Windows XP Print Server

[ov10fac]

Ok,

Here's the situation. I have a Windows XP machine who's only job is to act as a print server for one large format printer (XEROX). Xerox doesn't support Linux drivers. I have a Linux server running and want to install VirtualBox with XP as the Guest system.

So far no problems. Now how do I configure the XP guest to act as a print server?

The answer is probably somewhere, but I haven't found it yet.

Many thanks for anyone who can help.

John Wright

[vbox4me2]

Install print services for unix, activate a share on the printer and use lpr on the Guests.

[ov10fac]

Oops.

Forgot to mention, the Linux box is running as a Samba file server for the business. All other hosts are Windows XP, so I really don't need any Unix print services, just windows.

Thanks.

[stefan.becker]

Does the printer speak PCL oder PS?

If yes, install generic Drivers (for example HP Laserjet=PCL, Apple Laserwriter=PS).

[ov10fac]

Many thanks to everyone. I have managed to accomplish a couple of things.

1. Loaded the drivers into the xp guest on my linux (CentOS) server
2. Set the guest up to use bridged network device rather than a NAT
3. Start the system as using vboxheadless.
4. Connect to the xp system using XP remotedesktop.

So far so good. However, now I cannot find the new xp guest on my network. I assigned an address of 192.168.0.253 to the XP guest from within XP. The Centos server uses 192.168.0.250 as its IP address.

When we try to use the new Virtual XP as a printserver, we can't actually find it on the network.

Any help will be greatly appreciated.

[ov10fac]

Well, I never did get this working, and the company I was working with went Bankrupt. However, I think the key to this was to bridge the VM and provide unique IP addresses. I didn't think of doing that at the time, but I have done similar things since than with great success.