Share Ubuntu printer to windows clients using SAMBA

[davehk]

Hi,

I am trying to make printers connected to my Ubuntu 20.04 machine available to windows clients of several flavours - 2000, XP, 7 & 10. I'd also like to be able to browse for SMB shares on the ubuntu host from those clients ( I can connect to the shares by explicitly entering their details). I thought I'd done everything necessary - here are the relevant parts of smb.conf:


workgroup = WORKGROUP netbios name = namrok-i7 security = user proxy
server min protocol = NT1


# The specific set of interfaces / networks to bind to
# This can be either the interface name or an IP address/netmask;
# interface names are normally preferred
interfaces = 127.0.0.0/8 eno1

Note: I had to change eth0 to eno1 in the line above to match the output of ifconfig, before nmdb would start cleanly.


printers]
comment = All Printers
browseable = yes
path = /var/spool/samba
printable = yes
guest ok = yes
; use client driver = Yes
; read only = yes
create mask = 0700

# Windows clients look for this share name as a source of downloadable
# printer drivers
[print$]
comment = Printer Drivers
path = /var/lib/samba/printers
browseable = yes
read only = no
guest ok = yes

I'm sure it's something simple I'm missing (it usually is!).

Thanks for any and all help.

[TheFu]

I think you meant to say you want to make printer drivers available, not printers. Printers are already shared from Linux via CUPs through either lpr or IPP protocols. They just work, actually, and have just worked for over a decade. IPP is the easier protocol to use for any client I've seen.

Looks like a number of typos above where things that must be on separate lines, aren't. Perhaps fixing those would be the first step?

workgroup = WORKGROUP netbios name = namrok-i7 security = user proxy
should probably be:

workgroup = WORKGROUP
netbios name = namrok-i7
security = user
I don't know if those are good or not, just commenting on the lack of netlines. The dangling "proxy" at the end - I haven't a clue about.

So, if you seek to have printer drivers available to Windows systems via samba and auto-installed, that is a different thing. There is a guide to setup these things:
https://wiki.samba.org/index.php/Setting_up_Automatic_Printer_Driver_Downloads_for_ Windows_Clients
There are many caveats. Anyway, how that link helps.

BTW, with Linux desktop clients, the last 10+ yrs, printing to a CUPS server running on Linux connected to printers has been really bonehead. Yesterday, I was using a Try Ubuntu Mate flash drive and wanted to print something. Normally, connecting to a printer is bonehead - pick the driver, point at the network IPP URL ... print. Yesterday, the printer was already setup after I "Browsed" the network for printers. It showed the alias and the correct printer name. LibreOffice --> Print just worked. In my mind, it wasn't even a printer setup, it was just there already, preconfigured. Somehow. From a flash drive Try Ubuntu environment that had been booted perhaps 45 minutes earlier.

[davehk]

Thanks for the suggestions - this is the first time I've had a problem since I first stared using Ubuntu 8.04. Up to now it's always been a doddle.


I think you meant to say you want to make printer drivers available, not printers.

sorry, but you think wrong. I meant what I wrote. I cannot see the printers from my windows machines.

I didn't put this line in:


workgroup = WORKGROUP netbios name = namrok-i7 security = user proxy

it was already there and if you split them the way you suggest the daemons will not start.

I don't need to download the driver from the Ubuntu server, as I have the windows drivers already on the clients (the same printers served from an Ubuntu 16.04 machine worked without a hitch).

[davehk]

OK, so I hadn't done this since I installed 16.04 4 years ago! I hadn't checked the "share printers" box on the CUPS server admin page. I knew it would be something simple, it always is!!