the share for
1310 guest access. You should consider adding <smbconfoption name="map to guest">Bad User</smbconfoption>
1311 in the <smbconfsection name="[global]"/> section as well. Make sure you understand what this
1312 parameter does before using it.
1317 <varlistentry><term><smbconfoption name="read only">yes </smbconfoption></term>
1319 Because we do not want everybody to upload driver files (or even change driver settings),
1320 we tagged this share as not writable.
1324 <varlistentry><term><smbconfoption name="write list">@ntadmin, root </smbconfoption></term>
1326 The <smbconfsection name="[print$]"/> was made read-only by the previous
1327 setting so we should create a <parameter>write list</parameter> entry also. UNIX
1328 groups are denoted with a leading <quote>@</quote> character. Users listed here are allowed
1329 write-access (as an exception to the general public's read-only access), which they need to
1330 update files on the share. Normally, you will want to name only administrative-level user
1331 account in this setting. Check the file system permissions to make sure these accounts
1332 can copy files to the share.
1340 <title>The [print$] Share Directory</title>
1343 In order for a Windows NT print server to support the downloading of driver files by multiple client
1344 architectures, you must create several subdirectories within the <smbconfsection name="[print$]"/>
1345 service (i.e., the UNIX directory named by the <smbconfoption name="path"/>
1346 parameter). These correspond to each of the supported client architectures. Samba follows this model as
1347 well. Just like the name of the <smbconfsection name="[print$]"/> share itself, the subdirectories
1348 must be exactly the names listed below (you may leave out the subdirectories of architectures you do
1349 not need to support).
1353 Therefore, create a directory tree below the
1354 <smbconfsection name="[print$]"/> share for each architecture you wish
1355 to support like this:
1358 |--W32X86 # serves drivers to Windows NT x86
1359 |--WIN40 # serves drivers to Windows 95/98
1360 |--W32ALPHA # serves drivers to Windows NT Alpha_AXP
1361 |--W32MIPS # serves drivers to Windows NT R4000
1362 |--W32PPC # serves drivers to Windows NT PowerPC
1366 <important><title>Required Permissions</title>
1368 In order to add a new driver to your Samba host, one of two conditions must hold true:
1373 The account used to connect to the Samba host must have a UID of 0 (i.e., a root account).
1378 Of course, the connected account must still have write access to add files to the subdirectories beneath
1379 <smbconfsection name="[print$]"/>. Remember that all file shares are set to <quote>read-only</quote> by default.
1384 Once you have created the required <smbconfsection name="[print$]"/> service and
1385 associated subdirectories, go to a Windows NT 4.0/200x/XP client workstation. Open <guiicon>Network
1386 Neighborhood</guiicon> or <guiicon>My Network Places</guiicon> and browse for the Samba host. Once you
1387 have located the server, navigate to its <guiicon>Printers and Faxes</guiicon> folder. You should see
1388 an initial listing of printers that matches the printer shares defined on your Samba host.
1394 <title>Installing Drivers into [print$]</title>
1397 Have you successfully created the <smbconfsection name="[print$]"/> share in &smb.conf;, and have you forced
1398 Samba to reread its &smb.conf; file? Good. But you are not yet ready to use the new facility. The client
1399 driver files need to be installed into this share. So far, it is still an empty share. Unfortunately, it is
1400 not enough to just copy the driver files over. They need to be correctly installed so that appropriate records
1401 for each driver will exist in the Samba internal databases so it can provide the correct drivers as they are
1402 requested from MS Windows clients. And that is a bit tricky, to say the least. We now discuss two alternative
1403 ways to install the drivers into <smbconfsection name="[print$]"/>:
1408 Using the Samba command-line utility <command>rpcclient</command> with its various subcommands (here,
1409 <command>adddriver</command> and <command>setdriver</command>) from any UNIX workstation.
1413 Running a GUI (<guiicon>Printer Properties</guiicon> and <guiicon>Add Printer Wizard</guiicon>)
1414 from any Windows NT/200x/XP client workstation.
1419 The latter option is probably the easier one (even if the process may seem a little bit weird at first).
1423 <title>Add Printer Wizard Driver Installation</title>
1426 The printers initially listed in the Samba host's <guiicon>Printers</guiicon> folder accessed from a
1427 client's Explorer will have no real printer driver assigned to them. By default this driver name is set
1428 to a null string. This must be changed now. The local <guiicon>Add Printer Wizard</guiicon> (APW), run from
1429 NT/2000/XP clients, will help us in this task.
1433 Installation of a valid printer driver is not straightforward. You must attempt to view the printer properties
1434 for the printer to which you want the driver assigned. Open Windows Explorer, open <guiicon>Network
1435 Neighborhood</guiicon>, browse to the Samba host, open Samba's <guiicon>Printers</guiicon> folder, right-click
1436 on the printer icon, and select <guimenu>Properties...</guimenu>. You are now trying to view printer and
1437 driver properties for a queue that has this default <constant>NULL</constant> driver assigned. This will
1438 result in the following error message: <quote> Device settings cannot be displayed. The driver for the
1439 specified printer is not installed, only spooler properties will be displayed. Do you want to install the
1444 Do <emphasis>not</emphasis> click on <guibutton>Yes</guibutton>! Instead, click on <guibutton>No</guibutton>
1445 in the error dialog. Now you will be presented with the printer properties window. From here, the way to
1446 assign a driver to a printer is open. You now have the choice of:
1451 Select a driver from the pop-up list of installed drivers. Initially this list will be empty.
1455 Click on <guibutton>New Driver</guibutton> to install a new printer driver (which will
1461 Once the APW is started, the procedure is exactly the same as the one you are familiar with in Windows (we
1462 assume here that you are familiar with the printer driver installations procedure on Windows NT). Make sure
1463 your connection is, in fact, set up as a user with printer administrator privileges
1464 (if in doubt, use <command>smbstatus</command> to check for this). If you wish to install
1465 printer drivers for client operating systems other than <application>Windows NT x86</application>,
1466 you will need to use the <guilabel>Sharing</guilabel> tab of the printer properties dialog.
1470 Assuming you have connected with an administrative (or root) account, you will also be able to modify
1471 other printer properties such as ACLs and default device settings using this dialog. For the default
1472 device settings, please consider the advice given further in <link linkend="inst-rpc">Installing
1473 Print Drivers Using <command>rpcclient</command></link>.
1477 <sect2 id="inst-rpc">
1478 <title>Installing Print Drivers Using <command>rpcclient</command></title>
1481 The second way to install printer drivers into <smbconfsection name="[print$]"/> and set them
1482 up in a valid way is to do it from the UNIX command line. This involves four distinct steps:
1487 Gather information about required driver files and collect the files.
1491 Deposit the driver files into the <smbconfsection name="[print$]"/> share's correct subdirectories
1492 (possibly by using <command>smbclient</command>).
1496 Run the <command>rpcclient</command> command-line utility once with the <command>adddriver</command>
1501 Run <command>rpcclient</command> a second time with the <command>setdriver</command> subcommand.
1506 We provide detailed hints for each of these steps in the paragraphs that follow.
1510 <title>Identifying Driver Files</title>
1513 <indexterm><primary>driver files</primary></indexterm>
1514 <indexterm><primary>driver CDROM</primary></indexterm>
1515 <indexterm><primary>inf file</primary></indexterm>
1516 To find out about the driver files, you have two options. You can check the contents of the driver
1517 CDROM that came with your printer. Study the <filename>*.inf</filename> files located on the CD-ROM. This
1518 may not be possible, since the <filename>*.inf</filename> file might be missing. Unfortunately, vendors have now started
1519 to use their own installation programs. These installations packages are often in some Windows platform
1520 archive format. Additionally, the files may be re-named during the installation process. This makes it
1521 extremely difficult to identify the driver files required.
1525 <indexterm><primary>W32X86</primary></indexterm>
1526 Then you have the second option. Install the driver locally on a Windows client and
1527 investigate which filenames and paths it uses after they are installed. (You need to repeat
1528 this procedure for every client platform you want to support. We show it here for the
1529 <application>W32X86</application> platform only, a name used by Microsoft for all Windows NT/200x/XP
1534 <indexterm><primary>driver files</primary></indexterm>
1535 A good method to recognize the driver files is to print the test page from the driver's
1536 <guilabel>Properties</guilabel> dialog (<guilabel>General</guilabel> tab). Then look at the list of
1537 driver files named on the printout. You'll need to recognize what Windows (and Samba) are calling the
1538 <guilabel>Driver File</guilabel>, <guilabel>Data File</guilabel>, <guilabel>Config File</guilabel>,
1539 <guilabel>Help File</guilabel>, and (optionally) <guilabel>Dependent Driver Files</guilabel>
1540 (this may vary slightly for Windows NT). You need to note all filenames for the next steps.
1544 <indexterm><primary>rpcclient</primary></indexterm>
1545 <indexterm><primary>enumdrivers</primary></indexterm>
1546 <indexterm><primary>getdriver</primary></indexterm>
1547 Another method to quickly test the driver filenames and related paths is provided by the
1548 <command>rpcclient</command> utility. Run it with <command>enumdrivers</command> or with the
1549 <command>getdriver</command> subcommand, each at the <filename>3</filename> info level. In the following example,
1550 <emphasis>TURBO_XP</emphasis> is the name of the Windows PC (in this case it was a Windows XP Professional
1551 laptop). I installed the driver locally to TURBO_XP from a Samba server called <constant>KDE-BITSHOP</constant>.
1552 We could run an interactive <command>rpcclient</command> session; then we would get an
1553 <command>rpcclient /></command> prompt and would type the subcommands at this prompt. This is left as
1554 a good exercise for you. For now, we use <command>rpcclient</command> with the <option>-c</option>
1555 parameter to execute a single subcommand line and exit again. This is the method you use if you
1556 want to create scripts to automate the procedure for a large number of printers and drivers. Note the
1557 different quotation marks used to overcome the different spaces between words:
1561 &rootprompt;<userinput>rpcclient -U'Danka%xxxx' -c \
1562 'getdriver "Heidelberg Digimaster 9110 (PS)" 3' TURBO_XP</userinput>
1563 cmd = getdriver "Heidelberg Digimaster 9110 (PS)" 3
1566 Printer Driver Info 3:
1568 Driver Name: [Heidelberg Digimaster 9110 (PS)]
1569 Architecture: [Windows NT x86]
1570 Driver Path: [C:\WINNT\System32\spool\DRIVERS\W32X86\2\HDNIS01_de.DLL]
1571 Datafile: [C:\WINNT\System32\spool\DRIVERS\W32X86\2\Hddm91c1_de.ppd]
1572 Configfile: [C:\WINNT\System32\spool\DRIVERS\W32X86\2\HDNIS01U_de.DLL]
1573 Helpfile: [C:\WINNT\System32\spool\DRIVERS\W32X86\2\HDNIS01U_de.HLP]
1575 Dependentfiles: [C:\WINNT\System32\spool\DRIVERS\W32X86\2\Hddm91c1_de.DLL]
1576 Dependentfiles: [C:\WINNT\System32\spool\DRIVERS\W32X86\2\Hddm91c1_de.INI]
1577 Dependentfiles: [C:\WINNT\System32\spool\DRIVERS\W32X86\2\Hddm91c1_de.dat]
1578 Dependentfiles: [C:\WINNT\System32\spool\DRIVERS\W32X86\2\Hddm91c1_de.cat]
1579 Dependentfiles: [C:\WINNT\System32\spool\DRIVERS\W32X86\2\Hddm91c1_de.def]
1580 Dependentfiles: [C:\WINNT\System32\spool\DRIVERS\W32X86\2\Hddm91c1_de.hre]
1581 Dependentfiles: [C:\WINNT\System32\spool\DRIVERS\W32X86\2\Hddm91c1_de.vnd]
1582 Dependentfiles: [C:\WINNT\System32\spool\DRIVERS\W32X86\2\Hddm91c1_de.hlp]
1583 Dependentfiles: [C:\WINNT\System32\spool\DRIVERS\W32X86\2\HDNIS01Aux.dll]
1584 Dependentfiles: [C:\WINNT\System32\spool\DRIVERS\W32X86\2\HDNIS01_de.NTF]
1591 <indexterm><primary>Driver File</primary></indexterm>
1592 <indexterm><primary>Driver Path</primary></indexterm>
1593 <indexterm><primary>WIN40</primary></indexterm>
1594 <indexterm><primary>W32X86</primary></indexterm>
1595 You may notice that this driver has quite a large number of <guilabel>Dependent files</guilabel>
1596 (there are worse cases, however). Also, strangely, the
1597 <guilabel>Driver File</guilabel> is tagged here
1598 <guilabel>Driver Path</guilabel>. We do not yet have support for the so-called
1599 <application>WIN40</application> architecture installed. This name is used by Microsoft for the Windows
1600 9x/Me platforms. If we want to support these, we need to install the Windows 9x/Me driver files in
1601 addition to those for <application>W32X86</application> (i.e., the Windows NT 2000/XP clients) onto a
1602 Windows PC. This PC can also host the Windows 9x/Me drivers, even if it runs on Windows NT, 2000, or XP.
1606 <indexterm><primary>UNC notation</primary></indexterm>
1607 <indexterm><primary>Windows Explorer</primary></indexterm>
1608 Since the <smbconfsection name="[print$]"/> share is usually accessible through the <guiicon>Network
1609 Neighborhood</guiicon>, you can also use the UNC notation from Windows Explorer to poke at it. The Windows
1610 9x/Me driver files will end up in subdirectory <filename>0</filename> of the <filename>WIN40</filename>
1611 directory. The full path to access them is <filename>\\WINDOWSHOST\print$\WIN40\0\</filename>.
1615 More recent drivers on Windows 2000 and Windows XP are installed into the <quote>3</quote> subdirectory
1616 instead of the <quote>2</quote>. The version 2 of drivers, as used in Windows NT, were running in kernel
1617 mode. Windows 2000 changed this. While it still can use the kernel mode drivers (if this is enabled by
1618 the Admin), its native mode for printer drivers is user mode execution. This requires drivers designed
1619 for this purpose. These types of drivers install into the <quote>3</quote> subdirectory.
1624 <title>Obtaining Driver Files from Windows Client [print$] Shares</title>
1627 Now we need to collect all the driver files we identified in our previous step. Where do we get them
1628 from? Well, why not retrieve them from the very PC and the same <smbconfsection name="[print$]"/>
1629 share that we investigated in our last step to identify the files? We can use <command>smbclient</command>
1630 to do this. We will use the paths and names that were leaked to us by <command>getdriver</command>. The
1631 listing is edited to include line breaks for readability:
1633 &rootprompt;<userinput>smbclient //TURBO_XP/print\$ -U'Danka%xxxx' \
1634 -c 'cd W32X86/2;mget HD*_de.* hd*ppd Hd*_de.* Hddm*dll HDN*Aux.DLL'</userinput>
1636 added interface ip=10.160.51.60 bcast=10.160.51.255 nmask=255.255.252.0
1637 Got a positive name query response from 10.160.50.8 ( 10.160.50.8 )
1638 Domain=[DEVELOPMENT] OS=[Windows 5.1] Server=[Windows 2000 LAN Manager]
1639 <prompt>Get file Hddm91c1_de.ABD? </prompt><userinput>n</userinput>
1640 <prompt>Get file Hddm91c1_de.def? </prompt><userinput>y</userinput>
1641 getting file \W32X86\2\Hddm91c1_de.def of size 428 as Hddm91c1_de.def
1642 <prompt>Get file Hddm91c1_de.DLL? </prompt><userinput>y</userinput>
1643 getting file \W32X86\2\Hddm91c1_de.DLL of size 876544 as Hddm91c1_de.DLL
1648 After this command is complete, the files are in our current local directory. You probably have noticed
1649 that this time we passed several commands to the <option>-c</option> parameter, separated by semicolons.
1650 This ensures that all commands are executed in sequence on the remote Windows server before
1651 <command>smbclient</command> exits again.
1655 <indexterm><primary>WIN40</primary></indexterm>
1656 Remember to repeat the procedure for the <application>WIN40</application> architecture should you need to
1657 support Windows 9x/Me/XP clients. Remember too, the files for these architectures are in the
1658 <filename>WIN40/0/</filename> subdirectory. Once this is complete, we can run <command>smbclient. .
1659 .put</command> to store the collected files on the Samba server's <smbconfsection name="[print$]"/> share.
1664 <title>Installing Driver Files into [print$]</title>
1667 We are now going to locate the driver files into the <smbconfsection name="[print$]"/> share. Remember, the
1668 UNIX path to this share has been defined previously in your &smb.conf; file. You also have created
1669 subdirectories for the different Windows client types you want to support. If, for example, your
1670 <smbconfsection name="[print$]"/> share maps to the UNIX path <filename>/etc/samba/drivers/</filename>, your
1671 driver files should now go here:
1676 For all Windows NT, 2000, and XP clients, <filename>/etc/samba/drivers/W32X86/</filename> but
1677 not (yet) into the <filename>2</filename> subdirectory.
1681 For all Windows 95, 98, and Me clients, <filename>/etc/samba/drivers/WIN40/</filename> but not
1682 (yet) into the <filename>0</filename> subdirectory.
1687 <indexterm><primary>smbclient</primary></indexterm>
1688 <indexterm><primary>getdriver</primary></indexterm>
1689 We again use smbclient to transfer the driver files across the network. We specify the same files
1690 and paths as were leaked to us by running <command>getdriver</command> against the original
1691 <emphasis>Windows</emphasis> install. However, now we are going to store the files into a
1692 <emphasis>Samba/UNIX</emphasis> print server's <smbconfsection name="[print$]"/> share.
1694 &rootprompt;<userinput>smbclient //SAMBA-CUPS/print\$ -U'root%xxxx' -c \
1695 'cd W32X86; put HDNIS01_de.DLL; \
1696 put Hddm91c1_de.ppd; put HDNIS01U_de.DLL; \
1697 put HDNIS01U_de.HLP; put Hddm91c1_de.DLL; \
1698 put Hddm91c1_de.INI; put Hddm91c1KMMin.DLL; \
1699 put Hddm91c1_de.dat; put Hddm91c1_de.dat; \
1700 put Hddm91c1_de.def; put Hddm91c1_de.hre; \
1701 put Hddm91c1_de.vnd; put Hddm91c1_de.hlp; \
1702 put Hddm91c1_de_reg.HLP; put HDNIS01Aux.dll; \
1703 put HDNIS01_de.NTF'</userinput>
1705 added interface ip=10.160.51.60 bcast=10.160.51.255 nmask=255.255.252.0
1706 Got a positive name query response from 10.160.51.162 ( 10.160.51.162 )
1707 Domain=[CUPS-PRINT] OS=[UNIX] Server=[Samba 2.2.7a]
1708 putting file HDNIS01_de.DLL as \W32X86\HDNIS01_de.DLL
1709 putting file Hddm91c1_de.ppd as \W32X86\Hddm91c1_de.ppd
1710 putting file HDNIS01U_de.DLL as \W32X86\HDNIS01U_de.DLL
1711 putting file HDNIS01U_de.HLP as \W32X86\HDNIS01U_de.HLP
1712 putting file Hddm91c1_de.DLL as \W32X86\Hddm91c1_de.DLL
1713 putting file Hddm91c1_de.INI as \W32X86\Hddm91c1_de.INI
1714 putting file Hddm91c1KMMin.DLL as \W32X86\Hddm91c1KMMin.DLL
1715 putting file Hddm91c1_de.dat as \W32X86\Hddm91c1_de.dat
1716 putting file Hddm91c1_de.dat as \W32X86\Hddm91c1_de.dat
1717 putting file Hddm91c1_de.def as \W32X86\Hddm91c1_de.def
1718 putting file Hddm91c1_de.hre as \W32X86\Hddm91c1_de.hre
1719 putting file Hddm91c1_de.vnd as \W32X86\Hddm91c1_de.vnd
1720 putting file Hddm91c1_de.hlp as \W32X86\Hddm91c1_de.hlp
1721 putting file Hddm91c1_de_reg.HLP as \W32X86\Hddm91c1_de_reg.HLP
1722 putting file HDNIS01Aux.dll as \W32X86\HDNIS01Aux.dll
1723 putting file HDNIS01_de.NTF as \W32X86\HDNIS01_de.NTF
1725 <indexterm><primary>PPD</primary></indexterm>
1726 <indexterm><primary>PostScript driver</primary></indexterm>
1727 <indexterm><primary>adddriver</primary></indexterm>
1728 Whew &smbmdash; that was a lot of typing! Most drivers are a lot smaller &smbmdash; many have only three generic
1729 PostScript driver files plus one PPD. While we did retrieve the files from the <filename>2</filename>
1730 subdirectory of the <filename>W32X86</filename> directory from the Windows box, we do not put them
1731 (for now) in this same subdirectory of the Samba box. This relocation will automatically be done by the
1732 <command>adddriver</command> command, which we will run shortly (and do not forget to also put the files
1733 for the Windows 9x/Me architecture into the <filename>WIN40/</filename> subdirectory should you need them).
1739 <title><command>smbclient</command> to Confirm Driver Installation</title>
1742 <indexterm><primary>smbclient</primary></indexterm>
1743 <indexterm><primary>SSH</primary></indexterm>
1744 For now we verify that our files are there. This can be done with <command>smbclient</command>, too
1745 (but, of course, you can log in via SSH also and do this through a standard UNIX shell access):
1749 &rootprompt;<userinput>smbclient //SAMBA-CUPS/print\$ -U 'root%xxxx' \
1750 -c 'cd W32X86; pwd; dir; cd 2; pwd; dir'</userinput>
1751 added interface ip=10.160.51.60 bcast=10.160.51.255 nmask=255.255.252.0
1752 Got a positive name query response from 10.160.51.162 ( 10.160.51.162 )
1753 Domain=[CUPS-PRINT] OS=[UNIX] Server=[Samba 2.2.8a]
1755 Current directory is \\SAMBA-CUPS\print$\W32X86\
1756 . D 0 Sun May 4 03:56:35 2003
1757 .. D 0 Thu Apr 10 23:47:40 2003
1758 2 D 0 Sun May 4 03:56:18 2003
1759 HDNIS01Aux.dll A 15356 Sun May 4 03:58:59 2003
1760 Hddm91c1KMMin.DLL A 46966 Sun May 4 03:58:59 2003
1761 HDNIS01_de.DLL A 434400 Sun May 4 03:58:59 2003
1762 HDNIS01_de.NTF A 790404 Sun May 4 03:56:35 2003
1763 Hddm91c1_de.DLL A 876544 Sun May 4 03:58:59 2003
1764 Hddm91c1_de.INI A 101 Sun May 4 03:58:59 2003
1765 Hddm91c1_de.dat A 5044 Sun May 4 03:58:59 2003
1766 Hddm91c1_de.def A 428 Sun May 4 03:58:59 2003
1767 Hddm91c1_de.hlp A 37699 Sun May 4 03:58:59 2003
1768 Hddm91c1_de.hre A 323584 Sun May 4 03:58:59 2003
1769 Hddm91c1_de.ppd A 26373 Sun May 4 03:58:59 2003
1770 Hddm91c1_de.vnd A 45056 Sun May 4 03:58:59 2003
1771 HDNIS01U_de.DLL A 165888 Sun May 4 03:58:59 2003
1772 HDNIS01U_de.HLP A 19770 Sun May 4 03:58:59 2003
1773 Hddm91c1_de_reg.HLP A 228417 Sun May 4 03:58:59 2003
1774 40976 blocks of size 262144. 709 blocks available
1776 Current directory is \\SAMBA-CUPS\print$\W32X86\2\
1777 . D 0 Sun May 4 03:56:18 2003
1778 .. D 0 Sun May 4 03:56:35 2003
1779 ADOBEPS5.DLL A 434400 Sat May 3 23:18:45 2003
1780 laserjet4.ppd A 9639 Thu Apr 24 01:05:32 2003
1781 ADOBEPSU.DLL A 109568 Sat May 3 23:18:45 2003
1782 ADOBEPSU.HLP A 18082 Sat May 3 23:18:45 2003
1783 PDFcreator2.PPD A 15746 Sun Apr 20 22:24:07 2003
1784 40976 blocks of size 262144. 709 blocks available
1788 <indexterm><primary>Point'n'Print</primary></indexterm>
1789 <indexterm><primary>printer driver files</primary></indexterm>
1790 <indexterm><primary>print queue</primary></indexterm>
1791 Notice that there are already driver files present in the <filename>2</filename> subdirectory (probably from a
1792 previous installation). Once the files for the new driver are there too, you are still a few steps away from
1793 being able to use them on the clients. The only thing you could do now is retrieve them from a client just
1794 like you retrieve ordinary files from a file share, by opening print$ in Windows Explorer. But that wouldn't
1795 install them per Point'n'Print. The reason is that Samba does not yet know that these files are something
1796 special, namely <emphasis>printer driver files</emphasis>, and it does not know to which print queue(s) these
1797 driver files belong.
1802 <title>Running <command>rpcclient</command> with <command>adddriver</command></title>
1805 <indexterm><primary>adddriver</primary></indexterm>
1806 <indexterm><primary>register driver files</primary></indexterm>
1807 <indexterm><primary>TDB database</primary></indexterm>
1808 Next, you must tell Samba about the special category of the files you just uploaded into the
1809 <smbconfsection name="[print$]"/> share. This is done by the <command>adddriver</command>
1810 command. It will prompt Samba to register the driver files into its internal TDB database files. The
1811 following command and its output has been edited for readability:
1813 &rootprompt;<userinput>rpcclient -Uroot%xxxx -c 'adddriver "Windows NT x86" \
1814 "dm9110:HDNIS01_de.DLL: \
1815 Hddm91c1_de.ppd:HDNIS01U_de.DLL:HDNIS01U_de.HLP: \
1816 NULL:RAW:Hddm91c1_de.DLL,Hddm91c1_de.INI, \
1817 Hddm91c1_de.dat,Hddm91c1_de.def,Hddm91c1_de.hre, \
1818 Hddm91c1_de.vnd,Hddm91c1_de.hlp,Hddm91c1KMMin.DLL, \
1819 HDNIS01Aux.dll,HDNIS01_de.NTF, \
1820 Hddm91c1_de_reg.HLP' SAMBA-CUPS</userinput>
1822 cmd = adddriver "Windows NT x86" \
1823 "dm9110:HDNIS01_de.DLL:Hddm91c1_de.ppd:HDNIS01U_de.DLL: \
1824 HDNIS01U_de.HLP:NULL:RAW:Hddm91c1_de.DLL,Hddm91c1_de.INI, \
1825 Hddm91c1_de.dat,Hddm91c1_de.def,Hddm91c1_de.hre, \
1826 Hddm91c1_de.vnd,Hddm91c1_de.hlp,Hddm91c1KMMin.DLL, \
1827 HDNIS01Aux.dll,HDNIS01_de.NTF,Hddm91c1_de_reg.HLP"
1829 Printer Driver dm9110 successfully installed.
1833 <indexterm><primary>NT_STATUS_UNSUCCESSFUL</primary></indexterm>
1834 <indexterm><primary>error message</primary></indexterm>
1835 <indexterm><primary>adddriver</primary></indexterm>
1836 After this step, the driver should be recognized by Samba on the print server. You need to be very
1837 careful when typing the command. Don't exchange the order of the fields. Some changes would lead to
1838 an <computeroutput>NT_STATUS_UNSUCCESSFUL</computeroutput> error message. These become obvious. Other
1839 changes might install the driver files successfully but render the driver unworkable. So take care!
1840 Hints about the syntax of the adddriver command are in the man page.
1841 provides a more detailed description, should you need it.
1846 <title>Checking <command>adddriver</command> Completion</title>
1849 One indication for Samba's recognition of the files as driver files is the <computeroutput>successfully
1850 installed</computeroutput> message. Another one is the fact that our files have been moved by the
1851 <command>adddriver</command> command into the <filename>2</filename> subdirectory. You can check this
1852 again with <command>smbclient</command>:
1854 &rootprompt;<userinput>smbclient //SAMBA-CUPS/print\$ -Uroot%xx \
1855 -c 'cd W32X86;dir;pwd;cd 2;dir;pwd'</userinput>
1856 added interface ip=10.160.51.162 bcast=10.160.51.255 nmask=255.255.252.0
1857 Domain=[CUPS-PRINT] OS=[UNIX] Server=[Samba 2.2.7a]
1859 Current directory is \\SAMBA-CUPS\print$\W32X86\
1860 . D 0 Sun May 4 04:32:48 2003
1861 .. D 0 Thu Apr 10 23:47:40 2003
1862 2 D 0 Sun May 4 04:32:48 2003
1863 40976 blocks of size 262144. 731 blocks available
1865 Current directory is \\SAMBA-CUPS\print$\W32X86\2\
1866 . D 0 Sun May 4 04:32:48 2003
1867 .. D 0 Sun May 4 04:32:48 2003
1868 DigiMaster.PPD A 148336 Thu Apr 24 01:07:00 2003
1869 ADOBEPS5.DLL A 434400 Sat May 3 23:18:45 2003
1870 laserjet4.ppd A 9639 Thu Apr 24 01:05:32 2003
1871 ADOBEPSU.DLL A 109568 Sat May 3 23:18:45 2003
1872 ADOBEPSU.HLP A 18082 Sat May 3 23:18:45 2003
1873 PDFcreator2.PPD A 15746 Sun Apr 20 22:24:07 2003
1874 HDNIS01Aux.dll A 15356 Sun May 4 04:32:18 2003
1875 Hddm91c1KMMin.DLL A 46966 Sun May 4 04:32:18 2003
1876 HDNIS01_de.DLL A 434400 Sun May 4 04:32:18 2003
1877 HDNIS01_de.NTF A 790404 Sun May 4 04:32:18 2003
1878 Hddm91c1_de.DLL A 876544 Sun May 4 04:32:18 2003
1879 Hddm91c1_de.INI A 101 Sun May 4 04:32:18 2003
1880 Hddm91c1_de.dat A 5044 Sun May 4 04:32:18 2003
1881 Hddm91c1_de.def A 428 Sun May 4 04:32:18 2003
1882 Hddm91c1_de.hlp A 37699 Sun May 4 04:32:18 2003
1883 Hddm91c1_de.hre A 323584 Sun May 4 04:32:18 2003
1884 Hddm91c1_de.ppd A 26373 Sun May 4 04:32:18 2003
1885 Hddm91c1_de.vnd A 45056 Sun May 4 04:32:18 2003
1886 HDNIS01U_de.DLL A 165888 Sun May 4 04:32:18 2003
1887 HDNIS01U_de.HLP A 19770 Sun May 4 04:32:18 2003
1888 Hddm91c1_de_reg.HLP A 228417 Sun May 4 04:32:18 2003
1889 40976 blocks of size 262144. 731 blocks available
1893 Another verification is that the timestamp of the printing TDB files is now updated
1894 (and possibly their file size has increased).
1899 <title>Check Samba for Driver Recognition</title>
1902 <indexterm><primary>registered</primary></indexterm>
1903 Now the driver should be registered with Samba. We can easily verify this and will do so in a
1904 moment. However, this driver is not yet associated with a particular printer. We may check the driver
1905 status of the files by at least three methods:
1910 <indexterm><primary>Network Neighborhood</primary></indexterm>
1911 <indexterm><primary>Printers and Faxes</primary></indexterm>
1912 <indexterm><primary>printer icon</primary></indexterm>
1913 <indexterm><primary>Windows95/98/ME</primary></indexterm>
1914 <indexterm><primary>Windows NT/2000/XP</primary></indexterm>
1915 From any Windows client browse Network Neighborhood, find the Samba host, and open the Samba
1916 <guiicon>Printers and Faxes</guiicon> folder. Select any printer icon, right-click and select
1917 the printer <guimenuitem>Properties</guimenuitem>. Click the <guilabel>Advanced</guilabel>
1918 tab. Here is a field indicating the driver for that printer. A drop-down menu allows you to
1919 change that driver (be careful not to do this unwittingly). You can use this list to view
1920 all drivers known to Samba. Your new one should be among them. (Each type of client will
1921 see only its own architecture's list. If you do not have every driver installed for each platform,
1922 the list will differ if you look at it from Windows95/98/ME or Windows NT/2000/XP.)
1926 <indexterm><primary>Network Neighborhood</primary></indexterm>
1927 From a Windows 200x/XP client (not Windows NT) browse <guiicon>Network Neighborhood</guiicon>,
1928 search for the Samba server, open the server's <guiicon>Printers</guiicon> folder,
1929 and right-click on the white background (with no printer highlighted). Select <guimenuitem>Server
1930 Properties</guimenuitem>. On the <guilabel>Drivers</guilabel> tab you will see the new driver
1931 listed. This view enables you to also inspect the list of files belonging to that driver
1932 (this does not work on Windows NT, but only on Windows 2000 and Windows XP; Windows NT does not
1933 provide the <guimenuitem>Drivers</guimenuitem> tab). An alternative and much quicker method for
1934 Windows 2000/XP to start this dialog is by typing into a DOS box (you must of course adapt the
1935 name to your Samba server instead of <replaceable>SAMBA-CUPS</replaceable>):
1937 <userinput>rundll32 printui.dll,PrintUIEntry /s /t2 /n\\<replaceable>SAMBA-CUPS</replaceable></userinput>
1943 From a UNIX prompt, run this command (or a variant thereof), where
1944 <replaceable>SAMBA-CUPS</replaceable> is the name of the Samba host and xxxx represents the
1945 actual Samba password assigned to root:
1947 <userinput>rpcclient -U'root%xxxx' -c 'enumdrivers' <replaceable>SAMBA-CUPS</replaceable></userinput>
1952 You will see a listing of all drivers Samba knows about. Your new one should be among
1953 them. But it is only listed under the <parameter>[Windows NT x86]</parameter> heading, not under
1954 <smbconfsection name="[Windows 4.0]"/>, since you didn't install that part. Or did you?
1955 In our example it is named <constant>dm9110</constant>. Note that the third column shows the other
1956 installed drivers twice, one time for each supported architecture. Our new driver only shows up
1957 for <application>Windows NT 4.0 or 2000</application>. To have it present for <application>Windows
1958 95, 98, and Me</application>, you'll have to repeat the whole procedure with the WIN40 architecture
1965 <title>Specific Driver Name Flexibility</title>
1968 <indexterm><primary>adddriver</primary></indexterm>
1969 You can name the driver as you like. If you repeat the <command>adddriver</command> step with the same
1970 files as before but with a different driver name, it will work the same:
1972 &rootprompt;<userinput>rpcclient -Uroot%xxxx \
1973 -c 'adddriver "Windows NT x86" \
1974 "mydrivername:HDNIS01_de.DLL: \
1975 Hddm91c1_de.ppd:HDNIS01U_de.DLL:HDNIS01U_de.HLP: \
1976 NULL:RAW:Hddm91c1_de.DLL,Hddm91c1_de.INI, \
1977 Hddm91c1_de.dat,Hddm91c1_de.def,Hddm91c1_de.hre, \
1978 Hddm91c1_de.vnd,Hddm91c1_de.hlp,Hddm91c1KMMin.DLL, \
1979 HDNIS01Aux.dll,HDNIS01_de.NTF,Hddm91c1_de_reg.HLP' SAMBA-CUPS
1982 cmd = adddriver "Windows NT x86" \
1983 "mydrivername:HDNIS01_de.DLL:Hddm91c1_de.ppd:HDNIS01U_de.DLL:\
1984 HDNIS01U_de.HLP:NULL:RAW:Hddm91c1_de.DLL,Hddm91c1_de.INI, \
1985 Hddm91c1_de.dat,Hddm91c1_de.def,Hddm91c1_de.hre, \
1986 Hddm91c1_de.vnd,Hddm91c1_de.hlp,Hddm91c1KMMin.DLL, \
1987 HDNIS01Aux.dll,HDNIS01_de.NTF,Hddm91c1_de_reg.HLP"
1989 Printer Driver mydrivername successfully installed.
1993 <indexterm><primary>print queue</primary></indexterm>
1994 <indexterm><primary>rpcclient</primary></indexterm>
1995 <indexterm><primary>adddriver</primary></indexterm>
1996 You will be able to bind that driver to any print queue (however, you are responsible that
1997 you associate drivers to queues that make sense with respect to target printers). You cannot run the
1998 <command>rpcclient</command> <command>adddriver</command> command repeatedly. Each run consumes the
1999 files you had put into the <smbconfsection name="[print$]"/> share by moving them into the
2000 respective subdirectories, so you must execute an <command>smbclient ... put</command> command before
2001 each <command>rpcclient ... adddriver</command> command.
2006 <title>Running <command>rpcclient</command> with <command>setdriver</command></title>
2009 <indexterm><primary>mapping printer driver</primary></indexterm>
2010 <indexterm><primary>TDB</primary></indexterm>
2011 Samba needs to know which printer owns which driver. Create a mapping of the driver to a printer, and
2012 store this information in Samba's memory, the TDB files. The <command>rpcclient setdriver</command> command
2013 achieves exactly this:
2015 &rootprompt;<userinput>rpcclient -U'root%xxxx' -c 'setdriver dm9110 mydrivername' <replaceable>SAMBA-CUPS</replaceable></userinput>
2016 cmd = setdriver dm9110 mydrivername
2018 Successfully set dm9110 to driver mydrivername.
2022 Ah, no, I did not want to do that. Repeat, this time with the name I intended:
2024 &rootprompt;<userinput>rpcclient -U'root%xxxx' -c 'setdriver dm9110 dm9110' <replaceable>SAMBA-CUPS</replaceable></userinput>
2025 cmd = setdriver dm9110 dm9110
2026 Successfully set dm9110 to driver dm9110.
2030 The syntax of the command is:
2032 <userinput>rpcclient -U'root%<replaceable>sambapassword</replaceable>' -c 'setdriver <replaceable>printername</replaceable> \
2033 <replaceable>drivername</replaceable>' <replaceable>SAMBA-Hostname</replaceable></userinput>.
2035 Now we have done most of the work, but not all of it.
2039 The <command>setdriver</command> command will only succeed if the printer is already known to Samba. A
2040 bug in 2.2.x prevented Samba from recognizing freshly installed printers. You had to restart Samba,
2041 or at least send an HUP signal to all running smbd processes to work around this: <userinput>kill -HUP
2042 `pidof smbd`</userinput>.
2049 <title>Client Driver Installation Procedure</title>
2052 As Don Quixote said, <quote>The proof of the pudding is in the eating.</quote> The proof
2053 for our setup lies in the printing. So let's install the printer driver onto the client PCs. This is
2054 not as straightforward as it may seem. Read on.
2058 <title>First Client Driver Installation</title>
2061 Especially important is the installation onto the first client PC (for each architectural platform
2062 separately). Once this is done correctly, all further clients are easy to set up and shouldn't need further
2063 attention. What follows is a description for the recommended first procedure. You now work from a client
2064 workstation. You should check that your connection is not unwittingly mapped to <emphasis>bad
2065 user</emphasis> nobody. In a DOS box type:
2068 <para><userinput>net use \\<replaceable>SAMBA-SERVER</replaceable>\print$ /user:root</userinput></para>
2071 Replace root, if needed, by another valid printer administrator user as given in
2072 the definition. Should you already be connected as a different user, you will get an error message. There
2073 is no easy way to get rid of that connection, because Windows does not seem to know a concept of logging
2074 off from a share connection (do not confuse this with logging off from the local workstation; that is
2075 a different matter). On Windows NT/200x, you can force a logoff from all smb/cifs connections by restarting the
2076 <emphasis>workstation</emphasis> service. You can try to close all Windows file explorers and Internet Explorer for
2077 Windows. As a last resort, you may have to reboot. Make sure there is no automatic reconnection set up. It may be
2078 easier to go to a different workstation and try from there. After you have made sure you are connected
2079 as a printer admin user (you can check this with the <command>smbstatus</command> command on Samba),
2080 do this from the Windows workstation:
2085 Open <guiicon>Network Neighborhood</guiicon>.
2089 Browse to Samba server.
2093 Open its <guiicon>Printers and Faxes</guiicon> folder.
2097 Highlight and right-click on the printer.
2101 Select <guimenuitem>Connect</guimenuitem> (for Windows NT4/200x
2102 it is possibly <guimenuitem>Install</guimenuitem>).
2107 A new printer (named <replaceable>printername</replaceable> on Samba server) should now have
2108 appeared in your <emphasis>local</emphasis> Printer folder (check <guimenu>Start</guimenu> ->
2109 <guimenuitem>Settings</guimenuitem> -> <guimenuitem>Control Panel</guimenuitem> -> <guiicon>Printers
2110 and Faxes</guiicon>).
2114 <indexterm><primary>print test page</primary></indexterm>
2115 Most likely you are tempted to try to print a test page. After all, you now can open the printer
2116 properties, and on the <guimenu>General</guimenu> tab there is a button offering to do just that. But
2117 chances are that you get an error message saying "<literal>Unable to print Test Page</literal>." The
2118 reason might be that there is not yet a valid device mode set for the driver or that the <quote>printer
2119 driver data</quote> set is still incomplete.
2123 You must make sure that a valid <parameter>device mode</parameter> is set for the
2124 driver. We now explain what that means.
2128 <sect2 id="prt-modeset">
2129 <title>Setting Device Modes on New Printers</title>
2132 For a printer to be truly usable by a Windows NT/200x/XP client, it must possess:
2137 <indexterm><primary>device mode</primary></indexterm>
2138 A valid <emphasis>device mode</emphasis> generated by the driver for the printer (defining things
2139 like paper size, orientation and duplex settings).
2143 <indexterm><primary>printer driver data</primary></indexterm>
2144 A complete set of <emphasis>printer driver data</emphasis> generated by the driver.
2149 <indexterm><primary>ntprinters.tdb</primary></indexterm>
2150 <indexterm><primary>ntdrivers.tdb</primary></indexterm>
2151 <indexterm><primary>printing.tdb</primary></indexterm>
2152 <indexterm><primary>ntforms.tdb</primary></indexterm>
2153 <indexterm><primary>TDB database files</primary></indexterm>
2154 If either of these is incomplete, the clients can produce less than optimal output at best. In the
2155 worst cases, unreadable garbage or nothing at all comes from the printer, or it produces a harvest of
2156 error messages when attempting to print. Samba stores the named values and all printing-related information in
2157 its internal TDB database files <filename>(ntprinters.tdb</filename>, <filename>ntdrivers.tdb</filename>,
2158 <filename>printing.tdb</filename>, and <filename>ntforms.tdb</filename>).
2162 The device mode and the set of printer driver data are basically collections
2163 of settings for all print queue properties, initialized in a sensible way. Device modes and
2164 printer driver data should initially be set on the print server (the Samba host) to healthy
2165 values so the clients can start to use them immediately. How do we set these initial healthy values?
2166 This can be achieved by accessing the drivers remotely from an NT (or 200x/XP) client, as discussed
2167 in the following paragraphs.
2171 Be aware that a valid device mode can only be initiated by a printer administrator or root
2172 (the reason should be obvious). Device modes can be correctly set only by executing the printer driver program
2173 itself. Since Samba cannot execute this Win32 platform driver code, it sets this field initially to NULL
2174 (which is not a valid setting for clients to use). Fortunately, most drivers automatically generate the
2175 printer driver data that is needed when they are uploaded to the <smbconfsection name="[print$]"/> share with
2176 the help of the APW or rpcclient.
2180 The generation and setting of a first valid device mode, however, requires some tickling from a client
2181 to set it on the Samba server. The easiest means of doing so is to simply change the page orientation on
2182 the server's printer. This executes enough of the printer driver program on the client for the desired
2183 effect to happen and feeds back the new device mode to our Samba server. You can use the native Windows
2184 NT/200x/XP printer properties page from a Window client for this:
2188 <title>Procedure to Initialize the Printer Driver Settings</title>
2190 Browse the <guiicon>Network Neighborhood</guiicon>.
2194 Find the Samba server.
2198 Open the Samba server's <guiicon>Printers and Faxes</guiicon> folder.
2202 Highlight the shared printer in question.
2206 Right-click on the printer (you may already be here if you followed the last section's description).
2210 At the bottom of the context menu select <guimenu>Properties</guimenu> (if the menu still offers the
2211 <guimenuitem>Connect</guimenuitem> entry further above, you
2212 need to click on that one first to achieve the driver
2213 installation, as shown in the last section).
2217 Go to the <guilabel>Advanced</guilabel> tab; click on <guibutton>Printing Defaults</guibutton>.
2221 Change the <guimenuitem>Portrait</guimenuitem> page setting to <guimenuitem>Landscape</guimenuitem> (and back).
2225 Make sure to apply changes between swapping the page orientation to cause the change to actually take effect.
2229 While you are at it, you may also want to set the desired printing defaults here, which then apply to all future
2230 client driver installations.
2235 This procedure executes the printer driver program on the client platform and feeds back the correct
2236 device mode to Samba, which now stores it in its TDB files. Once the driver is installed on the client,
2237 you can follow the analogous steps by accessing the <emphasis>local</emphasis> <guiicon>Printers</guiicon>
2238 folder, too, if you are a Samba printer admin user. From now on, printing should work as expected.
2242 <indexterm><primary>default devmode</primary></indexterm>
2243 Samba includes a service-level parameter name <parameter>default devmode</parameter> for generating a default
2244 device mode for a printer. Some drivers function well with Samba's default set of properties. Others
2245 may crash the client's spooler service. So use this parameter with caution. It is always better to have
2246 the client generate a valid device mode for the printer and store it on the server for you.
2251 <title>Additional Client Driver Installation</title>
2254 <indexterm><primary>additional driver</primary></indexterm>
2255 Every additional driver may be installed in the same way as just described. Browse <command>Network
2256 Neighborhood</command>, open the <guiicon>Printers</guiicon> folder on Samba server, right-click on
2257 <guiicon>Printer</guiicon>, and choose <guimenuitem>Connect...</guimenuitem>. Once this completes (should be
2258 not more than a few seconds, but could also take a minute, depending on network conditions), you should find
2259 the new printer in your client workstation local <guiicon>Printers and Faxes</guiicon> folder.
2263 You can also open your local <guiicon>Printers and Faxes</guiicon> folder by
2264 using this command on Windows 200x/XP Professional workstations:
2266 <userinput>rundll32 shell32.dll,SHHelpShortcuts_RunDLL PrintersFolder</userinput>
2268 or this command on Windows NT 4.0 workstations:
2269 <indexterm><primary>rundll32</primary></indexterm>
2271 <userinput>rundll32 shell32.dll,Control_RunDLL MAIN.CPL @2</userinput>
2276 You can enter the commands either inside a <guilabel>DOS box</guilabel> window or in the <guimenuitem>Run
2277 command...</guimenuitem> field from the <guimenu>Start</guimenu> menu.
2282 <title>Always Make First Client Connection as root or printer administrator</title>
2285 After you installed the driver on the Samba server (in its <smbconfsection name="[print$]"/> share), you
2286 should always make sure that your first client installation completes correctly. Make it a habit for yourself
2287 to build the very first connection from a client as a printer administrator"/>. This is to make
2293 A first valid <emphasis>device mode</emphasis> is really initialized (see above <link
2294 linkend="prt-modeset">Setting Device Modes on New Printers</link>) for more explanation details).
2298 The default print settings of your printer for all further client installations are as you want them.
2303 Do this by changing the orientation to landscape, click on <guiicon>Apply</guiicon>, and then change it
2304 back again. Next, modify the other settings (for example, you do not want the default media size set to
2305 <guiicon>Letter</guiicon> when you are all using <guiicon>A4</guiicon>, right? You may want to set the
2306 printer for <guiicon>duplex</guiicon> as the default, and so on).
2310 <indexterm><primary>runas</primary></indexterm>
2311 To connect as root to a Samba printer, try this command from a Windows 200x/XP DOS box command prompt:
2313 &dosprompt;<userinput>runas /netonly /user:root "rundll32 printui.dll,PrintUIEntry /p /t3 /n
2314 \\<replaceable>SAMBA-SERVER</replaceable>\<replaceable>printername</replaceable>"</userinput>
2319 You will be prompted for <constant>root</constant>'s Samba password; type it, wait a few seconds, click on
2320 <guibutton>Printing Defaults</guibutton>, and proceed to set the job options that should be used as defaults
2321 by all clients. Alternatively, instead of root you can give one other member printer adminadministrator
2326 Now all the other users downloading and installing the driver the same way (using
2327 <literal>Point'n'Print</literal>) will have the same defaults set for them. If you miss this step, you'll get a
2328 lot of help desk calls from your users, but maybe you like to talk to people.
2334 <title>Other Gotchas</title>
2337 Your driver is installed. It is now ready for Point'n'Print installation by the clients. You may have tried to
2338 download and use it on your first client machine, but wait. Let's make sure you are acquainted first with a
2339 few tips and tricks you may find useful. For example, suppose you did not set the defaults on the printer, as
2340 advised in the preceding paragraphs. Your users complain about various issues (such as, <quote>We need to set
2341 the paper size for each job from Letter to A4 and it will not store it</quote>).
2345 <title>Setting Default Print Options for Client Drivers</title>
2348 The last sentence might be viewed with mixed feelings by some users and Admins. They have struggled for hours
2349 and could not arrive at a point where their settings seemed to be saved. It is not their fault. The confusing
2350 thing is that in the multitabbed dialog that pops up when you right-click on the printer name and select
2351 <guimenuitem>Properties</guimenuitem>, you can arrive at two dialogs that appear identical, each claiming that
2352 they help you to set printer options in three different ways. Here is the definitive answer to the Samba
2353 default driver setting FAQ:
2356 <formalpara><title><quote>I can not set and save default print options
2357 for all users on Windows 200x/XP. Why not?</quote></title>
2360 How are you doing it? I bet the wrong way. (It is not easy to find out, though.) There are three different
2361 ways to bring you to a dialog that seems to set everything. All three dialogs look the same, but only one of
2362 them does what you intend. You need to be Administrator or Print Administrator to do this for all users. Here
2363 is how I reproduce it in an XP Professional:
2366 <orderedlist numeration="upperalpha">
2367 <listitem><para>The first <quote>wrong</quote> way:
2368 <orderedlist numeration="arabic">
2369 <listitem><para>Open the <guiicon>Printers</guiicon> folder.</para></listitem>
2371 <listitem><para>Right-click on the printer (<emphasis>remoteprinter on cupshost</emphasis>) and
2372 select in context menu <guimenu>Printing Preferences...</guimenu>.</para></listitem>
2374 <listitem><para>Look at this dialog closely and remember what it looks like.</para></listitem>
2375 </orderedlist></para></listitem>
2377 <listitem><para>The second <quote>wrong</quote> way:
2378 <orderedlist numeration="arabic">
2379 <listitem><para>Open the <guimenu>Printers</guimenu> folder.</para></listitem>
2381 <listitem><para>Right-click on the printer (<emphasis>remoteprinter on
2382 cupshost</emphasis>) and select in the context menu
2383 <guimenuitem>Properties</guimenuitem></para></listitem>.
2385 <listitem><para>Click on the <guilabel>General</guilabel>
2386 tab.</para></listitem>
2388 <listitem><para>Click on the <guibutton>Printing
2389 Preferences...</guibutton> button.</para></listitem>
2391 <listitem><para>A new dialog opens. Keep this dialog open and go back
2392 to the parent dialog.</para></listitem>
2397 The third and correct way (should you do this from the beginning, just carry out steps 1
2398 and 2 from the second method above):
2401 <orderedlist numeration="arabic">
2402 <listitem><para>Click on the <guilabel>Advanced</guilabel>
2403 tab. (If everything is <quote>grayed out,</quote> then you are not logged
2404 in as a user with enough privileges.)</para></listitem>
2406 <listitem><para>Click on the <guibutton>Printing
2407 Defaults</guibutton> button.</para></listitem>
2409 <listitem><para>On any of the two new tabs,
2411 <guilabel>Advanced</guilabel> button.</para></listitem>
2413 <listitem><para>A new dialog opens. Compare
2414 this one to the other. Are they
2415 identical when you compare one from
2416 <quote>B.5</quote> and one from A.3?</para></listitem>
2422 Do you see any difference in the two settings dialogs? I do not either. However, only the last one, which you
2423 arrived at with steps C.1 through C.6 will permanently save any settings which will then become the defaults
2424 for new users. If you want all clients to have the same defaults, you need to conduct these steps as
2425 administrator before a client downloads the driver (the clients can
2426 later set their own per-user defaults by following procedures A or B above). Windows 200x/XP allow per-user
2427 default settings and the ones the administrator gives them before they set up their own. The parents of the
2428 identical-looking dialogs have a slight difference in their window names; one is called
2429 <computeroutput>Default Print Values for Printer Foo on Server Bar</computeroutput> (which is the one you
2430 need) and the other is called <quote><computeroutput>Print Settings for Printer Foo on Server
2431 Bar</computeroutput></quote>. The last one is the one you arrive at when you right-click on the printer and
2432 select <guimenuitem>Print Settings...</guimenuitem>. This is the one that you were taught to use back in the
2433 days of Windows NT, so it is only natural to try the same way with Windows 200x/XP. You would not dream that
2434 there is now a different path to arrive at an identical-looking, but functionally different, dialog to set
2435 defaults for all users.
2436 </para></formalpara>
2438 <tip><para>Try (on Windows 200x/XP) to run this command (as a user with the right privileges):
2439 <indexterm><primary>rundll32</primary></indexterm>
2443 rundll32 printui.dll,PrintUIEntry /p /t3 /n\\<replaceable>SAMBA-SERVER</replaceable>\<replaceable>printersharename</replaceable>
2447 To see the tab with the <guilabel>Printing Defaults</guilabel> button (the one you need), also run this command:
2451 rundll32 printui.dll,PrintUIEntry /p /t0 /n\\<replaceable>SAMBA-SERVER</replaceable>\<replaceable>printersharename</replaceable>
2455 To see the tab with the <guilabel>Printing Preferences</guilabel>
2456 button (the one that does not set systemwide defaults), you can
2457 start the commands from inside a DOS box or from <guimenu>Start</guimenu> -> <guimenuitem>Run</guimenuitem>.
2464 <title>Supporting Large Numbers of Printers</title>
2467 One issue that has arisen during the recent development phase of Samba is the need to support driver
2468 downloads for hundreds of printers. Using Windows NT APW for this task is somewhat awkward (to say the least). If
2469 you do not want to acquire RSS pains from the printer installation clicking orgy alone, you need
2470 to think about a non-interactive script.
2474 If more than one printer is using the same driver, the <command>rpcclient setdriver</command>
2475 command can be used to set the driver associated with an installed queue. If the driver is uploaded to
2476 <smbconfsection name="[print$]"/> once and registered with the printing TDBs, it can be used by
2477 multiple print queues. In this case, you just need to repeat the <command>setprinter</command> subcommand of
2478 <command>rpcclient</command> for every queue (without the need to conduct the <command>adddriver</command>
2479 repeatedly). The following is an example of how this can be accomplished:
2483 &rootprompt;<userinput>rpcclient <replaceable>SAMBA-CUPS</replaceable> -U root%<replaceable>secret</replaceable> -c 'enumdrivers'</userinput>
2487 Printer Driver Info 1:
2488 Driver Name: [infotec IS 2075 PCL 6]
2490 Printer Driver Info 1:
2491 Driver Name: [DANKA InfoStream]
2493 Printer Driver Info 1:
2494 Driver Name: [Heidelberg Digimaster 9110 (PS)]
2496 Printer Driver Info 1:
2497 Driver Name: [dm9110]
2499 Printer Driver Info 1:
2500 Driver Name: [mydrivername]
2506 &rootprompt;<userinput>rpcclient <replaceable>SAMBA-CUPS</replaceable> -U root%<replaceable>secret</replaceable> -c 'enumprinters'</userinput>
2509 name:[\\SAMBA-CUPS\dm9110]
2510 description:[\\SAMBA-CUPS\dm9110,,110ppm HiVolume DANKA Stuttgart]
2511 comment:[110 ppm HiVolume DANKA Stuttgart]
2516 &rootprompt;<userinput>rpcclient <replaceable>SAMBA-CUPS</replaceable> -U root%<replaceable>secret</replaceable> -c \
2517 'setdriver <replaceable>dm9110</replaceable> "<replaceable>Heidelberg Digimaster 9110 (PS)</replaceable>"'</userinput>
2518 cmd = setdriver dm9110 Heidelberg Digimaster 9110 (PPD)
2519 Successfully set dm9110 to driver Heidelberg Digimaster 9110 (PS).
2523 &rootprompt;<userinput>rpcclient <replaceable>SAMBA-CUPS</replaceable> -U root%<replaceable>secret</replaceable> -c 'enumprinters'</userinput>
2526 name:[\\SAMBA-CUPS\dm9110]
2527 description:[\\SAMBA-CUPS\dm9110,Heidelberg Digimaster 9110 (PS),\
2528 110ppm HiVolume DANKA Stuttgart]
2529 comment:[110ppm HiVolume DANKA Stuttgart]
2534 &rootprompt;<userinput>rpcclient <replaceable>SAMBA-CUPS</replaceable> -U root%<replaceable>secret</replaceable> -c 'setdriver <replaceable>dm9110</replaceable> <replaceable>mydrivername</replaceable>'</userinput>
2535 cmd = setdriver dm9110 mydrivername
2536 Successfully set dm9110 to mydrivername.
2540 &rootprompt;<userinput>rpcclient <replaceable>SAMBA-CUPS</replaceable> -U root%<replaceable>secret</replaceable> -c 'enumprinters'</userinput>
2543 name:[\\SAMBA-CUPS\dm9110]
2544 description:[\\SAMBA-CUPS\dm9110,mydrivername,\
2545 110ppm HiVolume DANKA Stuttgart]
2546 comment:[110ppm HiVolume DANKA Stuttgart]
2551 It may not be easy to recognize that the first call to <command>enumprinters</command> showed the
2552 <quote>dm9110</quote> printer with an empty string where the driver should have been listed (between
2553 the two commas in the description field). After the <command>setdriver</command> command
2554 succeeds, all is well.
2559 <title>Adding New Printers with the Windows NT APW</title>
2562 By default, Samba exhibits all printer shares defined in &smb.conf; in the <guiicon>Printers</guiicon>
2563 folder. Also located in this folder is the Windows NT Add Printer Wizard icon. The APW will be shown only if:
2568 The connected user is able to successfully execute an <command>OpenPrinterEx(\\server)</command> with
2569 administrative privileges (i.e., root or a printer administrator).
2572 <tip><para> Try this from a Windows 200x/XP DOS box command prompt:
2576 runas /netonly /user:root rundll32 printui.dll,PrintUIEntry /p /t0 /n \\<replaceable>SAMBA-SERVER</replaceable>\<replaceable>printersharename</replaceable>
2580 Click on <guibutton>Printing Preferences</guibutton>.
2581 </para></tip></listitem>
2583 <listitem><para>... contains the setting
2584 <smbconfoption name="show add printer wizard">yes</smbconfoption> (the
2585 default).</para></listitem>
2589 The APW can do various things:
2594 Upload a new driver to the Samba <smbconfsection name="[print$]"/> share.
2598 Associate an uploaded driver with an existing (but still driverless) print queue.
2602 Exchange the currently used driver for an existing print queue with one that has been uploaded before.
2606 Add an entirely new printer to the Samba host (only in conjunction with a working
2607 <smbconfoption name="add printer command"/>. A corresponding
2608 <smbconfoption name="delete printer command"/> for removing entries from the
2609 <guiicon>Printers</guiicon> folder may also be provided).
2614 The last one (add a new printer) requires more effort than the previous ones. To use the APW to successfully
2615 add a printer to a Samba server, the <smbconfoption name="add printer command"/> must have a defined value.
2616 The program hook must successfully add the printer to the UNIX print system (i.e., to
2617 <filename>/etc/printcap</filename>, <filename>/etc/cups/printers.conf</filename> or other appropriate files)
2618 and to &smb.conf; if necessary.
2622 When using the APW from a client, if the named printer share does not exist, smbd will execute the
2623 <smbconfoption name="add printer command"/> and reparse to attempt to locate the new printer share. If the
2624 share is still not defined, an error of "<errorname>Access Denied"</errorname> is returned to the client. The
2625 <smbconfoption name="add printer command"/> is executed under the context of the connected user, not
2626 necessarily a root account. A <smbconfoption name="map to guest">bad user</smbconfoption> may have connected
2627 you unwittingly under the wrong privilege. You should check it by using the <command>smbstatus</command>
2634 <title>Error Message: <quote>Cannot connect under a different Name</quote></title>
2637 Once you are connected with the wrong credentials, there is no means to reverse the situation other than
2638 to close all Explorer windows, and perhaps reboot.
2643 <indexterm><primary>net use</primary></indexterm>
2644 The <command>net use \\SAMBA-SERVER\sharename /user:root</command> gives you an error message:
2645 <quote>Multiple connections to a server or a shared resource by the same user utilizing
2646 several user names are not allowed. Disconnect all previous connections to the server,
2647 esp. the shared resource, and try again.</quote>
2651 Every attempt to <quote>connect a network drive</quote> to <filename>\\SAMBASERVER\\print$</filename>
2652 to <constant>z:</constant> is countered by the pertinacious message: <quote>This
2653 network folder is currently connected under different credentials (username and password).
2654 Disconnect first any existing connection to this network share in order to connect again under
2655 a different username and password</quote>.
2660 So you close all connections. You try again. You get the same message. You check from the Samba side, using
2661 <command>smbstatus</command>. Yes, there are more connections. You kill them all. The client still gives you
2662 the same error message. You watch the smbd.log file on a high debug level and try reconnect. Same error
2663 message, but not a single line in the log. You start to wonder if there was a connection attempt at all. You
2664 run ethereal and tcpdump while you try to connect. Result: not a single byte goes on the wire. Windows still
2665 gives the error message. You close all Explorer windows and start it again. You try to connect &smbmdash; and
2666 this times it works! Windows seems to cache connection information somewhere and does not keep it up to date
2667 (if you are unlucky, you might need to reboot to get rid of the error message).
2671 The easiest way to forcefully terminate all connections from your client to a server is by executing:
2673 &dosprompt; net use * /delete
2675 This will also disconnect all mapped drives and will allow you create fresh connection as required.
2680 <title>Take Care When Assembling Driver Files</title>
2683 You need to be extremely careful when you take notes about the files belonging to a particular
2684 driver. Don't confuse the files for driver version <quote>0</quote> (for Windows 9x/Me, going into
2685 <filename>[print$]/WIN/0/</filename>), driver version <filename>2</filename> (kernel mode driver for Windows NT,
2686 going into <filename>[print$]/W32X86/2/</filename>; may be used on Windows 200x/XP also), and
2687 driver version <quote>3</quote> (non-kernel mode driver going into <filename>[print$]/W32X86/3/</filename>;
2688 cannot be used on Windows NT). Quite often these different driver versions contain
2689 files that have the same name but actually are very different. If you look at them from
2690 the Windows Explorer (they reside in <filename>%WINDOWS%\system32\spool\drivers\W32X86\</filename>),
2691 you will probably see names in capital letters, while an <command>enumdrivers</command> command from Samba
2692 would show mixed or lowercase letters, so it is easy to confuse them. If you install them manually using
2693 <command>rpcclient</command> and subcommands, you may even succeed without an error message. Only later,
2694 when you try install on a client, you will encounter error messages like <computeroutput>This server
2695 has no appropriate driver for the printer</computeroutput>.
2699 Here is an example. You are invited to look closely at the various files, compare their names and
2700 their spelling, and discover the differences in the composition of the version 2 and 3 sets. Note: the
2701 version 0 set contained 40 <parameter>Dependentfiles</parameter>, so I left it out for space reasons:
2705 &rootprompt;<userinput>rpcclient -U 'Administrator%<replaceable>secret</replaceable>' -c 'enumdrivers 3' 10.160.50.8 </userinput>
2707 Printer Driver Info 3:
2709 Driver Name: [Canon iR8500 PS3]
2710 Architecture: [Windows NT x86]
2711 Driver Path: [\\10.160.50.8\print$\W32X86\3\cns3g.dll]
2712 Datafile: [\\10.160.50.8\print$\W32X86\3\iR8500sg.xpd]
2713 Configfile: [\\10.160.50.8\print$\W32X86\3\cns3gui.dll]
2714 Helpfile: [\\10.160.50.8\print$\W32X86\3\cns3g.hlp]
2716 Dependentfiles: [\\10.160.50.8\print$\W32X86\3\aucplmNT.dll]
2717 Dependentfiles: [\\10.160.50.8\print$\W32X86\3\ucs32p.dll]
2718 Dependentfiles: [\\10.160.50.8\print$\W32X86\3\tnl32.dll]
2719 Dependentfiles: [\\10.160.50.8\print$\W32X86\3\aussdrv.dll]
2720 Dependentfiles: [\\10.160.50.8\print$\W32X86\3\cnspdc.dll]
2721 Dependentfiles: [\\10.160.50.8\print$\W32X86\3\aussapi.dat]
2722 Dependentfiles: [\\10.160.50.8\print$\W32X86\3\cns3407.dll]
2723 Dependentfiles: [\\10.160.50.8\print$\W32X86\3\CnS3G.cnt]
2724 Dependentfiles: [\\10.160.50.8\print$\W32X86\3\NBAPI.DLL]
2725 Dependentfiles: [\\10.160.50.8\print$\W32X86\3\NBIPC.DLL]
2726 Dependentfiles: [\\10.160.50.8\print$\W32X86\3\cpcview.exe]
2727 Dependentfiles: [\\10.160.50.8\print$\W32X86\3\cpcdspl.exe]
2728 Dependentfiles: [\\10.160.50.8\print$\W32X86\3\cpcedit.dll]
2729 Dependentfiles: [\\10.160.50.8\print$\W32X86\3\cpcqm.exe]
2730 Dependentfiles: [\\10.160.50.8\print$\W32X86\3\cpcspl.dll]
2731 Dependentfiles: [\\10.160.50.8\print$\W32X86\3\cfine32.dll]
2732 Dependentfiles: [\\10.160.50.8\print$\W32X86\3\cpcr407.dll]
2733 Dependentfiles: [\\10.160.50.8\print$\W32X86\3\Cpcqm407.hlp]
2734 Dependentfiles: [\\10.160.50.8\print$\W32X86\3\cpcqm407.cnt]
2735 Dependentfiles: [\\10.160.50.8\print$\W32X86\3\cns3ggr.dll]
2740 Printer Driver Info 3:
2742 Driver Name: [Canon iR5000-6000 PS3]
2743 Architecture: [Windows NT x86]
2744 Driver Path: [\\10.160.50.8\print$\W32X86\2\cns3g.dll]
2745 Datafile: [\\10.160.50.8\print$\W32X86\2\IR5000sg.xpd]
2746 Configfile: [\\10.160.50.8\print$\W32X86\2\cns3gui.dll]
2747 Helpfile: [\\10.160.50.8\print$\W32X86\2\cns3g.hlp]
2749 Dependentfiles: [\\10.160.50.8\print$\W32X86\2\AUCPLMNT.DLL]
2750 Dependentfiles: [\\10.160.50.8\print$\W32X86\2\aussdrv.dll]
2751 Dependentfiles: [\\10.160.50.8\print$\W32X86\2\cnspdc.dll]
2752 Dependentfiles: [\\10.160.50.8\print$\W32X86\2\aussapi.dat]
2753 Dependentfiles: [\\10.160.50.8\print$\W32X86\2\cns3407.dll]
2754 Dependentfiles: [\\10.160.50.8\print$\W32X86\2\CnS3G.cnt]
2755 Dependentfiles: [\\10.160.50.8\print$\W32X86\2\NBAPI.DLL]
2756 Dependentfiles: [\\10.160.50.8\print$\W32X86\2\NBIPC.DLL]
2757 Dependentfiles: [\\10.160.50.8\print$\W32X86\2\cns3gum.dll]
2759 Monitorname: [CPCA Language Monitor2]
2765 If we write the <quote>version 2</quote> files and the <quote>version 3</quote> files
2766 into different text files and compare the result, we see this
2771 &rootprompt;<userinput>sdiff 2-files 3-files</userinput>
2775 iR8500sg.xpd iR8500sg.xpd
2776 cns3gui.dll cns3gui.dll
2778 AUCPLMNT.DLL | aucplmNT.dll
2781 aussdrv.dll aussdrv.dll
2782 cnspdc.dll cnspdc.dll
2783 aussapi.dat aussapi.dat
2784 cns3407.dll cns3407.dll
2788 cns3gum.dll | cpcview.exe
2800 Do not be fooled! Driver files for each version with identical
2801 names may be different in their content, as you can see from this size
2806 &rootprompt;<userinput>for i in cns3g.hlp cns3gui.dll cns3g.dll; do \
2807 smbclient //10.160.50.8/print\$ -U 'Administrator%xxxx' \
2808 -c "cd W32X86/3; dir $i; cd .. ; cd 2; dir $i"; \
2811 CNS3G.HLP A 122981 Thu May 30 02:31:00 2002
2812 CNS3G.HLP A 99948 Thu May 30 02:31:00 2002
2814 CNS3GUI.DLL A 1805824 Thu May 30 02:31:00 2002
2815 CNS3GUI.DLL A 1785344 Thu May 30 02:31:00 2002
2817 CNS3G.DLL A 1145088 Thu May 30 02:31:00 2002
2818 CNS3G.DLL A 15872 Thu May 30 02:31:00 2002
2822 In my example were even more differences than shown here. Conclusion: you must be careful to select the
2823 correct driver files for each driver version. Don't rely on the names alone, and don't interchange files
2824 belonging to different driver versions.
2829 <title>Samba and Printer Ports</title>
2832 <indexterm><primary>LPT1:</primary></indexterm>
2833 <indexterm><primary>COM1:</primary></indexterm>
2834 <indexterm><primary>FILE:</primary></indexterm>
2835 <indexterm><primary>available port</primary></indexterm>
2836 Windows NT/2000 print servers associate a port with each printer. These normally take the form of
2837 <filename>LPT1:</filename>, <filename>COM1:</filename>, <filename>FILE:</filename>, and so on. Samba must also
2838 support the concept of ports associated with a printer. By default, only one printer port, named <quote>Samba
2839 Printer Port</quote>, exists on a system. Samba does not really need such a <quote>port</quote> in order to
2840 print; rather it is a requirement of Windows clients. They insist on being told about an available port when
2841 they request this information; otherwise, they throw an error message at you. So Samba fakes the port
2842 information to keep the Windows clients happy.
2846 <indexterm><primary>Printer Pooling</primary></indexterm>
2847 Samba does not support the concept of <constant>Printer Pooling</constant> internally either. Printer
2848 pooling assigns a logical printer to multiple ports as a form of load balancing or failover.
2852 If you require multiple ports to be defined for some reason or another (my users and my boss should not know
2853 that they are working with Samba), configure the <smbconfoption name="enumports command"/>,
2854 which can be used to define an external program that generates a listing of ports on a system.
2859 <title>Avoiding Common Client Driver Misconfiguration</title>
2862 So now the printing works, but there are still problems. Most jobs print well, some do not print at
2863 all. Some jobs have problems with fonts, which do not look good. Some jobs print fast and some
2864 are dead-slow. We cannot cover it all, but we want to encourage you to read the brief paragraph about
2865 <quote>Avoiding the Wrong PostScript Driver Settings</quote> in <link linkend="CUPS-printing">CUPS Printing
2866 Chapter</link>, <link linkend="cups-avoidps1">Avoiding Critical PostScript Driver Settings on the
2873 <title>The Imprints Toolset</title>
2876 <indexterm><primary>Imprints</primary></indexterm>
2877 The Imprints tool set provides a UNIX equivalent of the Windows NT APW. For complete information, please
2878 refer to the <ulink url="http://imprints.sourceforge.net/">Imprints</ulink> Web site as well as the
2879 documentation included with the Imprints source distribution. This section provides only a brief introduction
2880 to the features of Imprints.
2884 Unfortunately, the Imprints toolset is no longer maintained. As of December 2000, the project is in
2885 need of a new maintainer. The most important skill to have is Perl coding and an interest in MS-RPC-based
2886 printing used in Samba. If you wish to volunteer, please coordinate your efforts on the Samba technical
2887 mailing list. The toolset is still in usable form, but only for a series of older printer models where
2888 there are prepared packages to use. Packages for more up-to-date print devices are needed if Imprints
2889 should have a future. Information regarding the Imprints toolset can be obtained from the <ulink
2890 url="http://imprints.sourceforge.net/">Imprints</ulink> home page.
2894 <title>What Is Imprints?</title>
2897 Imprints is a collection of tools for supporting these goals:
2902 Providing a central repository of information regarding Windows NT and 95/98 printer driver packages.
2906 Providing the tools necessary for creating the Imprints printer driver packages.
2910 Providing an installation client that will obtain printer drivers from a central Internet (or intranet) Imprints Server
2911 repository and install them on remote Samba and Windows NT4 print servers.
2917 <title>Creating Printer Driver Packages</title>
2920 The process of creating printer driver packages is beyond the scope of this document (refer to Imprints.txt,
2921 included with the Samba distribution for more information). In short, an Imprints driver package
2922 is a gzipped tarball containing the driver files, related INF files, and a control file needed by the
2923 installation client.
2928 <title>The Imprints Server</title>
2931 The Imprints server is really a database server that may be queried via standard HTTP mechanisms. Each
2932 printer entry in the database has an associated URL for the actual downloading of the package. Each
2933 package is digitally signed via GnuPG, which can be used to verify that
2934 the package downloaded is actually
2935 the one referred in the Imprints database. It is strongly recommended that this security check
2941 <title>The Installation Client</title>
2944 More information regarding the Imprints installation client is available from the documentation file
2945 <filename>Imprints-Client-HOWTO.ps</filename> that is included with the Imprints source package. The Imprints
2946 installation client comes in two forms:
2950 <listitem><para>A set of command-line Perl scripts.</para></listitem>
2951 <listitem><para>A GTK+-based graphical interface to the command-line Perl scripts.</para></listitem>
2955 The installation client (in both forms) provides a means of querying the Imprints database server for
2956 a matching list of known printer model names as well as a means to download and install the drivers on
2957 remote Samba and Windows NT print servers.
2961 The basic installation process is in four steps, and Perl code is wrapped around smbclient and rpcclient.
2966 For each supported architecture for a given driver:
2968 <listitem><para>rpcclient: Get the appropriate upload directory on the remote server.</para></listitem>
2969 <listitem><para>smbclient: Upload the driver files.</para></listitem>
2970 <listitem><para>rpcclient: Issues an AddPrinterDriver() MS-RPC.</para></listitem>
2974 <listitem><para>rpcclient: Issues an AddPrinterEx() MS-RPC to actually create the printer.</para></listitem>
2978 One of the problems encountered when implementing the Imprints tool set was the namespace issues between
2979 various supported client architectures. For example, Windows NT includes a driver named <quote>Apple LaserWriter
2980 II NTX v51.8</quote>, and Windows 95 calls its version of this driver <quote>Apple LaserWriter II NTX</quote>.
2984 The problem is how to know what client drivers have been uploaded for a printer. An astute reader will
2985 remember that the Windows NT Printer Properties dialog only includes space for one printer driver name. A
2986 quick look in the Windows NT 4.0 system registry at:
2990 HKLM\System\CurrentControlSet\Control\Print\Environment
2994 will reveal that Windows NT always uses the NT driver name. This is okay because Windows NT always requires
2995 that at least the Windows NT version of the printer driver is present. Samba does not have the
2996 requirement internally; therefore, <quote>How can you use the NT driver name if it has not already been installed?</quote>
3000 The way of sidestepping this limitation is to require that all Imprints printer driver packages include both the Intel Windows NT and
3001 95/98 printer drivers and that the NT driver is installed first.
3007 <title>Adding Network Printers without User Interaction</title>
3010 The following MS Knowledge Base article may be of some help if you need to handle Windows 2000 clients:
3011 <emphasis>How to Add Printers with No User Interaction in Windows 2000,</emphasis> (<ulink
3012 url="http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;en-us;189105">Microsoft KB 189105</ulink>). It also
3013 applies to Windows XP Professional clients. The ideas sketched out in this section are inspired by this
3014 article, which describes a command-line method that can be applied to install network and local printers and
3015 their drivers. This is most useful if integrated in Logon Scripts. You can see what options are available by
3016 typing in the command prompt (<command>DOS box</command>):
3019 <para><userinput>rundll32 printui.dll,PrintUIEntry /?</userinput></para>
3022 A window pops up that shows you all of the command-line switches available. An extensive list of examples
3023 is also provided. This is only for Windows 200x/XP; it does not work on Windows NT. Windows NT probably has
3024 some other tools in the respective Resource Kit. Here is a suggestion about what a client logon script
3025 might contain, with a short explanation of what the lines actually do (it works if 200x/XP Windows
3026 clients access printers via Samba, and works for Windows-based print servers too):
3030 <userinput>rundll32 printui.dll,PrintUIEntry /dn /n "\\cupsserver\infotec2105-IPDS" /q</userinput>
3031 <userinput>rundll32 printui.dll,PrintUIEntry /in /n "\\cupsserver\infotec2105-PS"</userinput>
3032 <userinput>rundll32 printui.dll,PrintUIEntry /y /n "\\cupsserver\infotec2105-PS"</userinput>
3036 Here is a list of the used command-line parameters:
3040 <varlistentry><term>/dn</term>
3041 <listitem><para>deletes a network printer.</para></listitem>
3043 <varlistentry><term>/q</term>
3044 <listitem><para>quiet modus.</para></listitem>
3046 <varlistentry><term>/n</term>
3047 <listitem><para>names a printer.</para></listitem>
3049 <varlistentry><term>/in</term>
3050 <listitem><para>adds a network printer connection.</para></listitem>
3052 <varlistentry><term>/y</term>
3053 <listitem><para>sets printer as default printer.</para></listitem>
3059 Line 1 deletes a possibly existing previous network printer <emphasis>infotec2105-IPDS</emphasis>
3060 (which had used native Windows drivers with LPRng that were removed from the server that was
3061 converted to CUPS). The <command>/q</command> at the end prevents confirm
3062 or error dialog boxes from popping up. They should not be presented to the user logging on.
3066 Line 2 adds the new printer
3067 <emphasis>infotec2105-PS</emphasis> (which actually is the same
3068 physical device but is now run by the new CUPS printing system and associated with the
3069 CUPS/Adobe PS drivers). The printer and its driver must have been added to Samba prior to
3070 the user logging in (e.g., by a procedure as discussed earlier in this chapter or by running
3071 <command>cupsaddsmb</command>). The driver is now autodownloaded to the client PC where the
3072 user is about to log in.
3076 Line 3 sets the default printer to this new network printer (there might be several other
3077 printers installed with this same method, and some may be local as well, so we decide for a
3078 default printer). The default printer selection may, of course, be different for different users.
3083 The second line only works if the printer <emphasis>infotec2105-PS</emphasis> has an already working
3084 print queue on the <constant>cupsserver</constant> and if the
3085 printer drivers have been successfully uploaded
3086 (via the <command>APW</command>, <command>smbclient/rpcclient</command>, or <command>cupsaddsmb</command>)
3087 into the <smbconfsection name="[print$]"/> driver repository of Samba. Some Samba versions
3088 prior to version 3.0 required a restart of smbd after the printer install and the driver upload;
3089 otherwise the script (or any other client driver download) would fail.
3093 Since there is no easy way to test for the existence of an installed network printer from the logon script,
3094 do not bother checking. Just allow the de-installation/re-installation to occur every time a user logs in;
3095 it's really quick anyway (1 to 2 seconds).
3099 The additional benefits for this are:
3104 It puts in place any printer default setup changes automatically at every user logon.
3108 It allows for <quote>roaming</quote> users' login to the domain from different workstations.
3113 Since network printers are installed per user, this much simplifies the process of keeping the installation
3114 up to date. The few extra seconds at logon time will not really be noticeable. Printers can be centrally
3115 added, changed, and deleted at will on the server with no user intervention required from the clients
3116 (you just need to keep the logon scripts up to date).
3121 <title>The <command>addprinter</command> Command</title>
3124 The <command>addprinter</command> command can be configured to be a shell script or program executed by
3125 Samba. It is triggered by running the APW from a client against the Samba print server. The APW asks
3126 the user to fill in several fields (such as printer name, driver to be used, comment, port monitor,
3127 and so on). These parameters are passed on to Samba by the APW. If the addprinter command is designed in a
3128 way that it can create a new printer (through writing correct printcap entries on legacy systems or
3129 by executing the <command>lpadmin</command> command on more modern systems) and create the associated share,
3130 then the APW will in effect really create a new printer on Samba and the UNIX print subsystem!
3135 <title>Migration of Classical Printing to Samba</title>
3138 The basic NT-style printer driver management has not changed considerably in 3.0 over the 2.2.x releases
3139 (apart from many small improvements). Here migration should be quite easy, especially if you followed
3140 previous advice to stop using deprecated parameters in your setup. For migrations from an existing 2.0.x
3141 setup, or if you continued Windows 9x/Me-style printing in your Samba 2.2 installations, it is more of
3142 an effort. Please read the appropriate release notes and the HOWTO Collection for Samba-2.2.x. You can
3143 follow several paths. Here are possible scenarios for migration:
3148 You need to study and apply the new Windows NT printer and driver support. Previously used
3149 parameters <parameter>printer driver file</parameter>, <parameter>printer driver</parameter>,
3150 and <parameter>printer driver location</parameter> are no longer supported.
3154 If you want to take advantage of Windows NT printer driver support, you also need to migrate the
3155 Windows 9x/Me drivers to the new setup.
3159 An existing <filename>printers.def</filename> file (the one specified in the now removed parameter
3160 <parameter>printer driver file</parameter>) will no longer work with Samba. In 3.0, smbd attempts
3161 to locate Windows 9x/Me driver files for the printer in <smbconfsection name="[print$]"/>
3162 and additional settings in the TDB and only there; if it fails, it will <emphasis>not</emphasis>
3163 (as 2.2.x used to do) drop down to using a <filename>printers.def</filename> (and all associated
3164 parameters). The make_printerdef tool is removed and there is no backward compatibility for this.
3167 <listitem><para>You need to install a Windows 9x/Me driver into the
3168 <smbconfsection name="[print$]"/> share for a printer on your Samba
3169 host. The driver files will be stored in the <quote>WIN40/0</quote> subdirectory of
3170 <smbconfsection name="[print$]"/>, and some other settings and information go
3171 into the printing-related TDBs.</para></listitem>
3174 If you want to migrate an existing <filename>printers.def</filename> file into the new setup, the only current
3175 solution is to use the Windows NT APW to install the NT drivers and the 9x/Me drivers. This can be scripted
3176 using smbclient and rpcclient. See the Imprints installation client on the <ulink noescape="1"
3177 url="http://imprints.sourceforge.net/">Imprints</ulink> web site for example. See also the discussion of
3178 rpcclient usage in <link linkend="CUPS-printing">CUPS Printing</link>.
3184 <title>Publishing Printer Information in Active Directory or LDAP</title>
3187 This topic has also been addressed in <link linkend="NetCommand">Remote and Local Management &smbmdash; The
3188 Net Command</link>. If you wish to volunteer your services to help document this further, please contact
3189 <ulink url="mail://jht@samba.org">John H. Terpstra</ulink>.
3194 <title>Common Errors</title>
3197 <title>I Give My Root Password but I Do Not Get Access</title>
3200 Do not confuse the root password, which is valid for the UNIX system (and in most cases stored in the
3201 form of a one-way hash in a file named <filename>/etc/shadow</filename>), with the password used to
3202 authenticate against Samba. Samba does not know the UNIX password. Root access to Samba resources
3203 requires that a Samba account for root must first be created. This is done with the <command>smbpasswd</command>
3206 &rootprompt; smbpasswd -a root
3207 New SMB password: secret
3208 Retype new SMB password: secret
3215 <title>My Print Jobs Get Spooled into the Spooling Directory, but Then Get Lost</title>
3218 Do not use the existing UNIX print system spool directory for the Samba spool directory. It may seem
3219 convenient and a savings of space, but it only leads to problems. The two must be separate. The UNIX/Linux
3220 system print spool directory (e.g., <filename>/var/spool/cups</filename>) is typically owned by a
3221 non-privileged user such as <literal>cups</literal> or <literal>lp</literal>. Additionally. the permissions on
3222 the spool directory are typically restrictive to the owner and/or group. On the other hand, the Samba
3223 spool directory must be world writable, and should have the 't' bit set to ensure that only a temporary
3224 spool file owner can change or delete the file.
3228 Depending on the type of print spooling system in use on the UNIX/Linux host, files that the spool
3229 management application finds and that are not currently part of job queue that it is managing can be deleted.
3230 This may explain the observation that jobs are spooled (by Samba) into this directory and just disappear.