printing to a network printer from guest OS

DaveM · Post by **DaveM** » 29. Sep 2008, 22:45

Hello,

I am having problems getting my guest OS printing to my network printer. Here is a layout of the environment that I am working with.

Host OS- Ubunutu 7.10
Guest OS-Windows XP Pro

machine specs:

AMD 2100+
3 GB Kingston RAM
Nvidia 7900 GT
Abit KN8-SLI motherboard
Sony-NEC DVD +/- RW
BenQ DVD-ROM.

Printer Machine specs:

AMD Athlon 1800
2 GB RAM
Windows XP Pro OS
Printer: Brother HL-2040 connected via USB.

The problem that I am having is printing from my guest OS. I can print just fine from the host OS. I have tried several solutions. I am just wondering if any else had or has had this issue.

Post by **Sasquatch** » 29. Sep 2008, 22:57

If you share the printer on the network, it should be no problem to be able to print to it. What do you get for errors?

DaveM · Post by **DaveM** » 29. Sep 2008, 23:00

Hi,

The printer is shared on the network. I think the issue might be the guest OS has an IP of 10.0.1.2, and my printing machine has an IP of 192.168.1.4. the error message that I get when I enter the IP in the Windows Printer set up wizard is that the server can't be found, or the printer was disconnected from the server. Basically, Windows is saying it can't find the 192.168.1.4 ip. I have even tried to ping the 192 address and no replies.

Post by **Sasquatch** » 29. Sep 2008, 23:08

When you use NAT, you can't ping. It just won't reply. Your Guest should have the IP 10.0.2.15 when set up with NAT. It's strange that you can't connect to it, as I had not problems connecting to a completely different IP for my network printers. Now they were real network printers, having their own printserver onboard. But that should not matter. If you connect your machines through a cable, you can try Host Interface and bridge the virtual interface with your physical one as described in the manual.

DaveM · Post by **DaveM** » 29. Sep 2008, 23:12

I am sorry. My machines NAT address is 10.0.2.15. The 10.0.1.2 is from the second network interface I have enabled. I can connect to a true standalone printer (which has a 192 IP addy), but I'm not able to connect to the Windows machine that is sharing it's usb printer. All of my machines (8 of them) run to a 24 port switch.

Post by **Sasquatch** » 30. Sep 2008, 00:05

Then try Host Interfaces as described in the Manual. The Guest should get an IP from the DHCP server if you have that, else a static IP is needed.

DaveM · Post by **DaveM** » 30. Sep 2008, 17:25

Hi Sasquatch,

I found a solution to this issue. What I did was start up my virtual machine and then clicked on Start>Run. Then I typed in the address of the server (\\192.168.1.4\), then I right clicked on the printer that I wanted to install on my virtual machine and left clicked on "connect". That fixed it. The virtual machine installed the brother drivers, and now im printing again. Thank you for your help Sasquatch.