Let say you have a single USB printer that’s attached or connected to your Windows 8 machine and you’ve just started using Ubuntu 13.04 Raring Ringtail. In order to print to that Windows’ printer from Ubuntu, you’ll have to some setup and that’s what this tutorial is going to show you.
This step by step guide will show you how to share your Windows’ printer so that the Ubuntu machine is able to printer to it. When you enable file and printer sharing in Windows, users that are connected to the same network within the same domain or workgroup can access shares and resources over the network. Whether it’s Ubuntu or Mac OS X, you should be able to access Windows resources.
One reason you’ll want to use a Windows’ printer is that not all printers support Linux systems, including Ubuntu. So if you only have one printer that only support Windows, you’ll need to share it with your other non supported systems.
The first thing you’ll need to do to get this working is to first share the printer. To share printers in Windows 8, press the Windows Key + X on your keyboard to show Windows 8 Tool Menu. When it opens, select ‘Control Panel’
Next, go to Hardware and Sound group –> Devices and Printers. When it opens, right-click on the printer you want to share and select ‘Properties’
Next, select the Sharing tab and check the sharing box to enable sharing. Also, please make sure to provide a simple sharing name. It can be like the one shown below without spaces. When you’re done, click OK to save it.
Next, press the Windows Key + X again to show the tool menu. When it opens, select Command Prompt, then run the commands below to enable file sharing and printing.
netsh advfirewall firewall set rule group="File and Printer Sharing" new enable=Yes
After that, logon to your Ubuntu machine and select ‘System Settings –> Printers’
When it opens, click Add to add printers.
Next, scroll down and select ‘Windows Printer via SAMBA’
In the printer location box, please make sure to type the computer name or IP address follow by the printer shared name. eg.
Computer_Name/Printer_Shared_Name
Then under authentication, set your username and password you use to logon to the Windows machine into the box and continue.
Next, select the brand name and continue.
Choose the the model and drivers. If you don’t see particular printer in the list, choose the one that is closest to your printer and select the recommended driver.
That’s it! Hope it helps.
If the above steps don’t get you printing from Ubuntu, make sure the Windows Machine and Ubuntu machine are in the same workgroup. Also try the IP address of the computer instead of its name. Restart both machine and try again. If that still didn’t help, set the permission on the printer so that everyone is able to print to it.
Enjoy!
