virtualbox.org

Folks,

Other postings have described how host printers can be accessed as network printers in a guest Windows operating system. In my case, for example, I gave a URL of http://10.0.2.2:631/printers/iP4000 for my Canon iP4000 printer on the host. This printer - and others - is connected via a wireless print server, and the Print Dialog box is VERY slow coming up. In addition, printing is "erratic" to say the least. (I don't know if this slow response is related to the print server, but I suspect other configurations may have similar problems...)

In any case, I've found that the following approach seems (in my case, anyway) to speed up printing enormously:

• Add all your printers as NETWORK printers as mentioned above. These printers will later be deleted. (For reasons unknown, I could NOT directly set up my printers as "local" printers - it was first necessary to establish the proper ports via the network printer option!)
• Double click on "Add Printer"
• Select "Local printer" (Uncheck the "Automatically detect and install my Plug and Play printer" box)
• Click on Next
• Under "Select the Printer Port" select the appropriate port that should have been set up when the NETWORK printer installation was performed.
• Click on OK
• Click on Next
• Continue with the printer installation in the normal way. If asked, select the appropriate Windows driver for the printer. (This driver should already have been installed when the NETWORK printer installation was performed, so select "use existing driver" when asked.)
• I'd suggest NOT printing a test page until the printer has been completely installed.

You can now right-click on each of the newly-added printers (be sure to choose the new definitions, NOT the original network versions that include the URL as part of their name), select "Properties", and print a test page. Assuming all is well, delete the old NETWORK versions of each printer definition.

Hope this helps at least a few people,

Wayne