virtualbox.org

Hi All,

I installed virtualbox 3.0.4 over the weekend, with
guest OS'es ubuntu 9.0 and opensolaris 2009.09.

I was able to print docs (pdf, browser) last friday.

however, i can't print from my host XP OS today (monday).

i have tried quitting VB, and i still cannot print.

In Adobe, it said "the document could not be printed",
"no pages were selected".

when i try to view available printers from the control
panel, the status for both the connected printers shows:
"cannot connect to printer"..

when i try to open the properties for the printers, it
complained that the print spooler is not runnning,
although Services showed that they had been started.

restarting the service did not help either ...

how can i get XP to be able to print again (before
i tackle the problem of getting printing done from
the guest OS'es.

Thanks very much in advance ...
sam

Is the printer connected via USB?
Try rebooting the host (power cycle) and before you open a guest see if the printer works.
Then open a guest and see if the host printing stops. If so you have defined a filter for your printer in the USB section of the guest.
When the guest opens it will take the port away from the host, meaning the host can not use it as long as the guest is running.
A better way to do this is to use network printer sharing and map it in the guest as a network printer. That way the printer will be available to both, if your configuration will support this.

Hi Perry,

thanks for your reply.

the network is connected to the network...

i've tried rebooting the XP system, and printing before
starting virtualbox or running any of the guest OSes.

still it is not printing ...

after i installed virtual box on friday (last), i remember
i started it, without installing any of the OS. I was still
able to print then.

after installing linux/opensolaris over the weekend, and
running linux in VB on monday when i got back into the
office (to see if i have network connectivity), i noticed
that XP cannot print anymore ...

is there any where i can look for more info on the problem?
better yet, is there a canned solution available ?

Thanks again!
sam

So this is a network printer then. You need to look and make sure that you are actually on the local network still. You can use ipconfig /all to see all of the net devices and their address. Then you need to compare and try to ping a known good address on the network. If it returns with an answer then you need to look from within to see that you still have the right configuration on the printer.

One last thing that you may need to do is to re-install the VBox program as admin and select repair. Sometimes the install goes wrong in Windows when you do not install as admin. You do this by right clicking the install program and then left click on run as admin.

Thanks again, Perry.

i was going to do the checks you suggested, when i noticed
that the one of the printer is back.

i'll start virtualbox later in the week, to see if its a problem
with the office network, or if its virtualbox intervening
(as there are some pressing tasks, where having printing
access is needed).

i'll update this thread with my finding later...

thanks again,
sam

Hi Perry,

Sorry for the late update ...

just managed to use virtualbox again, it is printing okay
now ... didn't have to make any changes.

looks like a problem with my environment ..

Thanks,
sam