Print from MacOS SL to guest Windows 7 printer

Dear colleagues.

I'm facing the following situation :

* My printer has no driver to Snow Leopard (SL), but has an updated driver to W7.
* I can successfuly install the printer and print my files using the guest W7 installed under Parallels.

I'm wondering how to print straight from SL, using the W7 printer. I've tried some guides found at Google, but I could not make them work until now.

I have also tried to add the W7 printer through the "Add printer" menu at SL, without success (It asks me for a user and password that I don't have !).

I have the option of using USB direct connection or wireless router to connect to the printer.

I hope some of you can give me hints or information sources about how to solve this problem.

Best regards !

Rodrigo - Sao Paulo - Brazil

 

You have to turn on printer sharing in Windows and your Mac needs to be able to ping your Windows machine.
Control Panel -> Choose homegroup and sharing options -> Change advanced sharing settings...
For the current profile,
- Turn on Network Discovery
- Turn on file and printer sharing
- Turn off password protected sharing

If you don't want to turn off passwords then make sure you have a user with a password:
Control Panel -> Add or remove user accounts. When Parallels installs windows, it creates an Administrator account with no password. Add a password.

Select a printer for sharing:
Control Panel -> View devices and printers
Right click the printer -> Printer Properties -> Sharing -> Share this printer -> Apply

Add the printer in Mac OS X:
System Preferences -> Print & Fax -> [+] -> Windows -> workgroup -> your virtual machine name -> your virtual machine's shared printer. Print Using: Select Printer Software... -> search for the printing software that best matches your printer (or the model shown in the Printer Properties in Windows).

If you have problems in Mac OS X, make sure Keychain Access.app doesn't show any saved passwords for the Windows printer. Maybe try changing the virtual machine's Computer Name as well.

 

Dear joevt,

First of all, thank you very much for your reply.

I've tried to do exactly what you suggested, however, my printer (a Lexmark X1185) doesn't appear in the MacOS list. Unfortunately, this printer was forgotten by Apple people when they developed Snow Leopard !

At Lexmark website, it's possible to find a driver for older versiond of MacOS. I tried to install it, and it works properly for scanning images (X1185 is a multi-funcional printer), but it still doesn't add my model of printer in the Snow Leopard list !

Do you know how to make it work ?

Thank you again !

Rodrigo

 

You don't need a Mac driver to see the printer in the virtual machine's workgroup. Do you see the printer in the virtual machine's workgroup? Are you able to see your virtual machine's work group in the System Preferences -> Print & Fax -> [+] -> Windows list? Can you ping your virtual machine from the Mac?