Sharing a printer on a pc with a Mac lap top
12 February 2008, 09:12 PM
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Sharing a printer on a pc with a Mac lap top
One of the kids has a MacBook. I have no idea as to how theses things work and until now I haven't even used one. She wants to be able to print from it, but does not want to plug it into the printer I have connected to the main PC in the house. I have another laptop which runs XP (as does the main computer), everything is wireless and runs smoothly. I can file and print share between the 2 windows machines but for some reason the MacBook won't play ball. Can someone please explain in laymans terms what it is I need to do? I only require it to access the printer, but if it can access the shared folders on the home network then that would be a bonus.
13 February 2008, 01:55 AM
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Have a read of this site. It details how to print from Mac OS X to a printer hosted on an XP computer. It also details how to access shared files from the XP computers.
13 February 2008, 03:39 PM
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Have a read of this site. It details how to print from Mac OS X to a printer hosted on an XP computer. It also details how to access shared files from the XP computers.
Will her MacBook be running 10.4.x It's brand new so I presume it will have whatever is the latest OS on it?
13 February 2008, 04:47 PM
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If it's brand new then it'll probably be 10.5.x (Leopard). Easy way to tell, go to the Apple menu, select "About This Mac" and it'll display an info window, which lists the version of the OS running.
13 February 2008, 08:55 PM
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It is 10.5.
I've tried for ages to get it to connect to the printer. Whatever I do it just doesn't see it. Do the Macs have firewall on them?
When I google "printer sharing Mac" it comes up with older OS versions.
I've tried for ages to get it to connect to the printer. Whatever I do it just doesn't see it. Do the Macs have firewall on them?
When I google "printer sharing Mac" it comes up with older OS versions.
13 February 2008, 09:10 PM
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Macs do have a firewall, and 10.5 may well have it turned on by default. Open up System Preferences, then click on the Security preference pane, then click Firewall. See if it's set to "Allow all incoming connections". If not, try enabling that an see what happens.
Did you try the 10.4 links in that site I gave? I've not tried it myself so can't say if it does/does not work.
Did you try the 10.4 links in that site I gave? I've not tried it myself so can't say if it does/does not work.
13 February 2008, 09:47 PM
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Also try searching at macosxhints.com - OS X tips and tricks!
I found several useful tips there when setting up my apple/Windows printer shares.
I found several useful tips there when setting up my apple/Windows printer shares.
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14 February 2008, 02:34 PM
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Markus and LanCat.... I thank you both for your help on this. I've got into the firewall settings page and as far as I can tell it is allowing incoming connections. I also had another good look online about possible problems with the print sharing, and there do seem to be issues with 10.5 and printer sharing, so it may be a question of waiting for updates?.
I looked on the link you gave LanCat and there is one thing on there I will try (unchecking the print share box on the Mac).
Cheers.
One other thing..... The printer model is not listed in the drop down menu on the MacBook. Would I need to select Generic printer, or the closest match to the model of printer?
I looked on the link you gave LanCat and there is one thing on there I will try (unchecking the print share box on the Mac).
Cheers.
One other thing..... The printer model is not listed in the drop down menu on the MacBook. Would I need to select Generic printer, or the closest match to the model of printer?
Last edited by FX02; 14 February 2008 at 02:37 PM.
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