How to connect from Linux to a Windows printer?

windows linux samba network-printer pclinuxos

21,970

The solution was to go through the control panel, there's an "automatic" option that worked.

PCLinux Control Center:
-> Hardware
-> Set up printers
-> Add printer
-> Auto-detect printers connected to machines running Windows

21,970

Murray Furtado

Hello, world! I enjoy using my experience to help others. That is why I am active at a number of other sites in the StackExchange network on topics that interest me. I'm something of a Swiss army knife both professionally and in private, able to juggle a wild variety of things at once. I've worked in every kind of business that uses software. I'm also very good with tools, both IT and mechanic. Whether you need software design or assembling some IKEA furniture, I'm your man for the job. I'm generally soft-spoken but driven by clear principles. I'm a twin, I've lived in five countries, I speak four languages fluently and two more embarrassingly. Also, being a father routinely develops my patience which is useful for moderating on StackExchange too. To learn more about me, see my Google+ profile.

Updated on September 17, 2022

Comments

Murray Furtado over 1 year
My home network has a Windows computer with a shared printer. I've just installed Linux on my own machine. How can I connect to the shared Windows printer from my Linux installation?

Details:
1. Assume my SSID is wlan and the Windows machine is called win-pc and is sharing the printer as printer.
2. From my Windows installation, I can reach the shared printer using \\win-pc\printer, and that works.
3. From my Linux installation (PCLinuxOS), I can reach the other computer using smb:/win-pc and I can see some shared folders (such as smb:/win-pc/documents) but I cannot see the printer. Based on this, I think Samba is installed and working correctly.
4. I've looked at several Google results but they are not specific enough.
5. The KDE Print Add Printer Wizard provides three textfields to enter SSID, Server, and Printer. I assume that no / are required. Still, entering wlan and win-pc and printer does not work.
6. I will not change anything on the Windows pc. The solution must be on my Linux pc.
I must have missed some piece of configuration or something, but I don't know what my next step should be.
Murray Furtado over 14 years

The printer driver (on the Windows machine) is up to date. I want to connect to the printer from a Linux machine. I don't get an error message -- I don't get any result at all. I had expected to find the printer listed along with the shared folders on the Windows machine.
Murray Furtado over 14 years

Yep, that's what I expected. Except that it didn't find any printer, so I could not continue.
TonyUser over 14 years

I was going to suggest asking CUPS directly at localhost:631
Murray Furtado over 14 years

I tried CUPS as you suggest too, and that also failed. I don't know what's so magic about this auto-detect but it did something that worked!