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VB 3.2.8 on mac os 10.6.4 running winxp sp 2 guest

I have 2 laser printers connected via ethernet to my router. The Brother printer had mac drivers, for the KM Magicolor2300DL I used the 2400 driver since my model didn't have mac drivers. Both are bonjour capable and I can print to both from the mac. I haven't been successful printing from windows in the VM. I tried leaving VB's network setting to NAT and installing as a local printer per one post using the ip port option. I've installed the magicolor2300's drivers in winxp on the VM and tried installing via the local printer > crownprnt option. I tried installing as a network printer using nat and http://10.0.2.2:631/printers/printer_name per another post. I changed VB's network setting to Host-only adapter per another post and tried installing as a local printer using the 192.168.1.x ip address of the printer. Sometimes the printer "installs" into printers & faxes, but the test page doesn't print.

Is there a logical way to go about this?

Switch to using bridged adapter instead of NAT, or host-only.

Bridged adapter didn't work either. I tried to connect using the Local Printer > Create a Port option which is how I connected to the printer w/ my pc's. The new mac that is hosting my winxp vm pretty much connected to the printer by itself, so I'm not sure how that worked. Going thru the add printer wizard and choosing the crown port option under Create a Port and then choosing automatic selection the magicolor2300 was "found" and appears to be installed. It did that w/ NAT too. The print queue box said the test print page was printing and the printer itself said it was "processing" but it went back to idle w/out printing.

I had a hard time reading the part of the manual on networking. It sounds like w/ NAT it's like the guest os is behind a router w/ its own local ip address range. I would think you would need to use something like ipp to print on a networked printer. I'm guessing in one post that's why Network printer is chosen in the add printer wizard and you use "http://10.0.2.2:631/printers/Photosmart_2570" as the url for the "Connect to a printer on the Internet or on a home or office network" option. Again I'm guessing that the guest os's default gateway 10.0.2.2 directs to the router's default gateway via VB's network engine [I would have thought you would use 192.168.1.x] and the :631/printers is per some protocol like ipp. I don't know how you determine the printer's name, tho. I tried the name listed in the router's webpage and that didn't work.

With the bridged adapter I think virtual box is using the host's physical network card - ethernet or wireless - to create a 2nd virtual ethernet card that the router recognizes. I guess it presents its own mac address somehow. My VM was assigned an ip address in my router's range when I changed to bridged adapter. So it seems like I should be able to connect to the printer and it looks like I've installed the printer but it doesn't print.

To confuse me further I can ping to the printer with networking set to either NAT or bridged adapter.

For proper network communication you will need to be in Bridged mode as the others will not be in the same network scheme. NAT is also non-route-able so that creates and issue all its own. If you are still having problems in bridged mode I would look at firewall issues or virus software that limits the network connections.

Thanks Perryg,

Success!
I re-ran the printer installation cd after changing to bridged adapter and it printed the test page and then a word doc. I also got the brother printer to print.