TWiki> CF Web>Windows>WindowsPrinting>SambaPrinting (2013-05-30, DrewPilcher) EditAttach

Computer Science SAMBA Servers

Non-Computer Science students and staff should consult with MFCF for the appropriate Math SAMBA servers.

Printer and File Services for Wireless and Stand-Alone Windows PCs

If you have a laptop PC on our wireless network or a stand-alone (non-domain) Windows PC in your office, you can obtain access to our networked printer and file services by utilizing one of our SAMBA (SMB) servers. First, you must have a pre-existing UNIX account, whose password has been set, in the corresponding Computer Science region in order to use these SAMBA servers.

CSCF manages four such SAMBA servers for our two user regions.

Computer Science Core (Administration, Research and Graduate Student) Region

  • smb-files.cs
  • smb-printers.cs
  • Both these servers authenticate in what is called the CS-GENERAL Windows domain.

Computer Science Teaching (Undergraduate Student) Region

  • smb-files.student.cs
  • smb-printers.student.cs
  • Both these servers authenticate in what is called the CS-TEACHING Windows domain.

These names are actually aliases to specific UNIX hosts managed by CSCF. We recommend that the alias names be used as a SAMBA server can be moved without prior notice.

Can't print anymore? *important changes to printer services - please read

As of March 8, 2007 the server "smb-unix.cs" was decommissioned due to Daylight Savings Time issues. That server had been the previous print server, but had been replaced by the newer smb-printers.cs some time previously. Any print definitions that refer to smb-unix.cs will no longer work as of March 8th. You will need to follow the steps below to re-create your printer settings. Alternatively, speak to your Point of Contact who can help you through these steps.

Migrating from smb-unix to smb-printers

Note this section is for those who were using smb-unix to access printers (see notes above)

  • Verify if you are using smb-unix for any of your printers or file shares
    1. Open Printers and Faxes
    2. Right Click on each remote printers and pick properties
    3. Open the Ports Tab
    4. You will see the network port highlighted
    5. To read what the port says move your mouse to the Title Area between the word Port and Description
      You will see a faint vertical bar between both words - point your mouse here - when the mouse changes shape
      you can drag the mouse to the right with the left mouse button down to expand the column
  • Delete these printers and recreate the connections using the information below

Before you begin installation of a SAMBA print queue

Note This procedure is known to work for Windows NT4, 2000, XP and 2003 computers only. All other Windows operating systems may not be able to utilize our SAMBA services

  1. You must be authorized to print to the printer which you intend to setup.
  2. Some printers have quotas so you will have to ensure that you have sufficient funds to print with
  3. You must have the appropriate user rights to create a print queue on your local computer. Usually this means being the local Administrator
  4. You will also need to know the type of printer you are about to set up since you will have to specify a driver for it
NOTE: Although Microsoft supplies an extensive list of printer drivers for your system you may still need to supply an appropriate third party printer driver. Downloaded from the manufacturer's web site for example. It is also best to use a Postscript driver for any of our networked printers but avoid Postscript version 3 drivers if you are given a choice.

Setting Your SAMBA (SMB) Password and Authentication

Notes You really should not need to setup your SAMBA password. Your SAMBA password should correspond to the value of your regional (core or teaching) UNIX password.

How Passwords Get Updated

  • When you change or set your core or teaching Unix password the new value is forwarded on to the Windows domain that authenticates your SAMBA server within a few minutes.
  • All the above listed SAMBA servers authenticate through domains which are members of the Active Directory for the School of Computer Science.

Password Limits

  • You may have to specify only the first eight characters for your SAMBA password. This is due to a bug
in UNIX which only examines the first eight characters of a password and treats the remaining characters as irrelevant. If you are using a UNIX password that is more than eight characters in length then only the first eight characters were forwarded to the Active Directory for the SAMBA server to use.

Finding Printers

  1. Open Start Menu
    1. Pick RUN
    2. Enter the name of the print server like this
      \\smb-printers.cs.uwaterloo.ca
      - or -
      \\smb-printers.student.cs.uwaterloo.ca - press Enter
      You may be requested to authenticate at this point - make sure your username includes your domain name
      Example CS-GENERAL\userid - or - CS-TEACHING\userid*, etc
      Enter your password
      Note if this password fails please read the previous section on Setting your Samba Password
  2. Write down the names of the printers you will be printing to

Saving your passwords for the desired Print Queue(s)

NOTE: With regards to using SAMBA printers, If your local PC logon username and password don't match those you require to access the SAMBA server, then you may need to encrypt your SAMBA server credentials into your local profile. This is especially true if the SAMBA printers on your PC were established under a different account than the one with which you are using to print. The procedure is the same one described above.

  • Below we will save your user and password credentials for a printer
  • In this example replace the printer name with the printer name you wish to use
  • NOTE If the userid and password fails to work please read the section on Setting your Samba Password
For students using the teaching environment enter a Windows command similar to the following:
  • net use \\smb-printers.student.cs.uwaterloo.ca\ljp_3016 /savecred /persistent:yes*
    A prompt to authenticate to the SAMBA server may appear - if so:
    Supply your Unix username with the domain name like this:
    *CS-TEACHING\jquser
    Supply your SAMBA password.
For Grad Students use lj_csgrad, Staff can use use ljp_dc2320
  • net use \\smb-printers.cs.uwaterloo.ca\ljp_dc2320 /savecred /persistent:yes
    A prompt to authenticate to the SAMBA server may appear - if so:
    Supply your Unix username with the domain name like this:
    CS-GENERAL\jquser
    Supply your SAMBA password.

Setting up the printer

  • Make sure you have saved your passwords - see previous step - before you proceed!
  • In this example will will setup a printer called *ljp_dc2320 on smb-printers.cs.uwaterloo.ca
  1. Open Start Menu, select Printers and Faxes (in older Windows, choose Settings -> Control Panel -> Printers and Faxes)
  2. Pick Add Printer (Upper Left)
  3. Install printer on LPT1 (we will change this later) - do not auto detect printer - do not print a test page
  4. On the Select Printer Manufacture - in this example ljp_dc2320 Pick HP, On the Printers side, pick HP LaserJet 4100 series PS (they are not fully in numerical order), Click OK (printer drivers can be downloaded from www.hp.com if you have an old version of windows)
  5. Wait until you see the screen that asks if you wish the printer to be your default printer before you continue, then pick Yes or No based on your needs, then pick Next to exit the default printer dialog.
  6. On the Completing the Add Printer Wizard pick finish
  7. Proceed to Setting up the Printer Port

Setting up the printer port for your new printer

  1. Under Server properties (Printers and Faxes -> File -> Server Properties)
    • Click on the Ports tab
    • Click Add Port...
    • Select Local Port
    • Click New Port...
    • Enter the port name: \\smb-printers.cs.uwaterloo.ca\ljp_dc2320 and click OK
    • Click Close
    • Click Close again
  2. Open the newly-created printer (File -> Open); a new dialog will open
  3. Under Printer, choose Properties and click the Ports tab
    • in the Ports column, find the name of the port you just created. You may have to expand the column width.
    • check the checkbox to the left of the port name
    • click Apply
    • click OK
  4. If you want to pick this new printer as your default printer, open the Printer menu and select Set as Default Printer (Printer -> Select as Default Printer)
  5. Close the printer dialog
  6. Proceed to setting up device options

Setup Printer Device Options

NOTE: For most drivers, duplex printing is not enabled by default. You will have to manually enable duplex in the printer's Properties. Usually, duplex is part of the list of Advanced properties for a printer.

Printer Setup Q & A

  • Why not just browse to a printer on print.cs.uwaterloo.ca and then right click and pick install ?*
    • There is a race condition that can cause the installed printer to fail to authenticate (driver install vs authentication time)
    • If the printer fails to authenticate it likely never will - regardless if the user supplies the correct password or not!
    • Note this is a SAMBA Unix problem - See the fixing problems section below for more details

Access Your Personal Networked Disk Space

Before you begin:

  • This procedure is known to work for Windows NT4, 2000, XP and 2003 computers only. All other Windows operating systems may not be able to utilize our SAMBA services.
Find your disk space share on the SAMBA server:

  • Right click on "My Network Places" or "Network Neighborhood" icon on your Windows desktop.
  • Select "Search for Computers..."
  • Enter the name of the SAMBA server you intend to use.
  • Click on the "Search Now" button. A search can take several minutes.
  • Double click on the computer icon when it appears in the right hand panel.

  • You may be required to authenticate at this point.
    • Supply your SAMBA username: DOMAIN-NAME\username.
      • For example, CS-TEACHING\jquser
    • Supply your SAMBA password.
  • From the list of available shares and printers, open the folder labeled with your username.
    • Instead of simply opening your personal file share you can map it to a network drive letter so that your disk space will show up in "My Computer". Right click on your your share folder and select the "Map Network Drive..." option. You will be presented with an applet that will allow you to specify the desired drive letter.

Other SAMBA Servers Managed by CSCF

The following SAMBA servers provide legacy services for users and systems that are not fully moved into SCS's Active Directory environment. These systems are not intended for general usage and may be shut down without notice

Computer Science Administration, Research and Graduate (Core) Region

  • smb-unix.cs
    • This server is obsolete and will be taken out of service as users are migrated to smb-files.cs (or smb-printers.cs)

Computer Science Student (Teaching) Region
  • smb-unix.student.cs
    • This server is obsolete and will be taken out of service as users are migrated to smb-files.cs (or smb-printers.cs)
  • rees.cs (for SCS NEXUS terminals only)
  • fe06.student.cs (for legacy SCS WinCentre users only)

This page was last updated on Monday, the 20th day of February in the year 2006 AD.

Troubleshooting

Clearing out old credentials

  • Open Start Menu -> Run -> Control Userpasswords2 - press Enter
    1. Pick Advanced
    2. Pick Manage Passwords
    3. Delete any saved passwords you wish
    4. Close the application
  • Open Start Menu -> Run -> cmd - press *Enter
    1. net use - press Enter
      For any connections you wish to delete use the command net use /DEL
    Example
    net use /DEL \\smb-printers.cs.uwaterloo.ca\lj_cs3624 if the connection starts with \\smb-unix you will have to delete and recreate the printer

Fixing problems with SAMBA printers

Symptom you can map network drives to smb-printers but printers appear to *hang*when opening them spoolsv.exe starts using 30% or more of the system CPU

Solution we need to remove the printer and reinstall using a trick

  • Delete printer from printers and faxes (If the spoolsv.exe is hung restart service and delete as quickly as you can - you may have to do this a few times)
  • Edit registry and delete and references to the port - i.e. \\smb-printers.cs.uwaterloo.ca\lj_dc3624
  • Reboot
Edit | Attach | Watch | Print version | History: r8 < r7 < r6 < r5 < r4 | Backlinks | Raw View | WYSIWYG | More topic actions
Topic revision: r8 - 2013-05-30 - DrewPilcher
 
This site is powered by the TWiki collaboration platform Powered by PerlCopyright © 2008-2024 by the contributing authors. All material on this collaboration platform is the property of the contributing authors.
Ideas, requests, problems regarding TWiki? Send feedback