You must enter a shared name and password to configure the printer when
running Linux. You also need to know the printer’s workgroup name, IP
address, and printer name, and you must have the username and password on
hand. To find this information, select Start, Settings, Printers and then right-
click the shared printer’s listing in the Printers window. Select Properties from
the pop-up window.
You can use CUPS to configure Samba to use your printers by editing the
smb.conf file.
In the [global] section enter the following lines if they are not already
there:
Click here to view code image
...
load printers = yes
printing = cups
printcap name = cups
This tells Samba to use CUPS to provide printing services. Next, you need to
create a new section in the smb.conf file at the end of the file, as follows:
Click here to view code image
[printers]
comment = Use this for All Printers
path = /var/spool/samba
browseable = no
public = yes
guest ok = yes
writable = no
printable = yes
printer admin = root, andrew
This publishes your printers to the network and allows others to connect to
them via Windows clients.
Make sure you restart the Samba service using the command shown earlier to
cause Samba to pick up the changes to the configuration file.
Using the CUPS GUI
You can use CUPS to create printer queues, get print server information, and
manage queues by launching a browser (such as Firefox) and browsing to
[http://localhost:631. CUPS provides a web-based administration interface, as](http://localhost:631. CUPS provides a web-based administration interface, as)
shown in Figure 23.1.