!@#$%^*() Windows XP Printing

[mdlbear]

Stupid goddamn WinXP apparently doesn't know how to route LPR requests between subnets. Stupid goddamn WinXP stupid firewall apparently doesn't allow port exceptions for the same port on multiple machines. Stupid goddamn WinXP...

For the record, here's how you connect to a CUPS/IPP printer on a Linux box:

1. Set up the firewall to allow a connection to port 631 on the machine you want to print on.
2. Add a printer, telling the stupid wizard that you want a network connection. DO NOT browse for the printer, specify the HTTP address (third radio button down)
3. Specify, e.g., <http://nova.thestarport.org:631/printers/lp> as the URL.

Comments

[sbisson.livejournal.com]

You might be better adding it as a raw network printer, creating a TCP/IP virtual printer port.

[mdlbear]

Tried specifying the lpr protocol for a TCP/IP port; it didn't work. (Works fine on Linux, of course. Sometimes I've had it work with the print server on the same subnet as the PC, and works OK in Win98.) Not clear whether raw would work; not really likely, since it isn't a "network printer" but a named queue on a Linux box.

In any case, IPP over HTTP worked once I figured out which port to open on the firewall, and what URI to use. But it's taken me months to get this even approximately right, so I'm not going to mess with it until it stops working again (I assume it will, eventually).

[mithriltabby]

Do you need a copy of the source to all my Microsoft Windows Hatred Status indicators? (The top and bottom levels haven’t shown up in my LJ yet...)

[mdlbear]

Sounds distinctly useful...