70-270, MCSE/MCSA Guide to Installing and Managing Microsoft Windows XP Professional and Windows Server 2003 Chapter Ten Implementing and Managing Network Printing

Guide to MCSE , Objectives Understand Windows printing terms and concepts Install and share printer resources Configure and manage installed printers

Guide to MCSE , Objectives (continued) Publish printers in Active Directory Troubleshoot printer problems Configure fax support

Guide to MCSE , Windows Printing Concepts Figure 10-1: Windows printing components

Guide to MCSE , Windows Printing Concepts (continued) Print device: Hardware device that produces printed documents –Local print device: Connected directly to print server or workstation –Network print device: Connects to print server via network Printer: Controls connection to print device Print driver: Files containing info needed to convert print commands to printer’s language –Specific driver needed for each combination of print device and OS

Guide to MCSE , Windows Printing Concepts (continued) Print server: Computer where printers and print drivers located –Usually where shared printing system set up and configured –Windows XP and Server 2003 can be print servers –Server 2003 offers centralized printer management and support for more user connections Print client: Computer where print job originates

Guide to MCSE , Windows Printing Concepts (continued) Local Printers: Controlled and managed by a client computer –Directly Attached Print Devices: Easily accessible to users Available when network down Cost and space requirements must be considered –Network-attached Print Devices: Print device communicates with computer system via network cable Saves desk space and reduces printer costs Users don’t know status of print device

Guide to MCSE , Windows Printing Concepts (continued) Shared Printers: Best way to centrally manage printing on network system –Install local printers on Windows Server 2003 computers and then share them –Can publish in Active Directory –Can restrict access to certain printers or set printer priorities Internet Printing Protocol (IPP) Printers: TCP/IP standard that describes how print devices can use Internet to receive print jobs

Guide to MCSE , Understanding Network Printing Hardware requirements to set up efficient network printing environment: –One or more computers to act as print servers –Enough space on hard drive for print server –Sufficient RAM beyond minimum Windows Server 2003 requirements Print client and print server run specific processes to deliver print job to network printer: –Print client software generates print file –Graphics device interface (GDI) performs rendering

Guide to MCSE , Understanding Network Printing (continued) Delivering print job to network printer (continued): –Print file formatted with control codes Spooler: Dynamic link libraries (DLLs), information files, and programs that process print jobs –Remote print provider at client makes remote procedure call to network print server –Router directs print file to print provider –Print provider works with print processor to ensure file formatted to use right data type while file spooled –Print monitor pulls file from spooler’s disk storage and sends it to printer

Guide to MCSE , Installing and Sharing Printer Resources Printers connected and installed first, then shared Adding a Printer as a Local Device: –Must have administrator privileges –Use Add Printer Wizard Activity 10-1: Installing a Local Printer –Objective: Use the Add Printer Wizard to install a local printer Activity 10-2: Sharing a Local Printer for Network Access –Objective: Share an installed printer to allow network access

Guide to MCSE , Installing and Sharing Printer Resources (continued) Figure 10-3: Manually configuring a printer

Guide to MCSE , Installing and Sharing Printer Resources (continued) Figure 10-4: Configuring printer port settings

Guide to MCSE , Installing and Sharing Printer Resources (continued) Figure 10-5: Sharing an existing printer

Guide to MCSE , Installing and Sharing Printer Resources (continued) Adding a Printer as a Network Device: –Many corporate print devices use TCP/IP or other protocols to communicate over network –Use Add Printer Wizard to add printers as network devices Create TCP/IP port to facilitate communication Activity 10-3: Installing a Network Printer –Objective: Install a network printer by using the Add Printer Wizard and by browsing the network

Guide to MCSE , Installing and Sharing Printer Resources (continued) Figure 10-7: The Add Standard TCP/IP Printer Port Wizard

Guide to MCSE , Configuring and Managing Printer Resources Basic settings in Add Printer Wizard can create suitable configuration for allowing users to access shared printer resources Properties dialog box of installed printer provides access to many other configuration settings

Guide to MCSE , Configuring an Existing Printer To modify sharing, permissions, and other advanced options, right-click printer icon and click Properties Activity 10-4: Exploring Printer Properties –Objective: Explore the configurable properties for an installed printer Activity 10-5: Configuring Printer Permissions –Objective: Configure printer security permissions

Guide to MCSE , Configuring an Existing Printer (continued) Table 10-1: Printer permissions

Guide to MCSE , Configuring an Existing Printer (continued) Figure 10-10: The Security tab for a printer

Guide to MCSE , Configuring an Existing Printer (continued) Figure 10-11: The Effective Permissions tab

Guide to MCSE , Configuring Printer Pools and Priorities Printer pool: Consists of single printer connected to a number of print devices –Allows many physical print devices to function as single logical printer –Better document distribution –Reduces waiting time for documents to print May need to set printer priorities for different groups of users –Install two printers on print server and connect both to same print device –Set priority for each (1 to 99)

Guide to MCSE , Configuring Printer Pools and Priorities (continued) Figure 10-12: Enabling printer pooling

Guide to MCSE , Configuring Printer Pools and Priorities (continued) Figure 10-13: Printer priority settings

Guide to MCSE , Configuring Printer Pools and Priorities (continued) Allow only certain users to print to specific printer –Use Security tab Activity 10-6: Configuring Printer Pooling: –Objective: Configure two printers to use the printer pooling feature in Windows Server 2003

Guide to MCSE , Setting Up and Updating Client Computers If mix of OSs throughout network, different version of print driver needed for each –Windows 2000, Server 2003, or XP clients automatically download print driver –Can install additional print drivers for older OSs Activity 10-7: Installing Additional Print Drivers –Objective: Install additional print drivers for the Windows 98 operating system

Guide to MCSE , Setting Up and Updating Client Computers (continued) Figure 10-14: The Additional Drivers dialog box

Guide to MCSE , Managing Print Queues Print jobs queued after sent to printer –Users with Print permission can pause, resume, restart, or cancel printing of own documents Figure 10-15: Viewing the contents of a print queue

Guide to MCSE , Working with IPP Printing Internet Printing Protocol (IPP) specification: Allows printers to be managed via a Web browser and print jobs to be submitted to a URL –Support built into Server 2003, but requires IIS –Connect to/manage printers on Windows Server 2003 system using Web browser Benefits: –Simplifies administration of printers –Can print to other locations over the Internet

Guide to MCSE , Working with IPP Printing (continued) Figure 10-17: Viewing a print queue using Web-based printer management

Guide to MCSE , Working with IPP Printing (continued) Figure 10-18: Specifying a URL in the Add Printer Wizard

Guide to MCSE , Working with Printer Command-line Utilities Windows Server 2003 offers built-in VBScript files for managing printers and related properties: –Prncnfg.vbs –Prndrvr.vbs –Prnjobs.vbs –Prnmngr.vbs –Prnport.vbs –Prnqctl.vbs Windows Script Host (WSH): Controller for ActiveX scripting engines –Used to run.vbs files

Guide to MCSE , Working with Printer Command-line Utilities (continued) Figure 10-19: Listing the configuration of a local printer with the Prncnfg.vbs command

Guide to MCSE , Print Spooling Print jobs spooled on print server’s hard disk by default –On Windows Server 2003, spooling in Windows\System32\Spool\Printers by default Not optimal for high-volume requirements –Microsoft recommends moving print spool folder to different partition Preferably on disk with own controller Activity 10-8: Changing the Location of the Spool Folder –Objective: Move the print spool folder to improve printing performance

Guide to MCSE , Publishing Printers in Active Directory Windows Server 2003 printer installed on domain print server automatically published in Active Directory when shared –By default, published printer objects placed in Domain Controllers OU –Pre–Windows 2000 print shares can be manually added to Active Directory Activity 10-9: Publishing Printers in Active Directory –Objective: Configure printer publishing settings and publish printers manually in Active Directory

Guide to MCSE , Publishing Printers in Active Directory (continued) Figure 10-21: Viewing published printers in Active Directory Users and Computers

Guide to MCSE , Troubleshooting Printing Problems Problems can, and probably will, occur Print jobs managed through print queue –First place to look when printer problems occur –Can pause, restart, or delete print jobs –Can change notifications, change priorities, and restrict print times

Guide to MCSE , Jobs Do Not Print Jobs may not print for a variety of reasons: –Print device offline –Print device out of paper –Cable problem –Not enough hard disk space available to spool job Moving spool file to different drive improves performance and helps eliminate possibility of system crashing When print service is not working, documents in print queue won’t print can’t be deleted –Restart print spooler service

Guide to MCSE , Jobs Do Not Print (continued) If printer works only at certain times of day, check printer schedule Print device might not print due to paper jam, hardware failure, or stuck print job –Redirect documents to new print device Make sure printer has not been set to “off-line”

Guide to MCSE , Users Cannot Find or Connect to Printers (continued) Most common problems: –Access Denied message when attempting to print Usually indicates incorrectly configured permissions –User can’t find printer in Active Directory Verify that printer still published –Windows 95/98/Me users can’t connect to printer Could be result of not installing print drivers for these OSs Drivers for Windows 95/98/Me not installed by default Make required drivers available in Sharing tab of printer’s Properties dialog box

Guide to MCSE , Garbled Print Output Usual source of problem is incorrect driver –Download correct drivers from manufacturer’s Web site, and reinstall on print server Activity 10-10: Configuring the Print Spooler Service –Objective: View and configure properties of the Print Spooler service

Guide to MCSE , Garbled Print Output (continued) Figure 10-24: The Print Spooler Properties dialog box

Guide to MCSE , Configuring Fax Support Windows XP Professional and Server 2003 support native fax features and operations –Not enabled by default –Enable via Printers and Faxes applet Setting up faxing support: –Windows XP Professional: Click Set up faxing in Printer Tasks list –Windows Server 2003: Click File, Set Up Faxing from menu –Must have fax-capable device installed –By default, only sending faxes enabled

Guide to MCSE , Configuring Fax Support (continued) Tabs in Properties dialog box for Fax icon: –General –Sharing –Fax Security –Devices –Tracking –Archives Send Fax Wizard walks you through sending a fax Activity 10-11: Setting up Fax Printing –Objective: Configure a Windows XP computer to answer incoming fax calls

Guide to MCSE , Configuring Fax Support (continued) Figure 10-25: The Tracking tab

Guide to MCSE , Configuring Fax Support (continued) Figure 10-26: The Sender Information window

Guide to MCSE , Configuring Fax Support (continued) Troubleshooting fax problems: –Check physical connections of phone line from wall to computer’s fax device –Use Device Manager to verify driver installed correctly –Check to make sure you have enabled send and/or receive capabilities for modem –Check Receive options to make sure handling inbound faxes as intended

Guide to MCSE , Summary Windows printing has its own unique terminology Printers are configurable objects that represent an interface to a print device For a printer to be made available to network users, it must be shared in a manner similar to a shared folder Printer permissions can be used to control user access to printers and the manner in which users can interact with a printer Windows printer systems can be configured with different priorities

Guide to MCSE , Summary (continued) Printer pooling can be used to increase a printer’s speed and availability Additional drivers can be installed in a printer’s Properties dialog box so that clients running different OSs can access a printer IPP allows printers to be managed via a Web browser and allows users to print by using HTTP For best performance, the print spool folder should be located on its own dedicated partition

Guide to MCSE , Summary (continued) Printer publishing allows users to query Active Directory for a list of available printers based on different criteria, such as a printer’s capability to print in color Common printer problems on Windows systems include the print device being offline, misconfigured printer permissions, the Print Spooler service hanging, or incorrect drivers being installed Faxing has been thoroughly integrated with the Windows printing system and requires only a few easy configuration steps to enable faxing from any print-capable application