Wireless printing from a MacBook

Posted:
in macOS edited January 2014
Okay. I'm totally baffled how to print wirelessly from my MacBook to a printer attached to a Windows computer.



From what I've been able to determine, it essentially isn't possible.



I am also running parallels and WINXP. I can print wirelessly via this route, but I can't print from any Mac applications.



Am I missing something?

Comments

  • Reply 1 of 7
    mr. memr. me Posts: 3,221member
    Whenever you ask for assistance with a peripheral, you need to state which model peripheral you are using. In this case, you need to state which printer you are using.
  • Reply 2 of 7
    argeliusargelius Posts: 309member
    Sorry 'bout that. Was in too much of a rush. Here's the whole story:



    I have a PSC 1315 connected via USB to an XP desktop PC.

    I can print to the 1315 from the desktop with no problem.

    Other Windows based PCs on my (wireless) home network can print to it via a generic SBC router, which is handling network traffic and Internet access.



    I have downloaded the OSX drivers for the PSC 1315 from the HP website and successfully loaded them onto the MacBook.

    The HP Assistant that pops up asks me to add the HP printer that's either connected via USB or via IP. I have to bypass that setup. You'll see why below.



    On the Mac I can not only see the folders that are shared from the desktop PC, but I can ALSO see the shared 1315 printer from across my wireless network. I can access shared files from the desktop on my Macbook.



    I can't print to the PSC 1315 across my wireless network. All jobs go into a 'completed' mode but the printer never sees them. The driver that loads when I make the PSC 1315 my default printer on the Mac is 'generic postscript'. The PSC is not a postscript printer. I have scrolled down the list of HP printer drivers that are listed and can't find the PSC series listed anywhere.



    The HP drivers that I downloaded from the HP website for this printer are apparently only good for directly connected or print server-based PSC series printers - NOT for printers available as shared from an XP computer. In addition, the driver I downloaded from the HP website doesn't add itself to the large list of HP drivers that appear to be native to the Mac OS.



    I have Parallels loaded on the MacBook, with a copy of XP. When I fire up XP I can print to the PSC 1315 across my wireless network with absolutely no problem. Just like all of my other PCs and notebooks.



    Back to the Mac OS side. I've discovered that one can access some sort of printer admin program using 127.0.0.1:631/printers. This is a 'CUPS' interface (I have no idea what CUPS is). I have tried to use this interface to further configure the PSC 1315 printer that shows up on that page, but to no avail.



    I can only assume that the PSC 1300 series set of printers is just not designed to be accessible from a MacBook across a wireless network.



    If anyone can dispute that I would love to hear about it. Until then, the only way I can print is if I fire up XP using Parallels when I want to print wirelessly. It gives me really bad gas having to go into Windows on my Mac...
  • Reply 3 of 7
    chuckerchucker Posts: 5,089member
    Through this route, you need a PPD file for the printer. I haven't been able to find one for the particular model, but OS X does ship with various PPD files for the HP PSC series.



    The downloadable drivers for printers usually only apply when you use USB printing.
  • Reply 4 of 7
    I am having a problem printing wirelessly from my MacBook to my PC printer as well. Let me warn you that I am BRAND NEW to Mac and not so knowlegable about PC's either.



    This is the deal. I have the new MacBook which runs on OS X. I love it, but that is beside the point. I am able to connect to the internet wirelessly through my wireless router which my PC is connected to as well, RoadRunner. The problem occurs when I try to add a printer wirelessly onto my Mac.



    I have 2 scenarios that happen:

    1- When I add a printer wirelessly to my mac, it finds my network just fine. I click on my workgroup, enter my user name and password and accepts it...but nothing happens beyond that. I have let it sit for as long as 15-20 minutes to no avail.



    2- If I connect my printer directly to my mac, via USB wire, it works just fine. However, after I do this and it locates the printer, when I attempt to add the printer wirelessly, I enter my usere name and password, the mac THEN finds the printer. So, I add the printer and attempt to print wirelessly, but get the following error: NT_STATUS_BAD_NETWORK_NAME



    I did a search on apple.com for that error code it took me to this document:

    http://docs.info.apple.com/article.html?artnum=301768



    I went through the steps to make sure that my PC's user name, printer name, etc did not have any spaces or odd characters. All is well, except for one thing. When my mac finds the PC network, the name it pulls up is "michael-steward __s Computer" Well, I have never seen this in my life on my PC. So I did a search on my PC, and under My Network Places it has this. Well this has both spaces and odd characters, which I think may be the problem...OR it may have nothing to do with it. Either way, I can't change this name on my PC...I don't know how to.



    I hope this isn't too confusing, but can anyone help out a Mac newbie?
  • Reply 5 of 7
    First make sure you are on the network that has your printer. My neighbor has a wireless network an I pick up hers sometimes.



    Also, try to install the printer on the machine as if it was local and then installing it manually on the network.



    You can also try using the CUPS admin page on your computer at:



    http://127.0.0.1:631/ or http://localhost:631/



    Or even through SMB at the command line.
  • Reply 6 of 7
    I have been able to install the printer onto the mac but it still does not work wirelessly.



    Cups - I have an Intel based mac, is this still an option?
  • Reply 7 of 7
    Quote:

    Originally posted by MSteward

    I have been able to install the printer onto the mac but it still does not work wirelessly.



    Cups - I have an Intel based mac, is this still an option?




    Yep
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