Printing to a Shared Windows Printer from OS X

1. Click on the Apple icon on the top, left-hand corner of your screen.
2. Select System Preferences.
3. Select Print & Fax.
4. At the Print & Fax window, click on the "+" at the bottom of the list of printers.
5. Hold down the Control key and click on the Default icon, or any other icon on the toolbar, then choose Customize Toolbar from the menu that appears.

   

6. Drag the Advanced gear icon down to the toolbar.

   

7. Click on Done.
8. Click on the Advanced gear icon that you just added to the toolbar.

   

9. Select Windows from list of entries for Type.

   

10. In the URL field, type the printer's address in one of the following formats:

    smb://workgroup/server/sharename
smb://server/sharename

    Note: "workgroup" is the name of the Microsoft Windows workgroup or domain that the computer sharing the printer belongs to. "server" is the name of the computer sharing the printer or its IP address. "sharename" is the shared Windows printer's share name. If the share name contains spaces, replace each space with %20, i.e. smb://Server1/HP%205000 if the share name for the printer was HP 5000.

    You don't need a "workgroup" when specifying the IP address of the computer (such as when the printer is on a different subnet), or if your Mac belongs to the same Windows (SMB) workgroup.

11. In the Name field type whatever name you would like associated with the printer. You can leave the location blank or put information in the field indicating where the printer is located. For Print Using select the appropriate printer from the drop-down list. When you are finished click on the Add button.
12. If you see an Installable Options window appear, indicate what options are present in the system, if any, such as the amount of memory. If you don't know of any optional items added to the printer just click on Continue.

If you see a document given a status of "On Hold (Authentication required)" when you try printing to the printer, then you will need to provide the appropriate Windows authentication credentials, i.e., a Windows userid and password that will grant access to the printer.

To provide the needed credentials, click on Resume, which you will find between the Delete and Job Info icons. You should then be prompted for a name and password to use. Put in an appropriate name and password and check the box next to "Remember this password in my keychain" to avoid having to go through this process each time you print to the printer. Note: you may need to provide the name in the form workgroup\username, substituting the actual workgroup or domain name for workgroup, e.g., AcmeCorp\JDoe.

References:

1. Mac OS X: How to manually add a Windows shared printer
   Date: October 14, 2009
   Apple - Support

 

Justdeals Daily Electronics Deals

Created: Monday January 6, 7, 2013