Information for Windows users

Printing from Windows 7

All publicly accessible printers within the department are networked via a Unix spooling system. The IP addresses of printers are regarded as private and should not be used from workstations to connect directly.

There are two ways of connecting to a printer. The first uses the Unix based LPD server directly and is recommended for all machines that are used on VLANs other than the one for centrally managed machines. So, for laptops connecting over the wireless network or any machines that are privately managed you should use this mechanism. The second route if only suitable for users of centrally managed machines.

Adding Printers to Managed Machines

All the printers are automatically added to managed machines via group policy. All you should need to do is to select your default printer and configure prefered options.

Manually adding additional printers

Run the add printer wizard, select 'A network printer' and click Next.

You will then be presented with a list of printers, choose "The printer I want is not listed" which is at the bottom of the window.

The next screen will present you with a dialogue box where you should fill in the name of the printer you wish to connect to in the form \\ts01.ad.cl.cam.ac.uk\name, where name is the printers name. For example to add cedar you would fill the screen in as follows:-

then click on Next to complete the installation of the printer. Because the actual spooling is done on the Windows server that is spooling the queue there is no need to configure the device driver or the printer options. You can however select and alter the Printing Preferences via the Properties menu which is obtained by right-clicking on the printer icon. You should do this to select duplex and other similar options.

Recommended method for laptop users

All printing requests should go via the LPD server which runs on lpr-serv.cl.cam.ac.uk. Before you access this you need to ensure that the Windows Feature LPR Port Monitor is enbled on your machine. To do this select Programs and Features from the Control Panel, then in the left pane of Programs and Features choose Turn Windows features on or off, in the Windows Features window expand Print and Document Services and check LPR Port Monitor. You can then add printers.

To configure printing via this for Windows 7 run the Add Printer Wizard. Run the add printer wizard, select 'Add a local printer' and click Next.

You should then choose "Create a new port" and select "LPR Port" as the type..

A new window will then open prompting you for the host on which the service runs and the name of the printer queue. Set the server name to lpr-serv.cl.cam.ac.uk and the queue to the printer name.

You will then see a box asking you to select a driver, you may need to download a driver for the printer you have chosen if it does not appear in the list.  All printers should be setup as PostScript printers.

After the installation is complete you should configure the printer via its properties, accessed via a right mouse click on the printer icon, to reflect the actual configuration with respect to trays, duplex feed etc. Details of printer configuration settings can be found on Printer configuration page.

The printing options should then also be set via the right mouse menu on the printer icon.