Topic: storing printer drivers on server

[ewolf]

I am trying to store printer drivers on the server for XP clients
I have followed the howto on the doco.
but every time i try and add the drivers onto the sme box it just copies them into my windows system32 folder.

Am I missing something ?

[cactus]

I am trying to store printer drivers on the server for XP clients
I have followed the howto on the doco.
but every time i try and add the drivers onto the sme box it just copies them into my windows system32 folder.

Am I missing something ?

No that is normal, if you install the driver it should always install drivers in your OS system folders. If you have installed the drivers on the server this is where the drivers are taken from.

Storing printer drivers on the server does not mean that when you install a printer (on a host in the network) the drivers will be stored there, nor does it mean that drivers will be installed there. If you want to store them for users to facilitate installing them on their OS you will have to do this as admin explicitly.

[ewolf]

What i am trying to do is get the driver files stored on the server,
when i connect to the server as admin, go into printers and faxes, properties>advanced, new driver,
it doesn't store them on the server.

so how do i get it to store the driver files on the server ?

[cactus]

I am trying to store printer drivers on the server for XP clients
I have followed the howto on the doco.

Did you follow this page: http://wiki.contribs.org/Printer_Drivers_for_Windows_Workstations

[Mat78]

I tryed in the past to store print drivers on the server, but for some strange reason some driver can't be uploaded.

Now I change my printer and everything seems to work fine.

I Think that you can try to upload an easy driver (generic text driver) to check if the problem is in the howto or in the driver itself.

Bye

Matteo

[ewolf]

I followed the how to precisely,
i just tried a generic driver, same problem.

[Mat78]

Hi,
you can check in /etc/samba/smb.conf if your printers setting reports "user client driver = yes".

If everything seems to be right you should only have to login as domain admin on your workstation and upload your printer driver under \\SERVER\Printers and Faxes.

[ewolf]

I take it you mean it should be use client driver = no ?

i notice you say logon as domain admin, does that mean you have to connect to the server as a domain controller, not just via a workgroup ?

[Mat78]

This means that when you connect to your server, you must be an administrator of your server so that you can install your printer drivers.

If you login as an easy user your server will stop the driver installation process.

[ewolf]

Thanks for taking the time Mat78

I tried, logging as admin on the workgroup, admin connecting via domain.

it just wont store the drivers on the server, always puts them into windows/system32.

[daniel]

I got this to work in this fashion.

Login as the admin user.  click START | Run | and type in the name of your server in the run box (ie \\servername) press OK.

This will browse to the SME server, click on Printers and Faxes.  Click on the shared printer you're trying to upload the drivers for.  Right click and select properties.  Click the advanced Tab.  Next to the Driver dropdown is the New Driver button.  Click that, select your driver and let it install to \\{servername}.  Once thats done, press Apply, then OK.   I also find it best to install the driver as a local printer on the admin windows account first before I install the driver on the \\{servername}\printers and faxes\{shared printer}.  Can't say its a must but for those printer driver installs that do different things, it seems to put the drivers in the right spot so windows finds them automatically.