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Connecting to a Windows print server from a Mac

Hey,

We are trying to connect a bunch of macs to our windows print server. We are using AD in our environment and we want the users to have to authenticate with the print server because we have a program in place to track printing by user.

The problem we're having is that if someone screws up on entering their username or password the job is added to the macs local queue and the queue is paused. We want to allow users to delete jobs and un-pause the queue but we don't want to give them any more control over printers than that. Any suggestions?

Another issue is that when the user is prompted for their password their full name is listed as the username because their username is being used as their shortname. Is there a way to make the macs use the shortname by default or to make the AD username be used for both Mac login names?
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Kash
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if you want more control over your macs while having them BIND to AD then you will have to use specialized software for that. First step, you will have to have an OD which will control and limit the amount of access you want to delegate to the MACS. With AD, you can just do a little bit to Macs.

if its merely a printing issue and you don't really want to get into hassle of AD OD integration then you will have to train users and be patient with them I am afraid.
You are already bound to the AD correct? If yes open system preferences on the problem macs; locate the print & fax module and start it up.
Unlock the print & fax module if it is locked.
Click the + to add a new printer
By default the "Add Printer" window will have four icons (DEFAULT, FAX, IP and WINDOWS) control click any of the icons and select "Customize Toolbar" a new window will appear. Locate the "ADVANCED" button and drag it to the "ADD PRINTER" toolbar.

Click "ADVANCED"
Select "WINDOWS" from the TYPE drop-down list
In the URL text box enter: SMB://<username>:<password>@FQDN/HOSTNAME/PRINTERSHARE

Example: SMB://gemarti:nonyabusiness@experts-exchange/printserver/myprinter

Enter the name and location
Select a printer driver
Click Add

This should direct all print jobs away from the local queue and send them to the print server instead.

 


 
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Gemarti:    Yes the macs are currently bound to AD. I had seen this solution before elsewhere and the reason we don't want to use it is that we are using p-counter to limit the amount of printing each person is allowed to do. This will only work however, if we have the end user pass their credentials when they print. So if we set up the printer with a preset username and password they will never be charged for their printing.

innocentdevil:    Thanks for the advice, the problem is that we don't have anyone who is really trained in configuring a Mac server or OD. I've gotten a mac inaging / netboot server set up but that is all I've done and I'm the most Mac savvy person here. Any tips as to where I can find a good guide to integrating an OD server into our AD domain?
In the printer setup on the macs do you have the printer queue pointing to the default queue or the print server's queue?

Here's how we set up the printers:

- system preferences > print & fax
- go to the windows tab
- select out AD domain
- select the print server and authenticate
- select the printer
- select generic PS driver since our print server has all the needed drivers


When you print to the printer, it asks for your username and password and if it is entered correctly. The problem is that when someone enters an incorrect username or password.

In that case, the print job gets put into the local queue and pauses there until the job is deleted or correct credentials are passed. The problem is that the average user here does not have permissions to delete jobs, so if one person tries to print and fails, then they log off and another person uses that computer. The new user won't be able to print because they can't delete the job in the local queue and they don't want to be charged for some one else's printing.
can the users run the terminal command "cancel -a" or are they prompted for a admin password? If they can run this command you could easily create a shell script for them to run when this problem arises.

it requires lpadmin rights
Mac OS X v10.5.7, 10.5.8: Prompted for lpadmin group user name and password when adjusting printer settings

http://support.apple.com/kb/TS2754
We have discussed adding users to the lpadmin group but it was decided that we didn't want them to be able to change printer settings.
http://www.bombich.com/mactips/activedir.html


you can read above PDF for AD OD integration mate.
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