virtualbox.org

I have a Windows XP SP3 guest running on VirtualBox 3.0.2 on an Ubuntu 9.04 host. This setup is the result of a messed up native windows installation that was the final drop in my cup... What an awesome product, VirtualBox is.

Anyway, I use an HP LaserJet P1005 USB printer directly plugged into my computer. This thing has a driver with a nice functionality: print on both sides "manually". This means it will first print all even-numbered pages upside-down, then will pop-up a screen saying to feed the just-printed pages into the printer, then print all the odd-numbered pages. The end result is a document correctly printed on both sides of the paper with very minor effort.

Now, I made the printer visible to my XP virtual machine and installed the HP driver. It all worked fine and I can configure the printer just as I did under native Windows. But when I print a two pages document, what happens is this:

1. Page #2 is printed upside-down (proper behavior).
2. A window pops up saying I have to feed this paper sheet back into the printer. It waits for me to press an Ok button (proper behavior).
3. I feed the sheet and press Ok, but nothing happens. Page #1 is never printed and the job disappears from the printer queue, as if it had completed correctly.

Can anybody provide any hints? Thanks in advance and best regards.

I have done some additional testing, with the "printing on both sides" feature disabled. If I print a one page document on this printer, the queue window shows the following:

1. A new job that appears. It says it is a one page job (which is correct).
2. The title switches right away to "HP LaserJet P1005 - Printing".
3. The one page prints.
4. The job disappears from the list.
5. The title switches back to "HP LaserJet P1005" for about a tenth of a second, and then again to "HP LaserJet P1005 - Printing". There is no job appearing on the list.
6. The printer hangs for about one minute.
7. The printer comes back to life and the queue window appears fully empty (which is correct). In other words, it "thinks" it has finished printed this second, ghost page.

I have no idea whether this behavior is triggered by a buggy printer driver or by VirtualBox. Needless to say, the printer works fine under native Windows XP.

Thanks in advance and best regards.