Timothy J. O'Brien
2000-Jan-12 18:10 UTC
Printer fun - controlling queue from Windows NT clients
I have set up a Samba server to act as our lab's print server for a bunch of NT clients. It works quite well, except for one thing. Nobody can control the print queue from Windows. When a job is sent, it never shows up in the Windows print queue window, even when there are lots of other jobs ahead of it. Using lpq under Linux shows the jobs just fine. Lprm et al work perfectly too. So I assume the Unix side of printing is working exactly as it should. When someone brings up a print queue window in NT, the taskbar shows an occasional '<refreshing>' but no jobs (I assume it's just expressing how it feels to talk to something other than another Windows machine :) The guest account referenced in smb.conf exists, and can print. The user 'nobody' also can print and does exist. I've been fighting with this problem for a long time now, and just can't think of anything else if could be. Any and all help will be greatly appreciated. Here's a copy of smb.conf on the machine in question: # Global parameters [global] workgroup = VMIC server string = B2 Print Server v%v encrypt passwords = Yes map to guest = Bad Password log file = /var/log/smbaccess.log.%m max log size = 50 name resolve order = host wins bcast deadtime = 120 read prediction = Yes socket options = TCP_NODELAY SO_SNDBUF=4096 SO_RCVBUF=4096 client code page = 437 os level = 35 preferred master = Yes wins server = 172.22.4.199 #wins support = Yes panic action = /bin/smbpanic %d %a %I %U guest account = guest invalid users = root print command = /bin/pt %p %s %M %U %T %a %v %m %I %d lpq command = /usr/bin/lpq %p lprm command = /usr/bin/lprm %j [tb] comment = tinkerbell in B2 lab path = /var/spool/samba guest ok = Yes print ok = Yes printer driver = HP LaserJet 5Si/5Si MX PS [thoth] comment = thoth in B2 lab path = /var/spool/samba guest ok = Yes print ok = Yes printer driver = Lexmark Optra L Series PS [homes] comment = Home Directory read only = No create mask = 0700 directory mask = 0700 browseable = No <end of smb.conf> The /bin/pt script that is called for printing is very simple.. Here it is: #!/bin/sh # Print the job and send the user a neat-o little WinPopup message /usr/bin/lpr -h -r -P $1 $2 (echo "Printjob from $3 (user $4) spooled" echo "on $5 $6" echo " " echo "Client Type: $7, PID $PPID") | /usr/local/bin/smbclient -M $9 -I $3 -U "daemon@b2dnprt.eng.vmic.com" <end of /bin/pt> The system is running Debian 2.1, Samba 2.0.6, kernel 2.0.36. The printers are connected using the paralell ports rather than JetDirect cards. Thanks once again! -- Tim O'Brien (tjobrien@hiwaay.net, KF4YTI) OAsys Engineering Madison, AL 35757 (256) 430-4309 --