Member Avatar for salvatore

Setup:

RedHat 9 running Samba, Windows XP Professional connecting successfully to the RH box.

I can map a drive from Windows to RH, but cant print to the RH box. Here's my smb.conf file:

***
[root@home salvatore]# cat /etc/samba/smb.conf
; /etc/smb.conf
;
; Make sure and restart the server after making changes to this file, ex:
; /etc/rc.d/init.d/smb stop
; /etc/rc.d/init.d/smb start
[global]
; Uncomment this if you want a guest account
; guest account = nobody
hosts allow = 192.168. 127.
security = user
encrypt passwords = yes
smb passwd file = /etc/samba/smbpasswd
log file = /var/log/samba-log.%m
lock directory = /var/lock/samba
share modes = yes
printing = cups
[homes]
comment = Home Directories
browseable = no
read only = no
create mode = 0750
[tmp]
comment = Temporary file space
path = /tmp
read only = no
public = yes
[printers]
comment = All Printers
path = /var/spool/samba
public = yes
guest ok = yes
printable = yes
use client driver = yes
browseable = yes
read only = no
***

Obviously, the template for this file was taken from cscgal's primer on samba, but I cannot seem to print properly.
The printer is an HP Photosmart 7260, and works perfectly from the RH box. I can browse it from the Win box, and even have it set up as a printer there. I DLed the drivers from HP, and can view the properties of the printer from the Windows control panel. All print jobs spool, but never make it to the printer.

Where can I begin troubleshooting this?

Thanks in advance.

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Dani AI

Generated

Quick diagnosis and a focused checklist based on 's symptoms: Windows can map the RH9 Samba share and the HP Photosmart is known-good from the server, but jobs spool on the client and never reach the device. That pattern usually means one of three things: Samba is not handing the job to the local print system, the server-side print filters/driver for the HP are missing or failing, or permissions/SELinux/firewall are blocking the handoff. was right to suspect drivers and firewall, but the most useful next step is to isolate whether the problem is Samba→CUPS (server-side) or CUPS→printer (local).

Minimal isolation steps (run on the RH9 server):

testparm -s
lpstat -t
echo "samba test" > /tmp/samba-test.txt
lp -d PRINTERNAME /tmp/samba-test.txt
tail -f /var/log/cups/error_log /var/log/samba/log.*
smbclient //localhost/PRINTER -U username -c "print /full/path/to/test.ps"

Interpretation pointers:

  • If the lp local print test prints OK, CUPS and the device are fine and the fault is in Samba’s handoff; raise Samba logging (temporary log level = 3) and watch the Samba logs while a Windows job is sent.
  • If the local lp fails, focus on CUPS drivers/filters (HP hplip/hpijs or equivalent) and on the CUPS error_log for filter failures.
  • If jobs arrive in CUPS but vanish, check /var/spool/samba ownership and mode (ensure the printing system and smbd can write to the spool); avoid blindly chmod 777—fix ownership/ACLs instead.
  • On RH9 check SELinux (sestatus / getenforce) and audit logs for AVC denials; SELinux often blocks cross-daemon access. Server-side firewalls are less likely if Samba file shares already work, but worth a quick test by temporarily disabling iptables for troubleshooting.

Note: ’s local-dual-drive idea is unrelated to network printing. Useful diagnostics to collect for deeper help: lpstat -t, recent lines from CUPS error_log, and the Samba log for the client machine.

Recommended Answers

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Member Avatar for Member #2466

Drivers perhaps? Also, don't forget to disable the firewall for your windows machine if you haven't done that.

for drivers.

Also, found a step by step for ya here

Member Avatar for WEATHER CHANNEL

You can accsess all of your windows files without SAMBA if you have 2 HDD's connected at once 1 as master 1 as slave dual of course.
Then again I might be on another plateau than you guys.

cheers

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