OS X Leopard Printer Sharing Tip

Out of the box requirements of an OS like Vista can present more confusing than helpful sharing options. While I would encourage all to explore those options, sometimes we just need a quick fix that works under almost all circumstances.

OS X users have always had the ability to use CUPS for printer sharing and Leopard has maintained that option. If you've upgraded to Leopard (or are on anything 10.3 or better) and you are behind a firewall why not just use CUPS.

How to share OS X printers through CUPS to Windows Clients.

On your MAC do the following

1) Enable Printer Sharing on your Mac
>System Preferences>Sharing
Check "Printer Sharing"
2) On the Firewall tab (still under Sharing)
Check "Printer Sharing" under the Allow window.
3) Browse to http://your mac ip:631/printers or http://127.0.0.1:631/printers
This will bring up the CUPS printer administration page
4) Scroll all the way down the page and choose ADD PRINTER
You may be asked to authenticate here
5)Setup a printer with no more than 8 characters (for older clients). Use RAW as the type of device and queue.

On your VISTA(PC) do the following

6) Open the Control Panel Printers & Add Printer
>Start>Control Panel>Printers
Click Add Printer
Click "Add a Network, Wireless or Bluetooth Printer
Click "The Printer I want isn't Listed"
Verify that the radio button "Select a Shared Printer by Name" is filled
In the "Select a Shared Printer by Name" field type the address of your shared printer, ex: http://your_mac_ip:631/printers/shared_printer_name.
Click Next & Finish (call it what you want etc).


I've used this sharing method for years, it's solid and supported by a very robust community, not only the MAC, but several other platforms.

-Z