Print from Mac to a Windows only printer?

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stein.joel@gmail.com

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I have my Windows virtual machine setup, and it is able to print to our office network printer. However, the printer has no driver for a Mac. Is it possible to print from Mac applications to the Windows printer through Parallels?
 
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Hello world,

I 'm trying Parallels, and I encountered an issue...

my uni has a great network with both Mac&PCs, and lots of network printers that I already installed on my mac...
the problem is that one of these printers, an HP Designjet 4000 plotter, has windows-only drivers...

is possible to print from it through Parallels without having it installed on Mac OS X?
many thanks :)
 
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Hello all,

Please sorry for the answer delay.
You can use a printer not connected to Mac if you connect it to your Virtual Machine as USB device and if you have the appropriate driver for the printer installed in the Guest OS.

To connect a printer as USB device, make sure that USB Controller is installed in VM Configuration. Set it to be connected to Guest OS (Connection options). Start Windows. If you can't see the printer connected, go to Devices -> USB in Parallels Desktop menu bar and choose the printer from the drop-down menu.

Best regards,
Xenos
 
Last edited:
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Many thanks for the quick response. I guess this technique would preclude against using such a printer over a network - it would have to be connected directly to a USB port on the Mac. Or is that not the case?
 
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Sorry - I should have been more specific. The difficulty is printing to a network printer which is accessible from Windows but not Mac OS. (The reason being that it's a Canon printer which can't be accessed from a Mac unless you spend $1,000 on a Postscript plug-in module). Any way around this limitation? The objective is to print Mac files directly to this printer (through the network), via the Parallels interface.
 
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Hello Johnjapan,

Please sorry for the confusion. The article does not address your request.
You can try connecting the printer to your VM just the same way you would connect it to a real computer with Windows installed.

Best regards,
Xenos
 
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I meant you should set the printer in your Virtual Machine using native drivers - the same way you would install printer on Windows computer.
Then share the printer - make it available to other computers on network.
Try access the shared printer from Mac.

Best regards,
Xenos
 
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Hi xenos, thanks for your interest...
my problem is similar to johnjapan's, I tried to install the printer in the guest OS but with "shared network" setting the guest OS (XP) can't connect to my school network...
I tried "bridged networking" to connect directly to the real network but it seem to not work (I'm on a MacBook Pro connected with AirPort), the connection just not work and I can't even surf the net with a browser.
 
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Hello Kiwidesign,

Could you please send me the output of these commands:

a) On Windows side open Start menu, choose Run, type CMD, press Enter; in the CMD window run ipconfig /all command;

b) On Mac side open Terminal and run ifconfig command.

Best regards,
Xenos
 
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hi Xenos, a clarification:
with shared networking I can perfectly access the web, but not network servers and printers.
with bridged networking simply nothing works...


Mac(10.4.11) output:
lo0: flags=8049<UP,LOOPBACK,RUNNING,MULTICAST> mtu 16384
inet6 ::1 prefixlen 128
inet6 fe80::1%lo0 prefixlen 64 scopeid 0x1
inet 127.0.0.1 netmask 0xff000000
gif0: flags=8010<POINTOPOINT,MULTICAST> mtu 1280
stf0: flags=0<> mtu 1280
en0: flags=8863<UP,BROADCAST,SMART,RUNNING,SIMPLEX,MULTICAST> mtu 1500
ether 00:1b:63:a9:32:07
media: autoselect status: inactive
supported media: autoselect 10baseT/UTP <half-duplex> 10baseT/UTP <full-duplex> 10baseT/UTP <full-duplex,hw-loopback> 10baseT/UTP <full-duplex,flow-control> 100baseTX <half-duplex> 100baseTX <full-duplex> 100baseTX <full-duplex,hw-loopback> 100baseTX <full-duplex,flow-control> 1000baseT <full-duplex> 1000baseT <full-duplex,hw-loopback> 1000baseT <full-duplex,flow-control> none
en1: flags=8863<UP,BROADCAST,SMART,RUNNING,SIMPLEX,MULTICAST> mtu 1500
inet6 fe80::21e:52ff:fe6f:dcf2%en1 prefixlen 64 scopeid 0x5
inet 10.0.71.98 netmask 0xffffff00 broadcast 10.0.71.255
ether 00:1e:52:6f:dc:f2
media: autoselect status: active
supported media: autoselect
wlt1: flags=41<UP,RUNNING> mtu 1500
fw0: flags=8802<BROADCAST,SIMPLEX,MULTICAST> mtu 494
lladdr 00:1d:4f:ff:fe:75:ac:f0
media: autoselect <full-duplex> status: inactive
supported media: autoselect <full-duplex>
vmnet8: flags=8862<BROADCAST,SMART,RUNNING,SIMPLEX,MULTICAST> mtu 1500
inet 172.16.117.1 netmask 0xffffff00 broadcast 172.16.117.255
ether 00:50:56:c0:00:08
vmnet1: flags=8862<BROADCAST,SMART,RUNNING,SIMPLEX,MULTICAST> mtu 1500
inet 192.168.224.1 netmask 0xffffff00 broadcast 192.168.224.255
ether 00:50:56:c0:00:01
en2: flags=8963<UP,BROADCAST,SMART,RUNNING,PROMISC,SIMPLEX,MULTICAST> mtu 1500
inet6 fe80::21c:42ff:fe00:0%en2 prefixlen 64 scopeid 0xa
inet 10.37.129.2 netmask 0xffffff00 broadcast 10.37.129.255
ether 00:1c:42:00:00:00
media: autoselect status: active
supported media: autoselect
en3: flags=8963<UP,BROADCAST,SMART,RUNNING,PROMISC,SIMPLEX,MULTICAST> mtu 1500
inet6 fe80::21c:42ff:fe00:1%en3 prefixlen 64 scopeid 0xb
inet 10.211.55.2 netmask 0xffffff00 broadcast 10.211.55.255
ether 00:1c:42:00:00:01
media: autoselect status: active
supported media: autoselect
Click to expand...
Win(XP) output:
Configurazione IP di Windows



Nome host . . . . . . . . . . . . . . : macbooklo7dd6

Suffisso DNS primario . . . . . . . :

Tipo nodo . . . . . . . . . : Sconosciuto

Routing IP abilitato. . . . . . . . . : No

Proxy WINS abilitato . . . . . . . . : No



Scheda Ethernet Connessione alla rete locale (LAN):



Suffisso DNS specifico per connessione:

Descrizione . . . . . . . . . . . . . : Parallels Network Adapter

Indirizzo fisico. . . . . . . . . . . : 00-1C-42-8F-A1-34

DHCP abilitato. . . . . . . . . . . . : Sì

Configurazione automatica abilitata : Sì

Indirizzo IP. . . . . . . . . . . . . : 10.211.55.4

Subnet mask . . . . . . . . . . . . . : 255.255.255.0

Gateway predefinito . . . . . . . . . : 10.211.55.1

Server DHCP . . . . . . . . . . . . . : 10.211.55.1

Server DNS . . . . . . . . . . . . . : 10.211.55.1

Lease ottenuto. . . . . . . . . . . . : mercoledì 13 febbraio 2008 1.51.

46

Scadenza lease . . . . . . . . . . . : mercoledì 20 febbraio 2008 1.51.

46
Click to expand...

many thanks!! :)
kiwi
 
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Hello Kiwi,

You might have problems with wireless network connection in Bridged mode because of MAC addresses conflict. Can you try Bridged mode with wired connection?

Best regards,
Xenos
 
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hi Xenos, thanks again...
I tried but there's still some addressing issues, becouse of our network complexity...
i.e. to access network in MacOS with ethernet connection I had to bring my laptop to our IT assistence guys that unlocked something in my IP configuration...

we agreed that they'll try to help me with this parallels issue when they had some time...

anyway I have a question: to use custom MAC address in the guest OS (VM advanced network configuration) I have to disable the "Parallels network adaper driver" in Parallels Tools (and so return to the default realtek one)?
 
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Hello Kiwi,

You do not have to disable the "Parallels network adapter driver" in Parallels Tools. Just set the MAC address in VM Configuration. Good luck!

Best regards,
Xenos
 
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Hi Xenos:

I have a similar problem: I have a printer w/no drivers for Mac, so I installed it in the guestOS(xp) and can print fine through there. The problem is that when I try to print through mac, OSX simply doesn't see the printer, even if its shared (like you said to do so) in the guestOS(xp). Can you give me a semi-detailed process on how to fix this?


The printer is connected via USB.

Thanks
 
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