Help with printer issue on Windows network

Posted:
in Genius Bar edited January 2014
Have a MacBook with Lion OS. Have several PC's networked. One of them has a printer attached via USB. Used Print & Scan to up the printer without any problem. The Mac sees it and when I select something to print it sends it. It doesn't print. Checking the printer status the job is: "On Hold (Authentication Required). Any help?

Comments

  • Reply 1 of 7
    MarvinMarvin Posts: 15,322moderator
    There are some suggestions here:



    http://computing.physics.harvard.edu/macosx_samba_print



    It seems to be that you connect to the PC via Samba before adding the printer.



    If you see a hold icon, try right-clicking or control clicking to see if you can authenticate it. Is the printer setup on OS X as a Samba printer i.e with and address like smb://192.168.0.50?



    Another option to try would be to install Bonjour for Windows.
  • Reply 2 of 7
    The printer does not have a "name". It's just one connected to the PC. I don't really know how the Mac sees it (Samba?) but it shows up and I can send files to it.



    There is no "name" for the printer. It's just connected to the PC. It's not that it's on a printer server.



    When it doesn't print I check status and it asks for user name & pw for the printer. Don't know what to use there!
  • Reply 3 of 7
    MarvinMarvin Posts: 15,322moderator
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by clucas View Post


    The printer does not have a "name". It's just one connected to the PC. I don't really know how the Mac sees it (Samba?) but it shows up and I can send files to it.



    If you open system preferences and choose print & scan, the printer should be listed in there and allow you to check the details of it. If it's not listed, you can add it manually.



    Quote:
    Originally Posted by clucas View Post


    When it doesn't print I check status and it asks for user name & pw for the printer. Don't know what to use there!



    If it brings up a dialog with those values, try using the Windows login details for the machine the printer is connected to.
  • Reply 4 of 7
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by Marvin View Post


    If you open system preferences and choose print & scan, the printer should be listed in there and allow you to check the details of it. If it's not listed, you can add it manually.







    If it brings up a dialog with those values, try using the Windows login details for the machine the printer is connected to.



    I'll try again with an explanation. I am able to add the printer. It is connected via USB to a PC. When adding I added as a Windows printer and found it on the home network.



    I opened Texedit and type a few words and then sent it to print. The printer icon shows status of "On Hold (Authentication required)".



    When I click on resume it states: "Enter your name and password for the printer "Epson Stylus Photo R320 (M)"". I do not know what user name and password it's talking about. The printer is set up so anyone can use it. I don't log in to that PC with a user name and password.



    For what it's worth. I dual boot my MacBook with Ubuntu and did not have any issue like this. I found the printer, installed the drivers and it prints like a charm without asking for name and pw.
  • Reply 5 of 7
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by GeorgeEllis View Post


    Check USB cable and check the printer settings. Check that if there is any privacy is enabled or not.



    Cable & print settings all checked out ok. Again, no problem printing using Ubuntu.



    No privacy enabled.
  • Reply 6 of 7
    robmrobm Posts: 1,068member
    Tried installing Bonjour on the pc ?

    http://www.apple.com/support/bonjour/

    That can get it going - err sometimes.



    ohh I see Marvin suggested that already.



    Another suggestion if Bonjour doesn't work - do you have an Airport or Express ?

    Hook the printer to that and then anything can print to it without the pc having to be running.
  • Reply 7 of 7
    It's asking for a username and password combination from an account on the Windows-based machine that has authority to print. Create a new user on the Windows-based machine if you don't want to use an existing one.
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