USB Printing problem solved! (Generic solution?)

Managed to get printing working in Windows XP . Printer ( Epson Stylus Color 680 ) connected to Mac on USB .

The way I did it was to set up a new 'CUPS' printer , this then appears in Windows as a network printer , install the Windows XP printer drivers ( Epson Stylus Color 680 ESC/P2 ) and hey presto !

To set up a 'CUPS' printer , on the Mac open a web browser ( any ) and enter the address http://127.0.0.1:631 . The new printer should be given a unique ( but short - less than 8 characters ) name - ep680 for example . Make sure that when setting up your CUPS printer that you set it up as having a make of 'Raw ' ( NOT Epson ) and set the driver for it in CUPS as Raw too .

If you can't make sense of my instructions , Google for CUPS , OSX and 127.0.0.1:631 should turn up some better written instructions . Sorry mine are not better but I've only just escaped from the Microsoft prison and am returned to the status of beginner again !

 

USB Printing

Printing is so fundamental to the use of Virtual Machines (assuming they are not being mostly used for gaming) - I think the User Guide just needs to concentrate on Bonjour - and walk thro that in the form of a typical user quick guide maybe!

It worked for me easily - I spent hours trying other ways to print before I tried Bonjour.

 

Bonjour worked for me but I have to print something first from the Mac to the required printer before printing from Parallels to the same printer, otherwise nothing prints from Parallels.


I used the generic postscript driver that Bonjour offers to print successfully to a Laserjet 1320 and (amazingly) also to a Canon i965 where I can print text and photgraphs.

 

Worked for HP 6110 as well

Just wanted to post this worked for an HP 6110 Office Jet all-in-one as well. Installing the drivers that were meant for the HP did NOT work. Using Bonjour with the generic/postscript driver was the answer.

 

I had this same problem of the insufficient priviledges message. This occurred at work, so I think that it is a problem with our routers blocking some traffic. Here's how I fixed it.

Exit from windows in parallels, and then reconfiure the parallels network to "host only." Launch Windows from parallels, and then run the Bonjour Printer Setup from within windows. Select the appropriate printer (that is connected to your mac host), and then select the generic/postscript driver. That worked for me.

The odd thing is that I can quit windows, reset the network to its old setting (ethernet for me), and then printing through Bonjour from windows works fine. Perhaps there are special setup packets that get blocked that are unnecessary when just running a print job.

 

Printing is Fundamental - this should work out of the box!

Been spending my hours trying to get my Epson Stylus C86, shared from current OSX on an iMac over my local network to print. Tried Bonjour as suggested, and even though Bonjour sees the shared printer, and I set it up using the "Generic / PostScript" option as others have described, it still does not print. I've also tried deleting "previous" versions of the printer under WinXP.

I'm hoping that Parallels will take this problem to heart and offer a cleaner solution in a patch. It's not reasonable to expect everyone to hack their way through this problem. It should work easily and elegantly, like other functions on the Mac are supposed to. I'm impressed with most everything else that Parallels does -- overall it's a very elegant solution. But not having this piece working is a real roadblock for me (and I suspect others of you as well).

Not being able to print things that I work on in Parallels makes the VM solution practically worthless for me.

Please, Parallels -- help us with a fix.

 

Bonjour an Incomplete Answer

Unfortunately, some printers simply need to be spoken to using their own driver to get it right. The HP Photosmart 4100 series all-in-ones appear to be such a beast. Parallels and Bonjour indeed made it print, but the HP driver must have a little "slow down the paper feed just before starting to print" command issued, and the generic Postscript driver does not. Well, when the paper slams at top speed into the rollers using the Windows VM, the paper jams at the two main rollers and at best tears the top of the sheet (at worst jams completely). This never happens in Mac OS X, as the paper slows to a crawl just before it enters the rollers.

I know that printer drivers are the bane of most any kind of computer, but this oh-so-fundamental function needs to be addressed better by the Parallels VM.

Of course, if HP would just make the driver itself easier to access in Windows (oh, I don't know, maybe put it in a FOLDER or something crazy like that), I could use the "Have Disk" function and point it to the driver. But nooooo...

So, printing from XP is missing from this computer/printer/Parallels setup. Too bad.

 

Response from Parallels Support

Hello Maurice,

We are aware of problems with USB printers in current version of
Parallels Desktop and there is update coming soon that should solve this
issue. As for temporary solution you may try the following:
1. Find latest Windows drivers for your printer, install them into guest OS
2. Use network printing and please take a look at http://forum.parallels.com/thread2549.html
for more info.

Best regards,
Mike

 

Does the same go for a network printer?

I am still getting windows messages of "arguments invalid" followed by "you do not have sufficient access to the computer to connect to the selected printer" when trying to use Bonjour.

 

Bonjour for Windows Worked

Installing Bonjour for Windows (see bottom right of this page for download link) worked for me on my USB-connected HP LaserJet 1200 printer.

I enabled printer sharing in Mac OS X first, and then ran Bonjour for Windows from within XP (on Parallels). I also selected the "Generic/Printer" option, but underneath that option (at least for me and my printer) I was also able to select the correct HP printer driver (forgive me if this is the wrong terminology) for my HP LaserJet 1200.

Worked the first time!

-Scott

 

This site rocks! Now my printer works. Now, if I can get Windows to 'see' the shared file program, so I can move files back and forth, I'll be set.

 

Folks, let's just remember that although using Bonjour for Windows and the generic PostScript driver MAY WORK for SOME printers, this is NOT a long-term solution. Using the generic PostScript driver means that your Windows OS will NOT see all the printer-specific features that your printer may have, and it also means that your printed colors may be incorrect as well.

The fact that Bonjour for Windows doesn't work when we select the appropriate printer driver for our printers just shows how deep this problem lies within Parallels.

We need an OFFICIAL SOLUTION from the Parallels Team about this, b/c otherwise they have sold $7+ million worth of software under FALSE ADVERTISING. And false advertising is a crime.

It's amazing how quiet Parallels has been about this -- why are they ignoring us, and why can't they fix this top priority problem?

I think we can all agree that the customer support at Parallels is absolutely horrendous, and that this product was rushed to market to take advantage of market conditions. Not to mention the fact that the .psf shared folders shortcut doesn't work within many Windows programs, even if you map the shared folders to a network drive. This product has way too many issues to be on the market.

 

This product does what it can, for what it is. It cost me, what, $49? Not too expensive for a program. It's buggy, but so was

Windowsx​

XP​

when it came out. Heck, some say it's still buggy.

Maybe I'm more patient, but as long as I can find a solution, I'm alright.

When I print out of Windows on my Mac, it's more for

convenience​

. I do 90% of my print work, maybe more, from my Apple programs.

I think you are right about one thing, though. The support this product features is sort of lame...

 

I must completely agree with your first 2 paragraphs!

Too the rest - Getta Life!

 

And you are an idiot!

 

Parallels doesn't answer emails sent to their tech support email address.
Parallels doesn't reply to any of the threads on this forum.
Parallels doesn't admit bugs in their program.
Parallels doesn't FIX bugs in their program.

And I'm the idiot?

You, sir, are the idiot.

What has Parallels the company done for you lately that you so blindly support them wholeheartedly? They have nothing but cause grief for my clients.

 

All your questions are correct and on all points you are right. But it is absolutely idiotic to start calling this a crime!

And the "grief for your clients", don't be so pathetic and start behaving normally.

For most people Parallels does its job with a few limitation. You want no problems at all? Go to the store and buy a Windows PC!

 

Okay, so it may not be a crime, but this state of affairs really sucks for those of us that jumped on this Parallels bandwagon early.

And you're right -- the real grief is on MY head b/c I recommended this product to my clients, and they're complaining to me now on a regular basis! So yes, it is my fault for recommending this to my clients, and I take responsibility. Clearly, the MOST bulletproof solution right now is to use Apple's Boot Camp, which is what I will probably switch over my clients to until these issues are worked out by Parallels.

I would never have one of my clients buy a real PC!

 

One good lesson to be learned: never advise clients to use Beta software.

 

Totally. Although this wasn't officially Beta software. It was bought in retail boxes from the shelves at the Apple Store! Maybe the lesson is to never advise clients to buy v1.0 software.