Finally got Epson Photo R800 printer working in XP VM

[sidssp]

Moved from "Parallels Desktop for Mac"

After weeks of experiment, and thanks to the info on this forum, particularly the
idea from member mkstevo, I finally got the Epson Photo R800 working in a Windows XP
VM using Bonjour and native Epson driver. I can now print regular document as well as
CD/DVD label using CD Label Creator (part of Roxio Easy CD Creator package). The only
thing I cannot do is to check ink level.

Here is how to make it work step-by-step.

On the OS/X side:

1. Create a RAW CUPS printer
1.1. Start Safari or any web browser.
1.2. Type http://127.0.0.1:631 to start CUPS web admin page.
1.3. Click Printers tag.
1.4. Click Add Printer.
1.5. Type in Name, Location, and Description for the new printer, click Continue.
In my case, I use

Name: R800
Location: iMac
Description: R800 CUPS Printer

1.6. In the next screen, select "USB Printer (usb)" from the drop down. I suspect
FireWire would work if I connect the printer to FireWire, but I haven't tried it.
Click Continue.

1.7. Next screen is a tricky one. The URI of the printer can be found from the System
Profiler. Make sure your printer is connected and powered on. Launch System
Profiler (it should be inside Applications/Utilities folder). Click Hardward/Printers
in the left panel and select Stylus Photo R800 in the upper right panel. In the lower
right panel you should see a URI line about half way down. Mine looks like this:

usb://EPSON/Stylus Photo R800?serial=NE0050403172222460

Copy everything before the question-mark and paste it in the Device URI field.
Click Continue.

1.8. Select Raw, click Continue.
1.9. Select Raw Queue, click Continue.

Note: don't bother to print test page. You can't print to this printer from OS/X because it
doesn''t have a real printer driver associated with. What it does is pass along whatever
data it receives to the R800 and that is what we want because all the processing should be
done by the Windows native driver.

2. Share the printer
2.1. Launch System Preferences.
2.2. Click Sharing icon.
2.3. Check Printer Sharing.
2.4. Click Firewall tag, make sure Printer Sharing is checked under "Allow:" as well.

Now we go to the Windows VM side:

1. Start Parallels, select XP VM, don't start it just yet.
2. Click USB Controller under Configuration, make sure "Connect USB devices automatically"
is unchecked.
3. Start XP VM.
4. Download and install the latest Epson driver for Windows XP.
5. Download and install Bonjour.
6. Launch Bonjour Printer Wizard.
6.1. Click Next.
6.2. In the Browse Bonjour Printer screen you should see two printers listed. Choose
the one that matches the CUPS printer description (in my case it is R800 CUPS
Printer), click Next.
6.3. In the Install Bonjour Printer screen, select EPSON under Manufacturer and EPSON
Stylus Photo R800 under Model. This will install the Windows native driver for the
Bonjour printer. Click Next.
6.4. Click Finish. Your printer is installed.

This is it. Make a test print from the Windows VM and it should work.

[rhsant]

Wow! Thanks so much for all of this (and also to mkstevo)! I was able to print a page from Word over on my XP side. SO - are you pretty sure that it will print w/ the settings in the Windows driver (media type, etc.)?

Thanks again! Rich

[sidssp]

Rich,

Glad to hear that it works for you. I wasn't sure it would work for the R2400 because I didn't have one to test. So far, everything I print looks good except for a couple of CD labels that character spacing is a bit off. It might be font problem. I need to look into that. I hope other members can confirm if this workaround also works for other printers.

One final thought. Parallels really needs to get their acts together and fix USB printer support ASAP. This problem was reported as far back as last June. I couldn't believe they would release the product without fixing it. I hope they wouldn't think the printer problem is solved by this workaround and start looking the other way. Parallels is a Mac product. Mac product is supposed to be easy to use. We shouldn't have to go through all this just to print.

[rhsant]

I'm feeling you about Parallels. I got talked into buying it by some of the comp. people at my school store - I should have downloaded the demo and tried it out first. When I couldn't get my printer working (and printing through qimage was my whole reason for parallels), I really was getting disappointed. It's a steep enough learning curve already coming from PC to Mac! It's also been about 7 or so days without word from the e-mail support - I don't even want to get started about that!

In any case - have you tried to use firewire? I'm trying to set it up now, and I'm thinking that it might not work - the first time I tried it I couldn't get it to print, although I might have screwed up a step, so I'm re-setting it up. I'll let you know if I get it working this way - it'd sure be nice to free up a USB port!

[rhsant]

Ok - after some tooling around, looks like I'm unable to get my R2400 working over firewire. Maybe it is the URI? When I look under the system profiler, it is coming up as file:///dev/null. I'm also using "EPSON firewire" as the device. Seems like theoretically, the printer should be able to print via firewire - but then again, I just switched over to Mac ~ 10 days ago :)

[nanwat]

I too am desperate to get a Canon MP 600 printing from the vm & this complicated procedure seems to be the only thing left to try.

Error
To view you need to log in to area CUPS on 12.0.0.1:631
I am unable to get past this error on the Cups website on the Mac side. XP gave the error below . I can't see where I have to register first or what I am supposed to do ?
http://www.flickr.com/photos/httpwwwflickrcomphotoswattos/

I can get to step 1.4 only

sisssp
Thanks for taking the time to describe it step by step (sure helps someone like me) but I'm afraid I can't seem to get off first base.

On the OS/X side:

1. Create a RAW CUPS printer
1.1. Start Safari or any web browser.
1.2. Type http://127.0.0.1:631 to start CUPS web admin page.
1.3. Click Printers tag.
1.4. Click Add Printer.

[dkp]

The address should be http://127.0.0.1:631/ when using a browser in your Mac.

[sidssp]

I too am desperate to get a Canon MP 600 printing from the vm & this complicated procedure seems to be the only thing left to try.

Error
To view you need to log in to area CUPS on 12.0.0.1:631
I am unable to get past this error on the Cups website on the Mac side. XP gave the error below . I can't see where I have to register first or what I am supposed to do ?
http://www.flickr.com/photos/httpwwwflickrcomphotoswattos/

I can get to step 1.4 only

sisssp
Thanks for taking the time to describe it step by step (sure helps someone like me) but I'm afraid I can't seem to get off first base.

On the OS/X side:

1. Create a RAW CUPS printer
1.1. Start Safari or any web browser.
1.2. Type http://127.0.0.1:631 to start CUPS web admin page.
1.3. Click Printers tag.
1.4. Click Add Printer.

In the login screen. You need to enter an administrator's user name and password of your
OS/X. If there are more than one user, the first one you created
usually is the administrator. If you are not sure, launch System
Preferences, click Accounts, and look for the one with "Allow user to
administer this computer" checked.

Also, There are two names associated with every user: one is just call name, another one is called short name. If they are different, you must enter the short name to log in to the CUPS admin page.

[nanwat]

dkp thanks again as it worked how on EARTH is one supposed to know that ? I had everything else correct but was unaware of THAT. - am continiung on now as "I speak" so fingers crossed.

Thank God for the msg boards as my supplier is conveniently ignoring my emails and requests for help with this . Considering he was paid to do it for me the whole thing "sucks" ..as the kids say :mad:

As I live over in the bush over 700 km away I can't just pop back into the store either & so the saga continues...

Anti virus wont' work on vm
another problem which I am yet to address on their internet site. Techie was also asked to ensure It too was working on both platforms.I've even had to re-install and re-register products he had supposedly dealt with so I could avoid any problems.

[nanwat]

sorry that thanks was to sidssp this time

[nanwat]

ow we go to the Windows VM side:

1. Start Parallels, select XP VM, don't start it just yet.
2. Click USB Controller under Configuration, make sure "Connect USB devices automatically"
is unchecked.
3. Start XP VM.
4. Download and install the latest Epson driver for Windows XP.
5. Download and install Bonjour.

All went very smoothly until 2.1 when I started Parallels & VM together accidentally as the shortcut on my desktop is the Parallels icon but XP starts simultaneously. I don't know how to seperate the two ? However I then went to Applications on the Mac - Parallels & double clicked. Under View there was a tick on VM configurations but it was greyed out . Windows XP Parallels also opened but said it was stopped http://www.flickr.com/photos/httpwwwflickrcomphotoswattos/

2.2 Where do I find the USB Controller under Configuration ?

What will have happened now that VM started first ?

[nanwat]

.2 Where do I find the USB Controller under Configuration ?

What will have happened now that VM started first ?

FYI of others who may get lost like me

It's OK I have just found it in the Parallels window where I saw stopped . I then hit the green start VM window

[nanwat]

sissp
a HUGE thank you for your post with the step by step instructions. I have FINALLY managed to get my printer working. This would never have been possible without such excellent instructions. I honestly can't thank you & dkp enough for your patience and time . You can't imagine how relieved I am :)

[nanwat]

http://www.flickr.com/photos/httpwww...mphotoswattos/

I have just updated this site with most of my photos relating to this issue as it may help others work through their problem. I wasted too much of my time trying to sort it out but in the end it was so easy once you know how.

However I can't guarantee they will be there forever as I have limited space there.

[nanwat]

I have returned to post this for the information of those with less technical skills, particularly in Windows.

In relation to the Bonjour error ( a different thread) saying I had inadequate access I have realized in hindsight that all I had to do at this point would have been to install the Printer Driver on the VM to gain access !
I thought that because the printer was already installed on the Mac that I did not have to do anything else. I didn't realize this until I had worked my way through the post on how to install via CUPS. I am certain this would have worked and I did not need to go through the whole CUPS download situation.

I would suggest that those posting about Bonjour remember to include this vital piece of information ! You were all quite correct that Bonjour is a quick , easy fix but unfortunatley you have a lot of presumed knowledge that some of us lack . I then had to proceed down the slightly more involved CUPS path which I believe I could have avoided.
http://www.flickr.com/photos/httpwwwflickrcomphotoswattos/

[rsovitzky@mac.com]

I have been struggling with this printing thing. I have some suspicion that the Windows in my VM is hosed, as Windows so easily does, and that that is contributing to the print problem. The VM existed when I upgraded to v3.

I think I will bite the bullet and reload a new VM from scratch.

Can you all say if you had success with this printing procedure using a new v3 VM or was it an upgraded VM?

Thanks...

Rick

[troyholl99]

I followed the very good instructions above and the VP XP printing to my epson 1400 works great now, but now I can't print from the Mac.

Ideas?

[troyholl99]

Thanks to all on this post.... Using the instruction above on 2 windows networked computers and my Mac VR XP setup I now have my Epson Stylus Photo 1400 working from 1) My IMAC, 2) 2 Networked windows machines, and 3) My Virtual XP machine using the actual Epson 1400 drivers!!!

[jackybe67]

did you share your printers on the mac side?

[troyholl99]

Yes.... the key is to follow the instructions very carefully including sharing the printer from the mac side, setting up the RAW CUPs printer (be sure to give it a descriptive name not the same name as the normal mac setup).

I thin setup the printer on the Virtual machine and made sure it was working and that the mac setup worked. One thing you may watch for, it worked once for my on the V. XP machine and then stopped working. I spent forever trying to figure it out and then found that the printer was stopped from the Mac side. I went to the printer utility and hit "start" printer and everything worked fine. I don't know what caused it to stop.

I then went to each other machine in my house (I've got 3- PCs and the one Imac). I made sure to uninstall the Epson on each machine, then install the driver again, then install bonjour. If you do it in that order the printer will show up as available in bonjour, and the print driver can be located under the "Have Disk"selection. It then works great!

I actually think the problem everyone seems to have is less a Parallel problem and more of a Bonjour or general Mac to Windows problem.

[hbutz]

Awesome directions; thanks for posting that. I have my Epson working under two VM's. I only got snagged on a couple of things, which were: I should unzip but do not install the printer driver under Windows manually. Let Bonjour install the printer with 'have disk', else you'll have a non-working duplicate (not a big deal). I also found that I needed to install Bonjour for Windows under Windows, which wasn't immediately obvious. The description for the printer appeared blank in the Windows VM although I had set it. Confirmed that I cannot check my ink levels, but all my applications are happily printing directly to the printer again - CAD software, label making software, PDF's. All took less than 10 minutes.

[eric4]

This solution worked great for me and my Epson R340. Then after I installed Leopard, I can no longer add a USB printer in CUPS. It no longer lists that as a device type. I attempted to add it as "EPSON firewire" with my USB URI ( usb://EPSON/Stylus%20Photo%20R340?serial= ...) but that printer never shows up as a printer in my System Preferences, so I can't share it.

Has anyone upgraded to Leopard and been successful adding a raw USB printer?

[Barefoot]

I have had my hp laserjet 1320 working through the usb plug for some time now, BUT I now get a message that it is in use by another application, even though nothing else is running except the VM. can anyone tell me how to get the mac side to release it so it will be recgonized on the VM side? thanks!

[mikeasmel]

I would be most appreciative if someone could direct me to how I can get my XP side of my iMac to "see/print" on my HP PSC 2100. I was advised by someone to install Bonjour, however, only after I could make sure that Parallels had "Autoconnect USB devices" enabled, and I don't know how to do that. If someone can perhaps guide me through this, I'd be so appreciative.

[garyco212]

Thought I'd share my experience...

Install Parallels w/o a hitch. Could not print to my Epson r1800.

Spent four days trying to resolve the problem. Nothing would work. I hestitated removing the Epson driver as I had a lot of color profiles installed and tweaked.

I did have the 1800 connected via firewire. Finally in a last ditch attempt, removed all traces of the Epson drive in OS X. Reinstalled it via USB and followed the CUPS suggestions at the beginning of this thread. Printing now works!

Sharing this in case it might help another Epson 1800 user...