NetworkPrintingWithUbuntu Overview

Ubuntu supports network printing, so you can print from your Ubuntu machine, your Windows machine, etc, to another Ubuntu or Windows machine that has a printer attached (ie a "Ubuntu print server" or "Windows print server").

Background
Ubuntu uses the Common UNIX Printing System ("CUPS") to handle printing. CUPS uses the Internet Printing Protocol ("IPP") as the basis for managing print jobs and queues. Other protocols are also supported (LPD, SMB, AppSocket a.k.a. JetDirect), some with reduced functionality. CUPS printer configuration and management is handled by the Printer Admin utility launched from the Gnome menu - System -> Administration -> Printing. Also IPP provides web services so after you have configured CUPS appropriately, you can access the printers and jobs via your web browser. When a locally attached printer is defined, eg using the Printer Admin utility, that printer is automatically published from this "print server" host to the network, depending on the server directives in the CUPS configuration file. A remote Ubuntu "client" host can then be able to see and use the printer attached to the server. The network printer automatically appears in the client's Printer Admin utility. It simply pops up if CUPS is up and configured correctly and disappears if you stop CUPS at either the Print Server or your local machine.

Ubuntu print server

The Print Server is the Ubuntu computer that is directly connected to the printers. 1. On the server machine (the one the printer is attached to), open System -> Administration -> Printing. This will open the Printer Configuration window. OR you can open the following URL in your browser: http://localhost:631 2. Select Server in the menu bar, and then Settings. This will open the Basic Server Settings window. 3. Check the second box: o Publish shared printers connected to this server If this computer acts as both a Print Server and a client (it does need access to a printer connected to another computer), select also the first box, "Show printers shared by other systems". 4. OK 5. Right click the printer and check the Shared option, if not checked yet

Ubuntu print server compatible with Windows (Samba)

If your Ubuntu print server shall be able to work also with Windows clients, you must first make sure that the SAMBA package is installed (e.g. using Synaptic package manager). Then, do a little configuration change to SAMBA. In brief, you must uncomment the following lines in /etc/samba/smb.conf (open terminal, sudo gedit /etc/samba/smb.conf):

In the [printers] section:

browsable = yes

guest ok = yes

When done, restart Samba:

sudo service smbd restart sudo service nmbd restart

There is a dedicated page in the official documentation which gives more details.

Windows print server

Euh... sorry, this section is missing, but anyway, why would you want this ?

Printing from Ubuntu

Now let's configure the client (the Ubuntu computer from where you want to print): 1. System -> Administration -> Printing 2. Add - Network printer o Click Find network printer Specify the host IP address or name. (It may also work without, try) Click Find o Printers on the target machine should be found, no matter whether they are connected using CUPS or SAMBA. BUT if both protocols are available, e.g. because you have shared your printer on a Linux box both using CUPS and Samba, prefer CUPS (ipp://) over Samba (smb://), because you won't be prompted to install a driver in general.

3. You **may** be prompted to select a driver. Select your model in the list. o (to be done) What to do if driver is not in the list