Chapter 18. Classical Printing Support
Prev | Part III. Advanced Configuration | Next

## Chapter 18. Classical Printing Support

### Kurt Pfeifle

Danka Deutschland GmbH

`<kpfeifle@danka.de>`

### Gerald (Jerry) Carter

Samba Team

`<jerry@samba.org>`

May 31, 2003

## Features and Benefits

Printing is often a mission-critical service for the users. Samba can provide this service reliably and seamlessly for a client network consisting of Windows workstations.

A Samba print service may be run on a Standalone or a Domain member server, side by side with file serving functions, or on a dedicated print server. It can be made as tight or as loosely secured as needs dictate. Configurations may be simple or complex. Available authentication schemes are essentially the same as described for file services in previous chapters. Overall, Samba's printing support is now able to replace an NT or Windows 2000 print server full-square, with additional benefits in many cases. Clients may download and install drivers and printers through their familiar "Point'n'Print" mechanism. Printer installations executed by "Logon Scripts" are no problem. Administrators can upload and manage drivers to be used by clients through the familiar "Add Printer Wizard". As an additional benefit, driver and printer management may be run from the command line or through scripts, making it more efficient in case of large numbers of printers. If a central accounting of print jobs (tracking every single page and supplying the raw data for all sorts of statistical reports) is required, this is best supported by CUPS as the print subsystem underneath the Samba hood.

This chapter deals with the foundations of Samba printing, as they implemented by the more traditional UNIX (BSD- and System V-style) printing systems. Many things apply to CUPS, the newer Common UNIX Printing System, too; so if you use CUPS, you might be tempted to jump to the next chapter -- but you will certainly miss a few things if you do so. Better to read this chapter too.

### Note

Most of the given examples have been verified on Windows XP Professional clients. Where this document describes the responses to commands given, bear in mind that Windows 2000 clients are very similar, but may differ in details. Windows NT is somewhat different again.

## Technical Introduction

Samba's printing support always relies on the installed print subsystem of the UNIX OS it runs on. Samba is a "middleman". It takes printfiles from Windows (or other SMB) clients and passes them to the real printing system for further processing. Therefore it needs to "talk" to two sides: to the Windows print clients and to the UNIX printing system. Hence we must differentiate between the various client OS types each of which behave differently, as well as the various UNIX print subsystems, which themselves have different features and are accessed differently. This part of the Samba HOWTO Collection deals with the "traditional" way of UNIX printing first; the next chapter covers in great detail the more modern Common UNIX Printing System (CUPS).

### Important

CUPS users, be warned: don't just jump on to the next chapter. You might miss important information contained only here!

### What happens if you send a Job from a Client

To successfully print a job from a Windows client via a Samba print server to a UNIX printer, there are 6 (potentially 7) stages:

1. Windows opens a connection to the printer share

2. Samba must authenticate the user

3. Windows sends a copy of the printfile over the network into Samba's spooling area

4. Windows closes the connection again

5. Samba invokes the print command to hand the file over to the UNIX print subsystem's spooling area

6. The UNIX print subsystem processes the print job

7. The printfile may need to be explicitly deleted from the Samba spooling area.

### Printing Related Configuration Parameters

There are a number of configuration parameters in controlling Samba's printing behaviour. Please also refer to the man page for smb.conf to acquire an overview about these. As with other parameters, there are Global Level (tagged with a "G" in the listings) and Service Level ("S") parameters.

Service Level Parameters

  These may go into the `[global]` section of `smb.conf`. In this case they define the default behaviour of all individual or service level shares (provided those don't have a different setting defined for the same parameter, thus overriding the global default).

Global Parameters

  These may not go into individual shares. If they go in by error, the "testparm" utility can discover this (if you run it) and tell you so.

### Parameters Recommended for Use

The following `smb.conf` parameters directly related to printing are used in Samba. See also the `smb.conf` man page for detailed explanations:

Global level parameters: `addprinter command`, `deleteprinter command`, `disable spoolss`, `enumports command`, `load printers`, `lpq cache time`, `os2 driver map`, `printcap name`, `printcap`, `show add printer wizard`, `total print jobs`, `use client driver`.

Service level parameters: `hosts allow`, `hosts deny`, `lppause command`, `lpq command`, `lpresume command`, `lprm command`, `max print jobs`, `min print space`, `print command`, `printable`, `print ok` , `printer name`, `printer`, `printer admin`, `printing` = [cups|bsd|lprng...], `queuepause command`, `queueresume command`, `total print jobs`.

Samba's printing support implements the Microsoft Remote Procedure Calls (MS-RPC) methods for printing. These are used by Windows NT (and later) print servers. The old "LanMan" protocol is still supported as a fallback resort, and for older clients to use. More details will follow further beneath.

## A simple Configuration to Print

Here is a very simple example configuration for print related settings in the file. If you compare it with your own system's , you probably find some additional parameters included there (as pre-configured by your OS vendor). Further below is a discussion and explanation of the parameters. Note, that this example doesn't use many parameters. However, in many environments these are enough to provide a valid `smb.conf` file which enables all clients to print.

Example 18.1. Simple configuration with BSD printing

`[global]`
`printing = bsd`
`load printers = yes`
`[printers]`
`path = /var/spool/samba`
`printable = yes`
`public = yes`
`writable = no`

This is only an example configuration. Samba assigns default values to all configuration parameters. On the whole the defaults are conservative and sensible. When a parameter is specified in the `smb.conf` file this overwrites the default value. The testparm utility when run as root is capable of reporting all setting, both default as well as `smb.conf` file settings. Testparm gives warnings for all mis-configured settings. The complete output is easily 340 lines and more, so you may want to pipe it through a pager program.

The syntax for the configuration file is easy to grasp. You should know that is not very picky about its syntax. It has been explained elsewhere in this document. A short reminder: It even tolerates some spelling errors (like "browsable" instead of "browseable"). Most spelling is case-insensitive. Also, you can use "Yes|No" or "True|False" for boolean settings. Lists of names may be separated by commas, spaces or tabs.

### Verification of "Settings in Use" with testparm

To see all (or at least most) printing related settings in Samba, including the implicitly used ones, try the command outlined below (hit "ENTER" twice!). It greps for all occurrences of "lp", "print", "spool", "driver", "ports" and "[" in testparm's output and gives you a nice overview about the running smbd's print configuration. (Note that this command does not show individually created printer shares, or the spooling paths in each case). Here is the output of my Samba setup, with exactly the same settings in as shown above:

    root# testparm -v | egrep "(lp|print|spool|driver|ports|\[)"
     Load smb config files from /etc/samba/smb.conf.simpleprinting
     Processing section "[homes]"
     Processing section "[printers]"

     [global]
            smb ports = 445 139
            lpq cache time = 10
            total print jobs = 0
            load printers = Yes
            printcap name = /etc/printcap
            disable spoolss = No
            enumports command =
            addprinter command =
            deleteprinter command =
            show add printer wizard = Yes
            os2 driver map =
            printer admin =
            min print space = 0
            max print jobs = 1000
            printable = No
            printing = bsd
            print command = lpr -r -P'%p' %s
            lpq command = lpq -P'%p'
            lprm command = lprm -P'%p' %j
            lppause command =
            lpresume command =
            printer name =
            use client driver = No

     [homes]

     [printers]
            path = /var/spool/samba
            printable = Yes

You can easily verify which settings were implicitly added by Samba's default behaviour. Don't forget about this point: it may be important in your future dealings with Samba.

### Note

testparm in samba 3 behaves differently from 2.2.x: used without the "-v" switch it only shows you the settings actually written into ! To see the complete configuration used, add the "-v" parameter to testparm.

### A little Experiment to warn you

Should you need to troubleshoot at any stage, please always come back to this point first and verify if "testparm" shows the parameters you expect! To give you an example from personal experience as a warning, try to just "comment out" the `load printers`" parameter. If your 2.2.x system behaves like mine, you'll see this:

    root# grep "load printers" /etc/samba/smb.conf
     #      load printers = Yes
     # This setting is commented ooouuuuut!!

    root# testparm -v /etc/samba/smb.conf | egrep "(load printers)"
            load printers = Yes

Despite my imagination that the commenting out of this setting should prevent Samba from publishing my printers, it still did! Oh Boy -- it cost me quite some time to find out the reason. But I am not fooled any more... at least not by this ;-)

    root# grep -A1 "load printers" /etc/samba/smb.conf
            load printers = No
            # This setting is what I mean!!
     #      load printers = Yes
            # This setting is commented ooouuuuut!!

    root# testparm -v smb.conf.simpleprinting | egrep "(load printers)"
            load printers = No

Only when setting the parameter explicitly to "`load printers` = No" would Samba recognize my intentions. So my strong advice is:

- Never rely on "commented out" parameters!

- Always set it up explicitly as you intend it to behave.

- Use testparm to uncover hidden settings which might not reflect your intentions.

You can have a working Samba print configuration with this minimal :

    root# cat /etc/samba/smb.conf-minimal
            [printers]

This example should show you that you can use testparm to test any filename for fitness as a Samba configuration. Actually, we want to encourage you not to change your on a working system (unless you know exactly what you are doing)! Don't rely on an assumption that changes will only take effect after you re-start smbd! This is not the case. Samba re-reads its every 60 seconds and on each new client connection. You might have to face changes for your production clients that you didn't intend to apply at this time! You will now note a few more interesting things. Let's now ask testparm what the Samba print configuration would be, if you used this minimalistic file as your real :

    root# testparm -v smb.conf-minimal | egrep "(print|lpq|spool|driver|ports|[)"
     Processing section "[printers]"
     WARNING: [printers] service MUST be printable!
     No path in service printers - using /tmp

            lpq cache time = 10
            total print jobs = 0
            load printers = Yes
            printcap name = /etc/printcap
            disable spoolss = No
            enumports command =
            addprinter command =
            deleteprinter command =
            show add printer wizard = Yes
            os2 driver map =
            printer admin =
            min print space = 0
            max print jobs = 1000
            printable = No
            printing = bsd
            print command = lpr -r -P%p %s
            lpq command = lpq -P%p
            printer name =
            use client driver = No
     [printers]
            printable = Yes

testparm issued 2 warnings:

- because we didn't specify the `[printers]` section as printable, and

- because we didn't tell it which spool directory to use.

However, this was not fatal, and samba will default to values that will work here. Please, don't rely on this and don't use this example! This was only meant to make you careful to design and specify your setup to be what you really want it to be. The outcome on your system may vary for some parameters, since you may have a Samba built with a different compile-time configuration. Warning: don't put a comment sign at the end of a valid line. It will cause the parameter to be ignored (just as if you had put the comment sign at the front). At first I regarded this as a bug in my Samba version(s). But the man page states: “Internal whitespace in a parameter value is retained verbatim.” This means that a line consisting of, for example,

# This defines LPRng as the printing system"
`printing = lprng`

will regard the whole of the string after the "=" sign as the value you want to define. And this is an invalid value that will be ignored, and a default value used instead.]

## Extended Sample Configuration to Print

In the extended BSD configuration example we show a more verbose example configuration for print related settings in BSD-printing style environment . Below is a discussion and explanation of the various parameters. We chose to use BSD-style printing here, because we guess it is still the most commonly used system on legacy Linux installations (new installs now predominantly have CUPS, which is discussed entirely in the next chapter of this document). Note, that this example explicitly names many parameters which don't need to be specified because they are set by default. You might be able to do with a leaner `smb.conf` file.

Example 18.2. Extended configuration with BSD printing

`[global]`
`printing = bsd`
`load printers = yes`
`show add printer wizard = yes`
`printcap name = /etc/printcap`
`printer admin = @ntadmin, root`
`total print jobs = 100`
`lpq cache time = 20`
`use client driver = no`
`[printers]`
`comment = All Printers`
`printable = yes`
`path = /var/spool/samba`
`browseable = no`
`guest ok = yes`
`public = yes`
`read only = yes`
`writable = no`
`[my_printer_name]`
`comment = Printer with Restricted Access`
`path = /var/spool/samba_my_printer`
`printer admin = kurt`
`browseable = yes`
`printable = yes`
`writeable = no`
`hosts allow = 0.0.0.0`
`hosts deny = turbo_xp, 10.160.50.23, 10.160.51.60`
`guest ok = no`

This also is only an example configuration. You may not find all the settings in your own (as pre-configured by your OS vendor). Many configuration parameters, if not explicitly set to a specific value, are used and set by Samba implicitly to its own default, because these have been compiled in. To see all settings, let root use the testparm utility. testparm also gives warnings if you have mis-configured certain things..

## Detailed Explanation of the Example's Settings

Following is a discussion of the settings from above shown example.

### The [global] Section

The `[global]` section is one of 4 special sections (along with [`[homes]`, `[printers]` and `[print$]`...) It contains all parameters which apply to the server as a whole. It is the place for parameters which have only a "global" meaning. It may also contain service level parameters which then define default settings for all other sections and shares. This way you can simplify the configuration and avoid setting the same value repeatedly. (Within each individual section or share you may however override these globally set "share level" settings and specify other values).

`printing` = bsd

  this causes Samba to use default print commands applicable for the BSD (a.k.a. RFC 1179 style or LPR/LPD) printing system. In general, the "printing" parameter informs Samba about the print subsystem it should expect. Samba supports CUPS, LPD, LPRNG, SYSV, HPUX, AIX, QNX and PLP. Each of these systems defaults to a different `print command` (and other queue control commands).

  ### Caution

  The `printing` parameter is normally a service level parameter. Since it is included here in the `[global]` section, it will take effect for all printer shares that are not defined differently. Samba 3 no longer supports the SOFTQ printing system.

`load printers` = yes

  this tells Samba to create automatically all available printer shares. "Available" printer shares are discovered by scanning the printcap file. All created printer shares are also loaded for browsing. If you use this parameter, you do not need to specify separate shares for each printer. Each automatically created printer share will clone the configuration options found in the `[printers]` section. (A `load printers = no` setting will allow you to specify each UNIX printer you want to share separately, leaving out some you don't want to be publicly visible and available).

`show add printer wizard` = yes

  this setting is normally enabled by default (even if the parameter is not written into the ). It makes the Add Printer Wizard icon show up in the Printers folder of the Samba host's share listing (as shown in Network Neighbourhood or by the net view command). To disable it, you need to explicitly set it to `no` (commenting it out will not suffice!). The Add Printer Wizard lets you upload printer drivers to the `[print$]` share and associate it with a printer (if the respective queue exists there before the action), or exchange a printer's driver against any other previously uploaded driver.

`total print jobs` = 100

  this setting sets the upper limit to 100 print jobs being active on the Samba server at any one time. Should a client submit a job which exceeds this number, a “no more space available on server” type of error message will be returned by Samba to the client. A setting of "0" (the default) means there is no limit at all!

`printcap name` = /etc/printcap

  this tells Samba where to look for a list of available printer names. (If you use CUPS, make sure that a printcap file is written: this is controlled by the "Printcap" directive of `cupsd.conf`).

`printer admin` = @ntadmin

  members of the ntadmin group should be able to add drivers and set printer properties ("ntadmin" is only an example name, it needs to be a valid UNIX group name); root is implicitly always a `printer admin`. The "@" sign precedes group names in . A printer admin can do anything to printers via the remote administration interfaces offered by MS-RPC (see below). Note that the `printer admin` parameter is normally a share level parameter, so you may associate different groups to different printer shares in larger installations, if you use the `printer admin` parameter on the share levels).

`lpq cache time` = 20

  this controls the cache time for the results of the lpq command. It prevents the lpq command being called too often and reduces load on a heavily used print server.

`use client driver` = no

  if set to `yes`, this setting only takes effect for Win NT/2k/XP clients (and not for Win 95/98/ME). Its default value is `No` (or `False`). It must not be enabled on print shares (with a `yes` or `true` setting) which have valid drivers installed on the Samba server! For more detailed explanations see the man page of `smb.conf`.

### The [printers] Section

This is the second special section. If a section with this name appears in the `smb.conf`, users are able to connect to any printer specified in the Samba host's printcap file, because Samba on startup then creates a printer share for every printername it finds in the printcap file. You could regard this section as a general convenience shortcut to share all printers with minimal configuration. It is also a container for settings which should apply as default to all printers. (For more details see the `smb.conf` man page.) Settings inside this container must be share level parameters.

`comment` = All printers

  the `comment` is shown next to the share if a client queries the server, either via Network Neighbourhood or with the net view command to list available shares.

`printable` = yes

  please note well, that the `[printers]` service must be declared as printable. If you specify otherwise, smbd will refuse to load at startup. This parameter allows connected clients to open, write to and submit spool files into the directory specified with the `path` parameter for this service. It is used by Samba to differentiate printer shares from file shares.

`path` = /var/spool/samba

  this must point to a directory used by Samba to spool incoming print files. It must not be the same as the spool directory specified in the configuration of your UNIX print subsystem! The path would typically point to a directory which is world writeable, with the "sticky" bit set to it.

`browseable` = no

  this is always set to `no` if `printable` = yes. It makes the `[printer]` share itself invisible in the list of available shares in a net view command or in the Explorer browse list. (Note that you will of course see the individual printers).

`guest ok` = yes

  if set to `yes`, then no password is required to connect to the printers service. Access will be granted with the privileges of the `guest account`. On many systems the guest account will map to a user named "nobody". This user is in the UNIX passwd file with an empty password, but with no valid UNIX login. (Note: on some systems the guest account might not have the privilege to be able to print. Test this by logging in as your guest user using su - guest and run a system print command like

  `lpr -P printername /etc/motd`

`public` = yes

  this is a synonym for `guest ok` = yes. Since we have `guest ok` = yes, it really doesn't need to be here! (This leads to the interesting question: “What, if I by accident have to contradictory settings for the same share?” The answer is: the last one encountered by Samba wins. The "winner" is shown by testparm. Testparm doesn't complain about different settings of the same parameter for the same share! You can test this by setting up multiple lines for the "guest account" parameter with different usernames, and then run testparm to see which one is actually used by Samba.)

`read only` = yes

  this normally (for other types of shares) prevents users creating or modifying files in the service's directory. However, in a "printable" service, it is always allowed to write to the directory (if user privileges allow the connection), but only via print spooling operations. "Normal" write operations are not allowed.

`writeable` = no

  synonym for `read only` = yes

### Any [my_printer_name] Section

If a section appears in the , which is tagged as `printable` = yes, Samba presents it as a printer share to its clients. Note, that Win95/98/ME clients may have problems with connecting or loading printer drivers if the share name has more than 8 characters! Also be very careful if you give a printer the same name as an existing user or file share name: upon a client's connection request to a certain sharename, Samba always tries to find file shares with that name first; if it finds one, it will connect to this and will never ultimately connect to a printer with the same name!

`comment` = Printer with Restricted Access

  the comment says it all.

`path` = /var/spool/samba_my_printer

  here we set the spooling area for this printer to another directory than the default. It is not a requirement to set it differently, but the option is available.

`printer admin` = kurt

  the printer admin definition is different for this explicitly defined printer share from the general `[printers]` share. It is not a requirement; we did it to show that it is possible if you want it.

`browseable` = yes

  we also made this printer browseable (so that the clients may conveniently find it when browsing the Network Neighbourhood).

`printable` = yes

  see explanation in last subsection.

`writeable` = no

  see explanation in last subsection.

`hosts allow` = 10.160.50.,10.160.51.

  here we exercise a certain degree of access control by using the `hosts allow` and `hosts deny` parameters. Note, that this is not by any means a safe bet. It is not a way to secure your printers. This line accepts all clients from a certain subnet in a first evaluation of access control

`hosts deny` = turbo_xp,10.160.50.23,10.160.51.60

  all listed hosts are not allowed here (even if they belong to the "allowed subnets"). As you can see, you could name IP addresses as well as NetBIOS hostnames here.

`guest ok` = no

  this printer is not open for the guest account!

### Print Commands

In each section defining a printer (or in the `[printers]` section), a `print command` parameter may be defined. It sets a command to process the files which have been placed into the Samba print spool directory for that printer. (That spool directory was, if you remember, set up with the `path` parameter). Typically, this command will submit the spool file to the Samba host's print subsystem, using the suitable system print command. But there is no requirement that this needs to be the case. For debugging purposes or some other reason you may want to do something completely different than "print" the file. An example is a command that just copies the print file to a temporary location for further investigation when you need to debug printing. If you craft your own print commands (or even develop print command shell scripts), make sure you pay attention to the need to remove the files from the Samba spool directory. Otherwise your hard disk may soon suffer from shortage of free space.

### Default Print Commands for various UNIX Print Subsystems

You learned earlier on, that Samba in most cases uses its built-in settings for many parameters if it can not find an explicitly stated one in its configuration file. The same is true for the `print command`. The default print command varies depending on the `printing` parameter setting. In the commands listed below, you will notice some parameters of the form %X where X is p, s, J etc. These letters stand for "printername", "spoolfile" and "job ID" respectively. They are explained in more detail further below. Here is an overview (excluding the special case of CUPS, which is discussed in the next chapter):

If this setting is active... | ...this is used in lieu of an explicit command:
--- | ---
`printing` = bsd|aix|lprng|plp | print command is lpr -r -P%p %s
`printing` = sysv|hpux | print command is lp -c -P%p %s; rm %s
`printing` = qnx | print command is lp -r -P%p -s %s
`printing` = bsd|aix|lprng|plp | lpq command is lpq -P%p
`printing` = sysv|hpux | lpq command is lpstat -o%p
`printing` = qnx | lpq command is lpq -P%p
`printing` = bsd|aix|lprng|plp | lprm command is lprm -P%p %j
`printing` = sysv|hpux | lprm command is cancel %p-%j
`printing` = qnx | lprm command is cancel %p-%j
`printing` = bsd|aix|lprng|plp | lppause command is lp -i %p-%j -H hold
`printing` = sysv|hpux | lppause command (...is empty)
`printing` = qnx | lppause command (...is empty)
`printing` = bsd|aix|lprng|plp | lpresume command is lp -i %p-%j -H resume
`printing` = sysv|hpux | lpresume command (...is empty)
`printing` = qnx | lpresume command (...is empty)

We excluded the special CUPS case here, because it is discussed in the next chapter. Just a short summary. For `printing = CUPS`: If SAMBA is compiled against libcups, it uses the CUPS API to submit jobs, etc. (It is a good idea also to set `printcap` = cups in case your `cupsd.conf` is set to write its autogenerated printcap file to an unusual place). Otherwise Samba maps to the System V printing commands with the -oraw option for printing, i.e. it uses lp -c -d%p -oraw; rm %s With `printing = cups` , and if SAMBA is compiled against libcups, any manually set print command will be ignored!

Having listed the above mappings here, you should note that there used to be a bug in recent 2.2.x versions which prevented the mapping from taking effect. It lead to the "bsd|aix|lprng|plp" settings taking effect for all other systems, for the most important commands (the print command, the lpq command and the lprm command). The lppause command and the lpresume command remained empty. Of course, these commands worked on bsd|aix|lprng|plp but they didn't work on sysv|hpux|qnx systems. To work around this bug, you need to explicitly set the commands. Use testparm -v to check which command takes effect. Then check that this command is adequate and actually works for your installed print subsystem. It is always a good idea to explicitly set up your configuration files the way you want them to work and not rely on any built-in defaults.

### Setting up your own Print Commands

After a print job has finished spooling to a service, the `print command` will be used by Samba via a system() call to process the spool file. Usually the command specified will submit the spool file to the host's printing subsystem. But there is no requirement at all that this must be the case. The print subsystem will probably not remove the spool file on its own. So whatever command you specify on your own you should ensure that the spool file is deleted after it has been processed.

There is no difficulty with using your own customized print commands with the traditional printing systems. However, if you don't wish to "roll your own", you should be well informed about the default built-in commands that Samba uses for each printing subsystem (see the table above). In all the commands listed in the last paragraphs you see parameters of the form %X These are macros, or shortcuts, used as place holders for the names of real objects. At the time of running a command with such a placeholder, Samba will insert the appropriate value automatically. Print commands can handle all Samba macro substitutions. In regard to printing, the following ones do have special relevance:

- `%s, %f` - the path to the spool file name

- `%p` - the appropriate printer name

- `%J` - the job name as transmitted by the client.

- `%c` - the number of printed pages of the spooled job (if known).

- `%z` - the size of the spooled print job (in bytes)

The print command MUST contain at least one occurrence of `%s` or `%f`. -- The `%p` is optional. If no printer name is supplied, the `%p` will be silently removed from the print command. In this case the job is sent to the default printer.

If specified in the `[global]` section, the print command given will be used for any printable service that does not have its own print command specified. If there is neither a specified print command for a printable service nor a global print command, spool files will be created but not processed! And (most importantly): print files will not be removed, so they will start filling your Samba hard disk.

Note that printing may fail on some UNIXes from the "nobody" account. If this happens, create an alternative guest account and supply it with the privilege to print. Set up this guest account in the `[global]` section with the `guest account` parameter.

You can form quite complex print commands. You need to realize that print commands are just passed to a UNIX shell. The shell is able to expand the included environment variables as usual. (The syntax to include a UNIX environment variable `$variable` in or in the Samba print command is `%$variable`.) To give you a working `print command` example, the following will log a print job to `/tmp/print.log`, print the file, then remove it. Note that ';' is the usual separator for commands in shell scripts:

`print command = echo Printing %s >> /tmp/print.log; lpr -P %p %s; rm %s`

You may have to vary your own command considerably from this example depending on how you normally print files on your system. The default for the `print command` parameter varies depending on the setting of the `printing` parameter. Another example is:

`print command = /usr/local/samba/bin/myprintscript %p %s`

## Innovations in Samba Printing since 2.2

Before version 2.2.0, Samba's print server support for Windows clients was limited to the level of LanMan printing calls. This is the same protocol level as Windows 9x PCs offer when they share printers. Beginning with the 2.2.0 release, Samba started to support the native Windows NT printing mechanisms. These are implemented via MS-RPC (RPC = Remote Procedure Calls ). MS-RPCs use the SPOOLSS named pipe for all printing.

The additional functionality provided by the new SPOOLSS support includes:

- Support for downloading printer driver files to Windows 95/98/NT/2000 clients upon demand (Point'n'Print);

- Uploading of printer drivers via the Windows NT Add Printer Wizard (APW) or the Imprints tool set.

- Support for the native MS-RPC printing calls such as StartDocPrinter, EnumJobs(), etc... (See the MSDN documentation for more information on the Win32 printing API);

- Support for NT Access Control Lists (ACL) on printer objects;

- Improved support for printer queue manipulation through the use of internal databases for spooled job information (implemented by various `*.tdb` files).

One other benefit of an update is this: Samba 3 is able to publish all its printers in Active Directory (or LDAP)!

One slight difference is here: it is possible on a Windows NT print server to have printers listed in the Printers folder which are not shared. Samba does not make this distinction. By definition, the only printers of which Samba is aware are those which are specified as shares in . The reason is that Windows NT/200x/XP Professional clients do not normally need to use the standard SMB printer share; rather they can print directly to any printer on another Windows NT host using MS-RPC. This of course assumes that the printing client has the necessary privileges on the remote host serving the printer. The default permissions assigned by Windows NT to a printer gives the "Print" permissions to the well-known Everyone group. (The older clients of type Win9x can only print to "shared" printers).

### Client Drivers on Samba Server for Point'n'Print

There is still confusion about what all this means: Is it or is it not a requirement for printer drivers to be installed on a Samba host in order to support printing from Windows clients? The answer to this is: No, it is not a requirement. Windows NT/2000 clients can, of course, also run their APW to install drivers locally (which then connect to a Samba served print queue). This is the same method as used by Windows 9x clients. (However, a bug existed in Samba 2.2.0 which made Windows NT/2000 clients require that the Samba server possess a valid driver for the printer. This was fixed in Samba 2.2.1).

But it is a new option to install the printer drivers into the `[print$]` share of the Samba server, and a big convenience too. Then all clients (including 95/98/ME) get the driver installed when they first connect to this printer share. The uploading or depositing of the driver into this `[print$]` share, and the following binding of this driver to an existing Samba printer share can be achieved by different means:

- running the APW on an NT/200x/XP Professional client (this doesn't work from 95/98/ME clients);

- using the Imprints toolset;

- using the smbclient and rpcclient commandline tools;

- using cupsaddsmb(only works for the CUPS printing system, not for LPR/LPD, LPRng etc.).

Please take additional note of the following fact: Samba does not use these uploaded drivers in any way to process spooled files. Drivers are utilized entirely by the clients, who download and install them via the "Point'n'Print" mechanism supported by Samba. The clients use these drivers to generate print files in the format the printer (or the UNIX print system) requires. Print files received by Samba are handed over to the UNIX printing system, which is responsible for all further processing, if needed.

### The [printer$] Section is removed from Samba 3

`[print$]` vs. `[printer$]` . Versions of Samba prior to 2.2 made it possible to use a share named [printer$]. This name was taken from the same named service created by Windows 9x clients when a printer was shared by them. Windows 9x printer servers always have a `[printer$]` service which provides read-only access (with no password required) in order to support printer driver downloads. However, Samba's initial implementation allowed for a parameter named `printer driver location` to be used on a per share basis. This specified the location of the driver files associated with that printer. Another parameter named `printer driver` provided a means of defining the printer driver name to be sent to the client. These parameters, including the `printer driver file` parameter, are now removed and can not be used in installations of samba-3. Now the share name `[print$]` is used for the location of downloadable printer drivers. It is taken from the `[print$]` service created by Windows NT PCs when a printer is shared by them. Windows NT print servers always have a `[print$]` service which provides read-write access (in the context of its ACLs) in order to support printer driver down- and uploads. Don't fear -- this does not mean Windows 9x clients are thrown aside now. They can use Samba's `[print$]` share support just fine.

### Creating the [print$] Share

In order to support the up- and downloading of printer driver files, you must first configure a file share named `[print$]`. The "public" name of this share is hard coded in Samba's internals (because it is hard coded in the MS Windows clients too). It cannot be renamed since Windows clients are programmed to search for a service of exactly this name if they want to retrieve printer driver files.

You should modify the server's file to add the global parameters and create the `[print$]` file share (of course, some of the parameter values, such as 'path' are arbitrary and should be replaced with appropriate values for your site):

Example 18.3. [print\$] example

`[global]`
# members of the ntadmin group should be able to add drivers and set
# printer properties. root is implicitly always a 'printer admin'.
`printer admin = @ntadmin`
...
`[printers]`
...
`[print$]`
`comment = Printer Driver Download Area`
`path = /etc/samba/drivers`
`browseable = yes`
`guest ok = yes`
`read only = yes`
`write list = @ntadmin, root`

Of course, you also need to ensure that the directory named by the `path` parameter exists on the UNIX file system.

### Parameters in the [print$] Section

`[print$]` is a special section in . It contains settings relevant to potential printer driver download and local installation by clients.

`comment` = Printer Driver Download Area

  the comment appears next to the share name if it is listed in a share list (usually Windows clients won't see it often but it will also appear up in a smbclient -L sambaserver output).

`path` = /etc/samba/printers

  this is the path to the location of the Windows driver file deposit from the UNIX point of view.

`browseable` = no

  this makes the `[print$]` share "invisible" in Network Neighbourhood to clients. However, you can still "mount" it from any client using the net use g:\\sambaserver\print$ command in a "DOS box" or the "Connect network drive" menu from Windows Explorer.

`guest ok` = yes

  this gives read only access to this share for all guest users. Access may be used to download and install printer drivers on clients. The requirement for `guest ok = yes` depends upon how your site is configured. If users will be guaranteed to have an account on the Samba host, then this is a non-issue.

  ### Note

  The non-issue is this: if all your Windows NT users are guaranteed to be authenticated by the Samba server (for example if Samba authenticates via an NT domain server and the NT user has already been validated by the Domain Controller in order to logon to the Windows NT session), then guest access is not necessary. Of course, in a workgroup environment where you just want to be able to print without worrying about silly accounts and security, then configure the share for guest access. You'll probably want to add `map to guest` = Bad User in the `[global]` section as well. Make sure you understand what this parameter does before using it.

`read only` = yes

  as we don't want everybody to upload driver files (or even change driver settings) we tagged this share as not writeable.

`write list` = @ntadmin,root

  since the `[print$]` was made read only by the previous setting, we need to create a "write list" also. UNIX groups (denoted with a leading "@" character) and users listed here are allowed write access (as an exception to the general public's "read-only" access), which they need to update files on the share. Normally you will want to only name administrative level user accounts in this setting. Check the file system permissions to make sure these accounts can copy files to the share. If this is a non-root account, then the account should also be mentioned in the global `printer admin` parameter. See the man page for more information on configuring file shares.

### Subdirectory Structure in [print$]

In order for a Windows NT print server to support the downloading of driver files by multiple client architectures, you must create several subdirectories within the `[print$]` service (i.e. the UNIX directory named by the `path` parameter). These correspond to each of the supported client architectures. Samba follows this model as well. Just like the name of the `[print$]` share itself, the subdirectories *must* be exactly the names listed below (you may leave out the subdirectories of architectures you don't want to support).

Therefore, create a directory tree below the `[print$]` share for each architecture you wish to support.

    [print$]--+--
              |--W32X86           # serves drivers to "Windows NT x86"
              |--WIN40            # serves drivers to "Windows 95/98"
              |--W32ALPHA         # serves drivers to "Windows NT Alpha_AXP"
              |--W32MIPS          # serves drivers to "Windows NT R4000"
              |--W32PPC           # serves drivers to "Windows NT PowerPC"

### Required permissions

In order to add a new driver to your Samba host, one of two conditions must hold true:

- The account used to connect to the Samba host must have a UID of 0 (i.e. a root account)

- The account used to connect to the Samba host must be named in the printer adminlist.

Of course, the connected account must still possess access to add files to the subdirectories beneath `[print$]`. Remember that all file shares are set to 'read only' by default.

Once you have created the required `[print$]` service and associated subdirectories, go to a Windows NT 4.0/2k/XP client workstation. Open Network Neighbourhood or My Network Places and browse for the Samba host. Once you have located the server, navigate to its Printers and Faxes folder. You should see an initial listing of printers that matches the printer shares defined on your Samba host.

## Installing Drivers into [print$]

You have successfully created the `[print$]` share in ? And Samba has re-read its configuration? Good. But you are not yet ready to take off. The driver files need to be present in this share, too! So far it is still an empty share. Unfortunately, it is not enough to just copy the driver files over. They need to be set up too. And that is a bit tricky, to say the least. We will now discuss two alternative ways to install the drivers into `[print$]`:

- using the Samba commandline utility rpcclient with its various subcommands (here: adddriver and setdriver) from any UNIX workstation;

- running a GUI (Printer Properties and Add Printer Wizard) from any Windows NT/2k/XP client workstation.

The latter option is probably the easier one (even if the only entrance to this realm seems a little bit weird at first).

### Setting Drivers for existing Printers with a Client GUI

The initial listing of printers in the Samba host's Printers folder accessed from a client's Explorer will have no real printer driver assigned to them. By default this driver name is set to a NULL string. This must be changed now. The local Add Printer Wizard, run from NT/2000/XP clients, will help us in this task.

However, the job to set a valid driver for the printer is not a straightforward one: You must attempt to view the printer properties for the printer to which you want the driver assigned. Open the Windows Explorer, open Network Neighbourhood, browse to the Samba host, open Samba's Printers folder, right-click the printer icon and select Properties.... You are now trying to view printer and driver properties for a queue which has this default `NULL` driver assigned. This will result in an error message (this is normal here):

Device settings cannot be displayed. The driver for the specified printer is not installed, only spooler properties will be displayed. Do you want to install the driver now?

Important:Don't click Yes! Instead, click No in the error dialog. Only now you will be presented with the printer properties window. From here, the way to assign a driver to a printer is open to us. You have now the choice either:

- select a driver from the pop-up list of installed drivers. Initially this list will be empty. Or

- use the New Driver... button to install a new printer driver (which will in fact start up the APW).

Once the APW is started, the procedure is exactly the same as the one you are familiar with in Windows (we assume here that you are familiar with the printer driver installations procedure on Windows NT). Make sure your connection is in fact setup as a user with `printer admin` privileges (if in doubt, use smbstatus to check for this). If you wish to install printer drivers for client operating systems other than Windows NT x86, you will need to use the Sharing tab of the printer properties dialog.

Assuming you have connected with an administrative (or root) account (as named by the `printer admin` parameter), you will also be able to modify other printer properties such as ACLs and default device settings using this dialog. For the default device settings, please consider the advice given further below.

### Setting Drivers for existing Printers with rpcclient

The second way to install printer drivers into `[print$]` and set them up in a valid way can be done from the UNIX command line. This involves four distinct steps:

1. gathering the info about the required driver files and collecting the files together;

2. deposit the driver files into the `[print$]` share's correct subdirectories (possibly by using smbclient);

3. running the rpcclient commandline utility once with the adddriver subcommand,

4. running rpcclient a second time with the setdriver subcommand.

We will provide detailed hints for each of these steps in the next few paragraphs.

#### Identifying the Driver Files

To find out about the driver files, you have two options: you could investigate the driver CD which comes with your printer. Study the `*.inf` file on the CD, if it is contained. This may not be the possible, since the *.inf file might be missing. Unfortunately, many vendors have now started to use their own installation programs. These installations packages are often some sort of Windows platform archive format, plus, the files may get re-named during the installation process. This makes it extremely difficult to identify the driver files you need.

Then you only have the second option: install the driver first on a Windows client *locally* and investigate which file names and paths it uses after they are installed. (Note, that you need to repeat this procedure for every client platform you want to support. We are going to show it here for the W32X86 platform only, a name used by Microsoft for all WinNT/2k/XP clients...)

A good method to recognize the driver files this is to print the test page from the driver's Properties Dialog (General tab). Then look at the list of driver files named on the printout. You'll need to recognize what Windows (and Samba) are calling the Driver File , the Data File, the Config File, the Help File and (optionally) the Dependent Driver Files (this may vary slightly for Windows NT). You need to remember all names (or better take a note) for the next steps.

Another method to quickly test the driver filenames and related paths is provided by the rpcclient utility. Run it with enumdrivers or with the getdriver subcommand, each in the 3 level. In the following example, TURBO_XP is the name of the Windows PC (in this case it was a Windows XP Professional laptop, BTW). I had installed the driver locally to TURBO_XP while kde-bitshop is the name of the Linux host from which I am working. We could run an interactive rpcclient session; then we'd get an rpcclient /> prompt and would type the subcommands at this prompt. This is left as a good exercise to the reader. For now we use rpcclient with the `-c` parameter to execute a single subcommand line and exit again. This is the method you would use if you want to create scripts to automate the procedure for a large number of printers and drivers. Note the different quotes used to overcome the different spaces in between words:

    root# rpcclient -U'Danka%xxxx' -c \
    	'getdriver "Heidelberg Digimaster 9110 (PS)" 3' TURBO_XP
    cmd = getdriver "Heidelberg Digimaster 9110 (PS)" 3

    [Windows NT x86]
    Printer Driver Info 3:
      Version: [2]
      Driver Name: [Heidelberg Digimaster 9110 (PS)]
      Architecture: [Windows NT x86]
      Driver Path: [C:\WINNT\System32\spool\DRIVERS\W32X86\2\HDNIS01_de.DLL]
      Datafile: [C:\WINNT\System32\spool\DRIVERS\W32X86\2\Hddm91c1_de.ppd]
      Configfile: [C:\WINNT\System32\spool\DRIVERS\W32X86\2\HDNIS01U_de.DLL]
      Helpfile: [C:\WINNT\System32\spool\DRIVERS\W32X86\2\HDNIS01U_de.HLP]

      Dependentfiles: [C:\WINNT\System32\spool\DRIVERS\W32X86\2\Hddm91c1_de.DLL]
      Dependentfiles: [C:\WINNT\System32\spool\DRIVERS\W32X86\2\Hddm91c1_de.INI]
      Dependentfiles: [C:\WINNT\System32\spool\DRIVERS\W32X86\2\Hddm91c1KMMin.DLL]
      Dependentfiles: [C:\WINNT\System32\spool\DRIVERS\W32X86\2\Hddm91c1_de.dat]
      Dependentfiles: [C:\WINNT\System32\spool\DRIVERS\W32X86\2\Hddm91c1_de.cat]
      Dependentfiles: [C:\WINNT\System32\spool\DRIVERS\W32X86\2\Hddm91c1_de.def]
      Dependentfiles: [C:\WINNT\System32\spool\DRIVERS\W32X86\2\Hddm91c1_de.hre]
      Dependentfiles: [C:\WINNT\System32\spool\DRIVERS\W32X86\2\Hddm91c1_de.vnd]
      Dependentfiles: [C:\WINNT\System32\spool\DRIVERS\W32X86\2\Hddm91c1_de.hlp]
      Dependentfiles: [C:\WINNT\System32\spool\DRIVERS\W32X86\2\Hddm91c1_de_reg.HLP]
      Dependentfiles: [C:\WINNT\System32\spool\DRIVERS\W32X86\2\HDNIS01Aux.dll]
      Dependentfiles: [C:\WINNT\System32\spool\DRIVERS\W32X86\2\HDNIS01_de.NTF]

      Monitorname: []
      Defaultdatatype: []

You may notice, that this driver has quite a big number of Dependentfiles (I know worse cases however). Also, strangely, the Driver File is here tagged as Driver Path.... oh, well. Here we don't have yet support for the so-called WIN40 architecture installed. This name is used by Microsoft for the Win95/98/ME platforms. If we want to support these, we need to install the Win95/98/ME driver files in addition to those for W32X86 (i.e. the WinNT72000/XP clients) onto a Windows PC. This PC can also host the Win9x drivers, even if itself runs on Windows NT, 2000 or XP.

Since the `[print$]` share is usually accessible through the Network Neighbourhood, you can also use the UNC notation from Windows Explorer to poke at it. The Win9x driver files will end up in subdirectory "0" of the "WIN40" directory. The full path to access them will be `\\WINDOWSHOST\print$\WIN40\0\`.

### Note

more recent drivers on Windows 2000 and Windows XP are installed into the "3" subdirectory instead of the "2". The version 2 of drivers, as used in Windows NT, were running in Kernel Mode. Windows 2000 changed this. While it still can use the Kernel Mode drivers (if this is enabled by the Admin), its native mode for printer drivers is User Mode execution. This requires drivers designed for this. These type of drivers install into the "3" subdirectory.

#### Collecting the Driver Files from a Windows Host's [print$] Share

Now we need to collect all the driver files we identified. in our previous step. Where do we get them from? Well, why not retrieve them from the very PC and the same `[print$]` share which we investigated in our last step to identify the files? We can use smbclient to do this. We will use the paths and names which were leaked to us by getdriver. The listing is edited to include linebreaks for readability:

    root# smbclient //TURBO_XP/print\$ -U'Danka%xxxx'	\
    	-c 'cd W32X86/2;mget HD*_de.*             \
    	hd*ppd Hd*_de.* Hddm*dll HDN*Aux.DLL'
    added interface ip=10.160.51.60 bcast=10.160.51.255 nmask=255.255.252.0
    Got a positive name query response from 10.160.50.8 ( 10.160.50.8 )
    Domain=[DEVELOPMENT] OS=[Windows 5.1] Server=[Windows 2000 LAN Manager]
    Get file Hddm91c1_de.ABD? n
    Get file Hddm91c1_de.def? y
    getting file \W32X86\2\Hddm91c1_de.def of size 428 as Hddm91c1_de.def
    Get file Hddm91c1_de.DLL? y
    getting file \W32X86\2\Hddm91c1_de.DLL of size 876544 as Hddm91c1_de.DLL
    [...]

After this command is complete, the files are in our current local directory. You probably have noticed that this time we passed several commands to the `-c` parameter, separated by semi-colons. This effects that all commands are executed in sequence on the remote Windows server before smbclient exits again.

Don't forget to repeat the procedure for the WIN40 architecture should you need to support Win95/98/XP clients. Remember, the files for these architectures are in the WIN40/0/ subdir. Once we are complete, we can run smbclient ... put to store the collected files on the Samba server's `[print$]` share.

#### Depositing the Driver Files into [print$]

So, now we are going to put the driver files into the `[print$]` share. Remember, the UNIX path to this share has been defined previously in your . You also have created subdirectories for the different Windows client types you want to support. Supposing your `[print$]` share maps to the UNIX path `/etc/samba/drivers/`, your driver files should now go here:

- for all Windows NT, 2000 and XP clients into `/etc/samba/drivers/W32X86/` but *not*(yet) into the "2" subdir!

- for all Windows 95, 98 and ME clients into `/etc/samba/drivers/WIN40/` -- but *not* (yet) into the "0" subdir!

We again use smbclient to transfer the driver files across the network. We specify the same files and paths as were leaked to us by running getdriver against the original Windows install. However, now we are going to store the files into a Samba/UNIX print server's `[print$]` share...

    		root# smbclient //SAMBA-CUPS/print\$ -U'root%xxxx' -c \
     'cd W32X86; put HDNIS01_de.DLL; \
      put Hddm91c1_de.ppd; put HDNIS01U_de.DLL;        \
      put HDNIS01U_de.HLP; put Hddm91c1_de.DLL;        \
      put Hddm91c1_de.INI; put Hddm91c1KMMin.DLL;      \
      put Hddm91c1_de.dat; put Hddm91c1_de.dat;        \
      put Hddm91c1_de.def; put Hddm91c1_de.hre;        \
      put Hddm91c1_de.vnd; put Hddm91c1_de.hlp;        \
      put Hddm91c1_de_reg.HLP; put HDNIS01Aux.dll;     \
      put HDNIS01_de.NTF'
    added interface ip=10.160.51.60 bcast=10.160.51.255 nmask=255.255.252.0
    Got a positive name query response from 10.160.51.162 ( 10.160.51.162 )
    Domain=[CUPS-PRINT] OS=[UNIX] Server=[Samba 2.2.7a]
    putting file HDNIS01_de.DLL as \W32X86\HDNIS01_de.DLL
    putting file Hddm91c1_de.ppd as \W32X86\Hddm91c1_de.ppd
    putting file HDNIS01U_de.DLL as \W32X86\HDNIS01U_de.DLL
    putting file HDNIS01U_de.HLP as \W32X86\HDNIS01U_de.HLP
    putting file Hddm91c1_de.DLL as \W32X86\Hddm91c1_de.DLL
    putting file Hddm91c1_de.INI as \W32X86\Hddm91c1_de.INI
    putting file Hddm91c1KMMin.DLL as \W32X86\Hddm91c1KMMin.DLL
    putting file Hddm91c1_de.dat as \W32X86\Hddm91c1_de.dat
    putting file Hddm91c1_de.dat as \W32X86\Hddm91c1_de.dat
    putting file Hddm91c1_de.def as \W32X86\Hddm91c1_de.def
    putting file Hddm91c1_de.hre as \W32X86\Hddm91c1_de.hre
    putting file Hddm91c1_de.vnd as \W32X86\Hddm91c1_de.vnd
    putting file Hddm91c1_de.hlp as \W32X86\Hddm91c1_de.hlp
    putting file Hddm91c1_de_reg.HLP as \W32X86\Hddm91c1_de_reg.HLP
    putting file HDNIS01Aux.dll as \W32X86\HDNIS01Aux.dll
    putting file HDNIS01_de.NTF as \W32X86\HDNIS01_de.NTF

Phewww -- that was a lot of typing! Most drivers are a lot smaller -- many only having 3 generic PostScript driver files plus 1 PPD. Note, that while we did retrieve the files from the "2" subdirectory of the "W32X86" directory from the Windows box, we don't put them (for now) in this same subdirectory of the Samba box! This re-location will automatically be done by the adddriver command which we will run shortly (and don't forget to also put the files for the Win95/98/ME architecture into the `WIN40/` subdirectory should you need them).

#### Check if the Driver Files are there (with smbclient)

For now we verify that our files are there. This can be done with smbclient too (but of course you can log in via SSH also and do this through a standard UNIX shell access too):

    root# smbclient //SAMBA-CUPS/print\$ -U 'root%xxxx' \
    	-c 'cd W32X86; pwd; dir; cd 2; pwd; dir'
     added interface ip=10.160.51.60 bcast=10.160.51.255 nmask=255.255.252.0
    Got a positive name query response from 10.160.51.162 ( 10.160.51.162 )
    Domain=[CUPS-PRINT] OS=[UNIX] Server=[Samba 2.2.7a]

    Current directory is \\SAMBA-CUPS\print$\W32X86\
    .                                   D        0  Sun May  4 03:56:35 2003
    ..                                  D        0  Thu Apr 10 23:47:40 2003
    2                                   D        0  Sun May  4 03:56:18 2003
    HDNIS01Aux.dll                      A    15356  Sun May  4 03:58:59 2003
    Hddm91c1KMMin.DLL                   A    46966  Sun May  4 03:58:59 2003
    HDNIS01_de.DLL                      A   434400  Sun May  4 03:58:59 2003
    HDNIS01_de.NTF                      A   790404  Sun May  4 03:56:35 2003
    Hddm91c1_de.DLL                     A   876544  Sun May  4 03:58:59 2003
    Hddm91c1_de.INI                     A      101  Sun May  4 03:58:59 2003
    Hddm91c1_de.dat                     A     5044  Sun May  4 03:58:59 2003
    Hddm91c1_de.def                     A      428  Sun May  4 03:58:59 2003
    Hddm91c1_de.hlp                     A    37699  Sun May  4 03:58:59 2003
    Hddm91c1_de.hre                     A   323584  Sun May  4 03:58:59 2003
    Hddm91c1_de.ppd                     A    26373  Sun May  4 03:58:59 2003
    Hddm91c1_de.vnd                     A    45056  Sun May  4 03:58:59 2003
    HDNIS01U_de.DLL                     A   165888  Sun May  4 03:58:59 2003
    HDNIS01U_de.HLP                     A    19770  Sun May  4 03:58:59 2003
    Hddm91c1_de_reg.HLP                 A   228417  Sun May  4 03:58:59 2003
                  40976 blocks of size 262144. 709 blocks available

    Current directory is \\SAMBA-CUPS\print$\W32X86\2\
    .                                   D        0  Sun May  4 03:56:18 2003
    ..                                  D        0  Sun May  4 03:56:35 2003
    ADOBEPS5.DLL                        A   434400  Sat May  3 23:18:45 2003
    laserjet4.ppd                       A     9639  Thu Apr 24 01:05:32 2003
    ADOBEPSU.DLL                        A   109568  Sat May  3 23:18:45 2003
    ADOBEPSU.HLP                        A    18082  Sat May  3 23:18:45 2003
    PDFcreator2.PPD                     A    15746  Sun Apr 20 22:24:07 2003
                  40976 blocks of size 262144. 709 blocks available

Notice that there are already driver files present in the `2` subdir (probably from a previous installation). Once the files for the new driver are there too, you are still a few steps away from being able to use them on the clients. The only thing you could do *now* is to retrieve them from a client just like you retrieve ordinary files from a file share, by opening print$ in Windows Explorer. But that wouldn't install them per Point'n'Print. The reason is: Samba doesn't know yet that these files are something special, namely printer driver files and it doesn't know yet to which print queue(s) these driver files belong.

#### Running rpcclient with adddriver

So, next you must tell Samba about the special category of the files you just uploaded into the `[print$]` share. This is done by the adddriver command. It will prompt Samba to register the driver files into its internal TDB database files. The following command and its output has been edited, again, for readability:

    		root# rpcclient -Uroot%xxxx -c 'adddriver "Windows NT x86" \
    "dm9110:HDNIS01_de.DLL: \
    Hddm91c1_de.ppd:HDNIS01U_de.DLL:HDNIS01U_de.HLP:   \
     NULL:RAW:Hddm91c1_de.DLL,Hddm91c1_de.INI,          \
     Hddm91c1_de.dat,Hddm91c1_de.def,Hddm91c1_de.hre,   \
     Hddm91c1_de.vnd,Hddm91c1_de.hlp,Hddm91c1KMMin.DLL, \
     HDNIS01Aux.dll,HDNIS01_de.NTF,                     \
     Hddm91c1_de_reg.HLP' SAMBA-CUPS

    cmd = adddriver "Windows NT x86" \
    "dm9110:HDNIS01_de.DLL:Hddm91c1_de.ppd:HDNIS01U_de.DLL:    \
     HDNIS01U_de.HLP:NULL:RAW:Hddm91c1_de.DLL,Hddm91c1_de.INI, \
     Hddm91c1_de.dat,Hddm91c1_de.def,Hddm91c1_de.hre,          \
     Hddm91c1_de.vnd,Hddm91c1_de.hlp,Hddm91c1KMMin.DLL,        \
     HDNIS01Aux.dll,HDNIS01_de.NTF,Hddm91c1_de_reg.HLP"

    Printer Driver dm9110 successfully installed.

After this step the driver should be recognized by Samba on the print server. You need to be very careful when typing the command. Don't exchange the order of the fields. Some changes would lead to a `NT_STATUS_UNSUCCESSFUL` error message. These become obvious. Other changes might install the driver files successfully, but render the driver unworkable. So take care! Hints about the syntax of the adddriver command are in the man page. The CUPS printing chapter of this HOWTO collection provides a more detailed description, if you should need it.

#### Check how Driver Files have been moved after adddriver finished

One indication for Samba's recognition of the files as driver files is the `successfully installed` message. Another one is the fact, that our files have been moved by the adddriver command into the `2` subdirectory. You can check this again with smbclient:

    root# smbclient //SAMBA-CUPS/print\$ -Uroot%xx -c 'cd W32X86;dir;pwd;cd 2;dir;pwd'
     added interface ip=10.160.51.162 bcast=10.160.51.255 nmask=255.255.252.0
     Domain=[CUPS-PRINT] OS=[UNIX] Server=[Samba 2.2.7a]

      Current directory is \\SAMBA-CUPS\print$\W32X86\
      .                                   D        0  Sun May  4 04:32:48 2003
      ..                                  D        0  Thu Apr 10 23:47:40 2003
      2                                   D        0  Sun May  4 04:32:48 2003
                    40976 blocks of size 262144. 731 blocks available

      Current directory is \\SAMBA-CUPS\print$\W32X86\2\
      .                                   D        0  Sun May  4 04:32:48 2003
      ..                                  D        0  Sun May  4 04:32:48 2003
      DigiMaster.PPD                      A   148336  Thu Apr 24 01:07:00 2003
      ADOBEPS5.DLL                        A   434400  Sat May  3 23:18:45 2003
      laserjet4.ppd                       A     9639  Thu Apr 24 01:05:32 2003
      ADOBEPSU.DLL                        A   109568  Sat May  3 23:18:45 2003
      ADOBEPSU.HLP                        A    18082  Sat May  3 23:18:45 2003
      PDFcreator2.PPD                     A    15746  Sun Apr 20 22:24:07 2003
      HDNIS01Aux.dll                      A    15356  Sun May  4 04:32:18 2003
      Hddm91c1KMMin.DLL                   A    46966  Sun May  4 04:32:18 2003
      HDNIS01_de.DLL                      A   434400  Sun May  4 04:32:18 2003
      HDNIS01_de.NTF                      A   790404  Sun May  4 04:32:18 2003
      Hddm91c1_de.DLL                     A   876544  Sun May  4 04:32:18 2003
      Hddm91c1_de.INI                     A      101  Sun May  4 04:32:18 2003
      Hddm91c1_de.dat                     A     5044  Sun May  4 04:32:18 2003
      Hddm91c1_de.def                     A      428  Sun May  4 04:32:18 2003
      Hddm91c1_de.hlp                     A    37699  Sun May  4 04:32:18 2003
      Hddm91c1_de.hre                     A   323584  Sun May  4 04:32:18 2003
      Hddm91c1_de.ppd                     A    26373  Sun May  4 04:32:18 2003
      Hddm91c1_de.vnd                     A    45056  Sun May  4 04:32:18 2003
      HDNIS01U_de.DLL                     A   165888  Sun May  4 04:32:18 2003
      HDNIS01U_de.HLP                     A    19770  Sun May  4 04:32:18 2003
      Hddm91c1_de_reg.HLP                 A   228417  Sun May  4 04:32:18 2003
                    40976 blocks of size 262144. 731 blocks available

Another verification is that the timestamp of the printing TDB files is now updated (and possibly their filesize has increased).

#### Check if the Driver is recognized by Samba

Now the driver should be registered with Samba. We can easily verify this, and will do so in a moment. However, this driver is not yet associated with a particular printer. We may check the driver status of the files by at least three methods:

- from any Windows client browse Network Neighbourhood, find the Samba host and open the Samba Printers and Faxes folder. Select any printer icon, right-click and select the printer Properties. Click on the Advanced tab. Here is a field indicating the driver for that printer. A drop down menu allows you to change that driver (be careful to not do this unwittingly.). You can use this list to view all drivers know to Samba. Your new one should be amongst them. (Each type of client will only see his own architecture's list. If you don't have every driver installed for each platform, the list will differ if you look at it from Windows95/98/ME or WindowsNT/2000/XP.)

- from a Windows 2000 or XP client (not WinNT) browse Network Neighbourhood, search for the Samba server and open the server's Printers folder, right-click the white background (with no printer highlighted). Select Server Properties. On the Drivers tab you will see the new driver listed now. This view enables you to also inspect the list of files belonging to that driver (this doesn't work on Windows NT, but only on Windows 2000 and Windows XP. WinNT doesn't provide the "Drivers" tab).. An alternative, much quicker method for Windows 2000/XP to start this dialog is by typing into a DOS box (you must of course adapt the name to your Samba server instead of `SAMBA-CUPS`):

  `rundll32 printui.dll,PrintUIEntry /s /t2 /n\\`SAMBA-CUPS``

- from a UNIX prompt run this command (or a variant thereof), where `SAMBA-CUPS` is the name of the Samba host and "xxxx" represents the actual Samba password assigned to root:

  `rpcclient -U'root%xxxx' -c 'enumdrivers' `SAMBA-CUPS``

  You will see a listing of all drivers Samba knows about. Your new one should be amongst them. But it is only listed under the `[Windows NT x86]` heading, not under `[Windows 4.0]`, since we didn't install that part. Or did *you*? -- You will see a listing of all drivers Samba knows about. Your new one should be amongst them. In our example it is named dm9110. Note that the 3rd column shows the other installed drivers twice, for each supported architecture one time. Our new driver only shows up for Windows NT 4.0 or 2000. To have it present for Windows 95, 98 and ME you'll have to repeat the whole procedure with the WIN40 architecture and subdirectory.

#### A side note: you are not bound to specific driver names

You can name the driver as you like. If you repeat the adddriver step, with the same files as before, but with a different driver name, it will work the same:

    root# rpcclient -Uroot%xxxx                                        \
      -c 'adddriver "Windows NT x86"                     \
      "myphantasydrivername:HDNIS01_de.DLL:              \
      Hddm91c1_de.ppd:HDNIS01U_de.DLL:HDNIS01U_de.HLP:   \
      NULL:RAW:Hddm91c1_de.DLL,Hddm91c1_de.INI,          \
      Hddm91c1_de.dat,Hddm91c1_de.def,Hddm91c1_de.hre,   \
      Hddm91c1_de.vnd,Hddm91c1_de.hlp,Hddm91c1KMMin.DLL, \
      HDNIS01Aux.dll,HDNIS01_de.NTF,Hddm91c1_de_reg.HLP' SAMBA-CUPS

     cmd = adddriver "Windows NT x86"
                     "myphantasydrivername:HDNIS01_de.DLL:Hddm91c1_de.ppd:HDNIS01U_de.DLL:\
                      HDNIS01U_de.HLP:NULL:RAW:Hddm91c1_de.DLL,Hddm91c1_de.INI,           \
                      Hddm91c1_de.dat,Hddm91c1_de.def,Hddm91c1_de.hre,                    \
                      Hddm91c1_de.vnd,Hddm91c1_de.hlp,Hddm91c1KMMin.DLL,                  \
                      HDNIS01Aux.dll,HDNIS01_de.NTF,Hddm91c1_de_reg.HLP"

     Printer Driver myphantasydrivername successfully installed.

You will also be able to bind that driver to any print queue (however, you are responsible yourself that you associate drivers to queues which make sense to the target printer). Note, that you can't run the rpcclient adddriver command repeatedly. Each run "consumes" the files you had put into the `[print$]` share by moving them into the respective subdirectories. So you must precede an smbclient ... put command before each rpcclient ... adddriver" command.

#### Running rpcclient with setdriver

Samba still needs to know which printer's driver this is. It needs to create a mapping of the driver to a printer, and store this info in its "memory", the TDB files. The rpcclient setdriver command achieves exactly this:

    root# rpcclient -U'root%xxxx' -c 'setdriver dm9110 myphantasydrivername' SAMBA-CUPS
     cmd = setdriver dm9110 myphantasydrivername
     Successfully set dm9110 to driver myphantasydrivername.

Ahhhhh -- no, I didn't want to do that. Repeat, this time with the name I intended:

    root# rpcclient -U'root%xxxx' -c 'setdriver dm9110 dm9110' SAMBA-CUPS
     cmd = setdriver dm9110 dm9110
     Successfully set dm9110 to driver dm9110.

The syntax of the command is `rpcclient -U'root%`sambapassword`' -c 'setdriver "`printername`" "`drivername`' `SAMBA-Hostname`` . -- Now we have done *most* of the work. But not yet all....

### Note

the setdriver command will only succeed if the printer is known to Samba already. A bug in 2.2.x prevented Samba from recognizing freshly installed printers. You had to restart Samba, or at least send a HUP signal to all running smbd processes to work around this: `kill -HUP `pidof smbd``.

## Client Driver Install Procedure

A famous philosopher said once: “The Proof of the Pudding lies in the Eating”. The proof for our setup lies in the printing. So let's install the printer driver onto the client PCs. This is not as straightforward as it may seem. Read on.

### The first Client Driver Installation

Especially important is the installation onto the first client PC (for each architectural platform separately). Once this is done correctly, all further clients are easy to setup and shouldn't need further attention. What follows is a description for the recommended first procedure. You work now from a client workstation. First you should guarantee that your connection is not unwittingly mapped to bad user "nobody". In a DOS box type:

`net use \\`SAMBA-SERVER`\print$ /user:root`

Replace root, if needed, by another valid `printer admin` user as given in the definition. Should you already be connected as a different user, you'll get an error message. There is no easy way to get rid of that connection, because Windows doesn't seem to know a concept of "logging off" from a share connection (don't confuse this with logging off from the local workstation; that is a different matter). You can try to close all Windows file explorer and Internet Explorer windows. As a last resort, you may have to reboot. Make sure there is no automatic re-connection set up. It may be easier to go to a different workstation and try from there. After you have made sure you are connected as a printer admin user (you can check this with the smbstatus command on Samba) do this from the Windows workstation:

- Open Network Neighbourhood

- Browse to Samba server

- Open its Printers and Faxes folder

- Highlight and right-click the printer

- Select Connect... (for WinNT4/2K it is possibly Install...)

A new printer (named `printername` on samba-server) should now have appeared in your local Printer folder (check Start -- Settings -- Control Panel -- Printers and Faxes).

Most likely you are now tempted to try and print a test page. After all, you now can open the printer properties and on the "General" tab, there is a button offering to do just that. But chances are that you get an error message saying Unable to print Test Page. The reason might be that there is not yet a valid Device Mode set for the driver, or that the "Printer Driver Data" set is still incomplete.

You must now make sure that a valid "Device Mode" is set for the driver. Don't fear -- we will explain now what that means.

### IMPORTANT! Setting Device Modes on new Printers

In order for a printer to be truly usable by a Windows NT/2K/XP client, it must possess:

- a valid Device Mode generated by the driver for the printer (defining things like paper size, orientation and duplex settings), and

- a complete set of Printer Driver Data generated by the driver.

If either one of these is incomplete, the clients can produce less than optimal output at best. In the worst cases, unreadable garbage or nothing at all comes from the printer or they produce a harvest of error messages when attempting to print. Samba stores the named values and all printing related info in its internal TDB database files `(ntprinters.tdb`, `ntdrivers.tdb`, `printing.tdb` and `ntforms.tdb`).

What do these two words stand for? Basically, the Device Mode and the set of Printer Driver Data is a collection of settings for all print queue properties, initialized in a sensible way. Device Modes and Printer Driver Data should initially be set on the print server (that is here: the Samba host) to healthy values so that the clients can start to use them immediately. How do we set these initial healthy values? This can be achieved by accessing the drivers remotely from an NT (or 2k/XP) client, as is discussed in the next paragraphs.

Be aware, that a valid Device Mode can only be initiated by a `printer admin`, or root (the reason should be obvious). Device Modes can only correctly be set by executing the printer driver program itself. Since Samba can not execute this Win32 platform driver code, it sets this field initially to NULL (which is not a valid setting for clients to use). Fortunately, most drivers generate themselves the Printer Driver Data that is needed, when they are uploaded to the `[print$]` share with the help of the APW or rpcclient.

The generation and setting of a first valid Device Mode however requires some "tickling" from a client, to set it on the Samba server. The easiest means of doing so is to simply change the page orientation on the server's printer. This "executes" enough of the printer driver program on the client for the desired effect to happen, and feeds back the new Device Mode to our Samba server. You can use the native Windows NT/2K/XP printer properties page from a Window client for this:

- Browse the Network Neighbourhood

- Find the Samba server

- Open the Samba server's Printers and Faxes folder

- Highlight the shared printer in question

- Right-click the printer (you may already be here, if you followed the last section's description)

- At the bottom of the context menu select Properties.... (if the menu still offers the Connect... entry further above, you need to click that one first to achieve the driver installation as shown in the last section)

- Go to the Advanced tab; click on Printing Defaults...

- Change the "Portrait" page setting to "Landscape" (and back)

- (Oh, and make sure to apply changes between swapping the page orientation to cause the change to actually take effect...).

- While you're at it, you may optionally also want to set the desired printing defaults here, which then apply to all future client driver installations on the remaining from now on.

This procedure has executed the printer driver program on the client platform and fed back the correct Device Mode to Samba, which now stored it in its TDB files. Once the driver is installed on the client, you can follow the analogous steps by accessing the local Printers folder too if you are a Samba printer admin user. From now on printing should work as expected.

Samba also includes a service level parameter name `default devmode` for generating a default Device Mode for a printer. Some drivers will function well with Samba's default set of properties. Others may crash the client's spooler service. So use this parameter with caution. It is always better to have the client generate a valid device mode for the printer and store it on the server for you.

### Further Client Driver Install Procedures

Every further driver may be done by any user, along the lines described above: Browse network, open printers folder on Samba server, right-click printer and choose Connect.... Once this completes (should be not more than a few seconds, but could also take a minute, depending on network conditions), you should find the new printer in your client workstation local Printers and Faxes folder.

You can also open your local Printers and Faxes folder by using this command on Windows 2000 and Windows XP Professional workstations:

`rundll32 shell32.dll,SHHelpShortcuts_RunDLL PrintersFolder`

or this command on Windows NT 4.0 workstations:

`rundll32 shell32.dll,Control_RunDLL MAIN.CPL @2`

You can enter the commands either inside a DOS box window or in the Run command... field from the Start menu.

### Always make first Client Connection as root or "printer admin"

After you installed the driver on the Samba server (in its `[print$]` share, you should always make sure that your first client installation completes correctly. Make it a habit for yourself to build that the very first connection from a client as `printer admin`. This is to make sure that:

- a first valid Device Mode is really initialized (see above for more explanation details), and that

- the default print settings of your printer for all further client installations are as you want them

Do this by changing the orientation to landscape, click Apply, and then change it back again. Then modify the other settings (for example, you don't want the default media size set to Letter, when you are all using A4, right? You may want to set the printer for duplex as the default; etc.).

To connect as root to a Samba printer, try this command from a Windows 2K/XP DOS box command prompt:

    C:\> runas /netonly /user:root "rundll32 printui.dll,PrintUIEntry /p /t3 /n
    	\\SAMBA-SERVER\printername"

You will be prompted for root's Samba-password; type it, wait a few seconds, click on Printing Defaults... and proceed to set the job options as should be used as defaults by all clients. Alternatively, instead of root you can name one other member of the `printer admin` from the setting.

Now all the other users downloading and installing the driver the same way (called Point'n'Print) will have the same defaults set for them. If you miss this step you'll get a lot of helpdesk calls from your users. But maybe you like to talk to people.... ;-)

## Other Gotchas

Your driver is installed. It is ready for Point'n'Print installation by the clients now. You may have tried to download and use it onto your first client machine now. But wait... let's make you acquainted first with a few tips and tricks you may find useful. For example, suppose you didn't manage to "set the defaults" on the printer, as advised in the preceding paragraphs? And your users complain about various issues (such as “We need to set the paper size for each job from Letter to A4 and it won't store it!”)

### Setting Default Print Options for the Client Drivers

The last sentence might be viewed with mixed feelings by some users and admins. They have struggled for hours and hours and couldn't arrive at a point were their settings seemed to be saved. It is not their fault. The confusing thing is this: in the multi-tabbed dialog that pops up when you right-click the printer name and select Properties..., you can arrive at two identically looking dialogs, each claiming that they help you to set printer options, in three different ways. Here is the definite answer to the "Samba Default Driver Setting FAQ":

“I can't set and save default print options for all users on Win2K/XP! Why not?” How are you doing it? I bet the wrong way.... (it is not very easy to find out, though). There are 3 different ways to bring you to a dialog that seems to set everything. All three dialogs look the same. Only one of them does what you intend. Important: you need to be Administrator or Print Administrator to do this for all users. Here is how I reproduce it in on XP Professional:

1. The first "wrong" way:

   1. Open the Printers folder.

   2. Right-click on the printer (remoteprinter on cupshost) and select in context menu Printing Preferences...

   3. Look at this dialog closely and remember what it looks like.

2. The second "wrong" way:

   1. Open the Printers folder.

   2. Right-click on the printer (remoteprinter on cupshost) and select in the context menu Properties

   3. Click on the General tab

   4. Click on the button Printing Preferences...

   5. A new dialog opens. Keep this dialog open and go back to the parent dialog.

3. The third, the "correct" way: (should you do this from the beginning, just carry out steps 1. and 2. from second "way" above)

   1. Click on the Advanced tab. (Hmmm... if everything is "Grayed Out", then you are not logged in as a user with enough privileges).

   2. Click on the Printing Defaults... button.

   3. On any of the two new tabs, click on the Advanced... button.

   4. A new dialog opens. Compare this one to the other, identical looking one from "B.5" or A.3".

Do you see any difference in the two settings dialogs? I don't either. However, only the last one, which you arrived at with steps C.1.-6. will permanently save any settings which will then become the defaults for new users. If you want all clients to have the same defaults, you need to conduct these steps as administrator (`printer admin` in ) before a client downloads the driver (the clients can later set their own per-user defaults by following the procedures A. or B. above...). (This is new: Windows 2000 and Windows XP allow per-user default settings and the ones the administrator gives them, before they set up their own). The "parents" of the identically looking dialogs have a slight difference in their window names: one is called `Default Print Values for Printer Foo on Server Bar"` (which is the one you need) and the other is called "`Print Settings for Printer Foo on Server Bar`". The last one is the one you arrive at when you right-click on the printer and select Print Settings.... This is the one what you were taught to use back in the days of Windows NT! So it is only natural to try the same way with Win2k or WinXP. You wouldn't dream that there is now a different "clicking path" to arrive at an identically looking, but functionally different dialog to set defaults for all users!

### Tip

Try (on Win2000 and WinXP) to run this command (as a user with the right privileges):

`rundll32 printui.dll,PrintUIEntry /p /t3 /n\\`SAMBA-SERVER`\`printersharename``

to see the tab with the Printing Defaults... button (the one you need). Also run this command:

`rundll32 printui.dll,PrintUIEntry /p /t0 /n\\`SAMBA-SERVER`\`printersharename``

to see the tab with the Printing Preferences... button (the one which doesn't set system-wide defaults). You can start the commands from inside a DOS box" or from the Start -- Run... menu.

### Supporting large Numbers of Printers

One issue that has arisen during the recent development phase of Samba is the need to support driver downloads for 100's of printers. Using Windows NT APW here is somewhat awkward (to say the least). If you don't want to acquire RSS pains from such the printer installation clicking orgy alone, you need to think about a non-interactive script.

If more than one printer is using the same driver, the rpcclient setdriver command can be used to set the driver associated with an installed queue. If the driver is uploaded to `[print$]` once and registered with the printing TDBs, it can be used by multiple print queues. In this case you just need to repeat the setprinter subcommand of rpcclient for every queue (without the need to conduct the adddriver again and again). The following is an example of how this could be accomplished:

    root# rpcclient SAMBA-CUPS -U root%secret -c 'enumdrivers'
     cmd = enumdrivers

     [Windows NT x86]
     Printer Driver Info 1:
       Driver Name: [infotec  IS 2075 PCL 6]

     Printer Driver Info 1:
       Driver Name: [DANKA InfoStream]

     Printer Driver Info 1:
       Driver Name: [Heidelberg Digimaster 9110 (PS)]

     Printer Driver Info 1:
       Driver Name: [dm9110]

     Printer Driver Info 1:
       Driver Name: [myphantasydrivername]

     [....]

    root# rpcclient SAMBA-CUPS -U root%secret -c 'enumprinters'
     cmd = enumprinters
       flags:[0x800000]
       name:[\\SAMBA-CUPS\dm9110]
       description:[\\SAMBA-CUPS\dm9110,,110ppm HiVolume DANKA Stuttgart]
       comment:[110 ppm HiVolume DANKA Stuttgart]
     [....]

    root# rpcclient SAMBA-CUPS -U root%secret -c \
      'setdriver dm9110 "Heidelberg Digimaster 9110 (PS)"'
     cmd = setdriver dm9110 Heidelberg Digimaster 9110 (PPD)
     Successfully set dm9110 to driver Heidelberg Digimaster 9110 (PS).

    root# rpcclient SAMBA-CUPS -U root%secret -c 'enumprinters'
     cmd = enumprinters
       flags:[0x800000]
       name:[\\SAMBA-CUPS\dm9110]
       description:[\\SAMBA-CUPS\dm9110,Heidelberg Digimaster 9110 (PS),\
         110ppm HiVolume DANKA Stuttgart]
       comment:[110ppm HiVolume DANKA Stuttgart]
     [....]

    root# rpcclient SAMBA-CUPS -U root%secret -c 'setdriver dm9110 myphantasydrivername'
     cmd = setdriver dm9110 myphantasydrivername
     Successfully set dm9110 to myphantasydrivername.

    root# rpcclient SAMBA-CUPS -U root%secret -c 'enumprinters'
     cmd = enumprinters
       flags:[0x800000]
       name:[\\SAMBA-CUPS\dm9110]
       description:[\\SAMBA-CUPS\dm9110,myphantasydrivername,\
         110ppm HiVolume DANKA Stuttgart]
       comment:[110ppm HiVolume DANKA Stuttgart]
     [....]

It may be not easy to recognize: but the first call to enumprinters showed the "dm9110" printer with an empty string where the driver should have been listed (between the 2 commas in the "description" field). After the setdriver command succeeded, all is well. (The CUPS Printing chapter has more info about the installation of printer drivers with the help of rpcclient).

### Adding new Printers with the Windows NT APW

By default, Samba exhibits all printer shares defined in `smb.conf` in the Printers... folder. Also located in this folder is the Windows NT Add Printer Wizard icon. The APW will be shown only if:

- ...the connected user is able to successfully execute an OpenPrinterEx(\\server) with administrative privileges (i.e. root or `printer admin`).

  ### Tip

  Try this from a Windows 2K/XP DOS box command prompt:

  `runas /netonly /user:root rundll32 printui.dll,PrintUIEntry /p /t0 /n \\`SAMBA-SERVER`\`printersharename``

  and click on Printing Preferences...

- ... contains the setting `show add printer wizard` = yes (the default).

The APW can do various things:

- upload a new driver to the Samba `[print$]` share;

- associate an uploaded driver with an existing (but still "driverless") print queue;

- exchange the currently used driver for an existing print queue with one that has been uploaded before;

- add an entirely new printer to the Samba host (only in conjunction with a working `add printer command`; a corresponding `delete printer command` for removing entries from the Printers... folder may be provided too)

The last one (add a new printer) requires more effort than the previous ones. In order to use the APW to successfully add a printer to a Samba server, the `add printer command` must have a defined value. The program hook must successfully add the printer to the UNIX print system (i.e. to `/etc/printcap`, `/etc/cups/printers.conf` or other appropriate files) and to if necessary.

When using the APW from a client, if the named printer share does not exist, smbd will execute the `add printer command` and reparse to the to attempt to locate the new printer share. If the share is still not defined, an error of Access Denied is returned to the client. Note that the `add printer command` is executed under the context of the connected user, not necessarily a root account. A `map to guest` = bad user may have connected you unwittingly under the wrong privilege; you should check it by using the smbstatus command.

### Weird Error Message Cannot connect under a different Name

Once you are connected with the wrong credentials, there is no means to reverse the situation other than to close all Explorer windows, and perhaps reboot.

- The net use \\SAMBA-SERVER\sharename /user:root gives you an error message: `Multiple connections to a server or a shared resource by the same user utilizing the several user names are not allowed. Disconnect all previous connections to the server, resp. the shared resource, and try again.`

- Every attempt to "connect a network drive" to `\\SAMBASERVER\\print$` to z: is countered by the pertinacious message. `This network folder is currently connected under different credentials (username and password). Disconnect first any existing connection to this network share in order to connect again under a different username and password`.

So you close all connections. You try again. You get the same message. You check from the Samba side, using smbstatus. Yes, there are some more connections. You kill them all. The client still gives you the same error message. You watch the smbd.log file on a very high debug level and try re-connect. Same error message, but not a single line in the log. You start to wonder if there was a connection attempt at all. You run ethereal and tcpdump while you try to connect. Result: not a single byte goes on the wire. Windows still gives the error message. You close all Explorer Windows and start it again. You try to connect - and this times it works! Windows seems to cache connection info somewhere and doesn't keep it up to date (if you are unlucky you might need to reboot to get rid of the error message).

### Be careful when assembling Driver Files

You need to be very careful when you take notes about the files and belonging to a particular driver. Don't confuse the files for driver version "0" (for Win95/98/ME, going into `[print$]/WIN/0/`), driver version "2" (Kernel Mode driver for WinNT, going into `[print$]/W32X86/2/` may be used on Win2K/XP too), and driver version "3" (non-Kernel Mode driver going into `[print$]/W32X86/3/` can not be used on WinNT). Very often these different driver versions contain files carrying the same name; but still the files are very different! Also, if you look at them from the Windows Explorer (they reside in `%WINDOWS%\system32\spool\drivers\W32X86\`) you will probably see names in capital letters, while an "enumdrivers" command from Samba would show mixed or lower case letters. So it is easy to confuse them. If you install them manually using rpcclient and subcommands, you may even succeed without an error message. Only later, when you try install on a client, you will encounter error messages like `This server has no appropriate driver for the printer`.

Here is an example. You are invited to look very closely at the various files, compare their names and their spelling, and discover the differences in the composition of the version-2 and -3 sets Note: the version-0 set contained 40 (!) `Dependentfiles`, so I left it out for space reasons:

    root# rpcclient -U 'Administrator%secret' -c 'enumdrivers 3' 10.160.50.8

     Printer Driver Info 3:
             Version: [3]
             Driver Name: [Canon iR8500 PS3]
             Architecture: [Windows NT x86]
             Driver Path: [\\10.160.50.8\print$\W32X86\3\cns3g.dll]
             Datafile: [\\10.160.50.8\print$\W32X86\3\iR8500sg.xpd]
             Configfile: [\\10.160.50.8\print$\W32X86\3\cns3gui.dll]
             Helpfile: [\\10.160.50.8\print$\W32X86\3\cns3g.hlp]

             Dependentfiles: [\\10.160.50.8\print$\W32X86\3\aucplmNT.dll]
             Dependentfiles: [\\10.160.50.8\print$\W32X86\3\ucs32p.dll]
             Dependentfiles: [\\10.160.50.8\print$\W32X86\3\tnl32.dll]
             Dependentfiles: [\\10.160.50.8\print$\W32X86\3\aussdrv.dll]
             Dependentfiles: [\\10.160.50.8\print$\W32X86\3\cnspdc.dll]
             Dependentfiles: [\\10.160.50.8\print$\W32X86\3\aussapi.dat]
             Dependentfiles: [\\10.160.50.8\print$\W32X86\3\cns3407.dll]
             Dependentfiles: [\\10.160.50.8\print$\W32X86\3\CnS3G.cnt]
             Dependentfiles: [\\10.160.50.8\print$\W32X86\3\NBAPI.DLL]
             Dependentfiles: [\\10.160.50.8\print$\W32X86\3\NBIPC.DLL]
             Dependentfiles: [\\10.160.50.8\print$\W32X86\3\cpcview.exe]
             Dependentfiles: [\\10.160.50.8\print$\W32X86\3\cpcdspl.exe]
             Dependentfiles: [\\10.160.50.8\print$\W32X86\3\cpcedit.dll]
             Dependentfiles: [\\10.160.50.8\print$\W32X86\3\cpcqm.exe]
             Dependentfiles: [\\10.160.50.8\print$\W32X86\3\cpcspl.dll]
             Dependentfiles: [\\10.160.50.8\print$\W32X86\3\cfine32.dll]
             Dependentfiles: [\\10.160.50.8\print$\W32X86\3\cpcr407.dll]
             Dependentfiles: [\\10.160.50.8\print$\W32X86\3\Cpcqm407.hlp]
             Dependentfiles: [\\10.160.50.8\print$\W32X86\3\cpcqm407.cnt]
             Dependentfiles: [\\10.160.50.8\print$\W32X86\3\cns3ggr.dll]

             Monitorname: []
             Defaultdatatype: []

     Printer Driver Info 3:
             Version: [2]
             Driver Name: [Canon iR5000-6000 PS3]
             Architecture: [Windows NT x86]
             Driver Path: [\\10.160.50.8\print$\W32X86\2\cns3g.dll]
             Datafile: [\\10.160.50.8\print$\W32X86\2\IR5000sg.xpd]
             Configfile: [\\10.160.50.8\print$\W32X86\2\cns3gui.dll]
             Helpfile: [\\10.160.50.8\print$\W32X86\2\cns3g.hlp]

             Dependentfiles: [\\10.160.50.8\print$\W32X86\2\AUCPLMNT.DLL]
             Dependentfiles: [\\10.160.50.8\print$\W32X86\2\aussdrv.dll]
             Dependentfiles: [\\10.160.50.8\print$\W32X86\2\cnspdc.dll]
             Dependentfiles: [\\10.160.50.8\print$\W32X86\2\aussapi.dat]
             Dependentfiles: [\\10.160.50.8\print$\W32X86\2\cns3407.dll]
             Dependentfiles: [\\10.160.50.8\print$\W32X86\2\CnS3G.cnt]
             Dependentfiles: [\\10.160.50.8\print$\W32X86\2\NBAPI.DLL]
             Dependentfiles: [\\10.160.50.8\print$\W32X86\2\NBIPC.DLL]
             Dependentfiles: [\\10.160.50.8\print$\W32X86\2\cns3gum.dll]

             Monitorname: [CPCA Language Monitor2]
             Defaultdatatype: []

If we write the "version 2" files and the "version 3" files into different text files and compare the result, we see this picture:

    root# sdiff 2-files 3-files

     cns3g.dll                     cns3g.dll
     iR8500sg.xpd                  iR8500sg.xpd
     cns3gui.dll                   cns3gui.dll
     cns3g.hlp                     cns3g.hlp
     AUCPLMNT.DLL                | aucplmNT.dll
                                 > ucs32p.dll
                                 > tnl32.dll
     aussdrv.dll                   aussdrv.dll
     cnspdc.dll                    cnspdc.dll
     aussapi.dat                   aussapi.dat
     cns3407.dll                   cns3407.dll
     CnS3G.cnt                     CnS3G.cnt
     NBAPI.DLL                     NBAPI.DLL
     NBIPC.DLL                     NBIPC.DLL
     cns3gum.dll                 | cpcview.exe
                                 > cpcdspl.exe
                                 > cpcqm.exe
                                 > cpcspl.dll
                                 > cfine32.dll
                                 > cpcr407.dll
                                 > Cpcqm407.hlp
                                 > cpcqm407.cnt
                                 > cns3ggr.dll

Don't be fooled though! Driver files for each version with identical names may be different in their content, as you can see from this size comparison:

    root# for i in cns3g.hlp cns3gui.dll cns3g.dll; do                  \
               smbclient //10.160.50.8/print\$ -U 'Administrator%xxxx' \
               -c "cd W32X86/3; dir $i; cd .. ; cd 2; dir $i";      \
    		   done

      CNS3G.HLP               A   122981  Thu May 30 02:31:00 2002
      CNS3G.HLP               A    99948  Thu May 30 02:31:00 2002

      CNS3GUI.DLL             A  1805824  Thu May 30 02:31:00 2002
      CNS3GUI.DLL             A  1785344  Thu May 30 02:31:00 2002

      CNS3G.DLL               A  1145088  Thu May 30 02:31:00 2002
      CNS3G.DLL               A    15872  Thu May 30 02:31:00 2002

In my example were even more differences than shown here. Conclusion: you must be very careful to select the correct driver files for each driver version. Don't rely on the names alone. Don't interchange files belonging to different driver versions.

### Samba and Printer Ports

Windows NT/2000 print servers associate a port with each printer. These normally take the form of `LPT1:`, `COM1:`, `FILE:`, etc. Samba must also support the concept of ports associated with a printer. By default, only one printer port, named "Samba Printer Port", exists on a system. Samba does not really need such a "port" in order to print; it rather is a requirement of Windows clients. They insist on being told about an available port when they request this info, otherwise they throw an error message at you. So Samba fakes the port information to keep the Windows clients happy.

Note that Samba does not support the concept of "Printer Pooling" internally either. Printer Pooling assigns a logical printer to multiple ports as a form of load balancing or fail over.

If you require that multiple ports be defined for some reason or another (“My users and my Boss should not know that they are working with Samba”), possesses a `enumports command` which can be used to define an external program that generates a listing of ports on a system.

### Avoiding the most common Misconfigurations of the Client Driver

So - printing works, but there are still problems. Most jobs print well, some don't print at all. Some jobs have problems with fonts, which don't look good at all. Some jobs print fast, and some are dead-slow. We can't cover it all; but we want to encourage you to read the little paragraph about "Avoiding the wrong PostScript Driver Settings" in the CUPS Printing part of this document.

## The Imprints Toolset

The Imprints tool set provides a UNIX equivalent of the Windows NT Add Printer Wizard. For complete information, please refer to the Imprints web site at http://imprints.sourceforge.net/ as well as the documentation included with the imprints source distribution. This section will only provide a brief introduction to the features of Imprints.

Attention! Maintainer required. Unfortunately, the Imprints toolset is no longer maintained. As of December, 2000, the project is in need of a new maintainer. The most important skill to have is decent perl coding and an interest in MS-RPC based printing using Samba. If you wish to volunteer, please coordinate your efforts on the samba-technical mailing list. The toolset is still in usable form; but only for a series of older printer models, where there are prepared packages to use. Packages for more up to date print devices are needed if Imprints should have a future.

### What is Imprints?

Imprints is a collection of tools for supporting these goals:

- Providing a central repository information regarding Windows NT and 95/98 printer driver packages

- Providing the tools necessary for creating the Imprints printer driver packages.

- Providing an installation client which will obtain printer drivers from a central internet (or intranet) Imprints Server repository and install them on remote Samba and Windows NT4 print servers.

### Creating Printer Driver Packages

The process of creating printer driver packages is beyond the scope of this document (refer to Imprints.txt also included with the Samba distribution for more information). In short, an Imprints driver package is a gzipped tarball containing the driver files, related INF files, and a control file needed by the installation client.

### The Imprints Server

The Imprints server is really a database server that may be queried via standard HTTP mechanisms. Each printer entry in the database has an associated URL for the actual downloading of the package. Each package is digitally signed via GnuPG which can be used to verify that package downloaded is actually the one referred in the Imprints database. It is strongly recommended that this security check not be disabled.

### The Installation Client

More information regarding the Imprints installation client is available in the `Imprints-Client-HOWTO.ps` file included with the imprints source package.

The Imprints installation client comes in two forms.

- a set of command line Perl scripts

- a GTK+ based graphical interface to the command line Perl scripts

The installation client (in both forms) provides a means of querying the Imprints database server for a matching list of known printer model names as well as a means to download and install the drivers on remote Samba and Windows NT print servers.

The basic installation process is in four steps and perl code is wrapped around smbclient and rpcclient

- foreach (supported architecture for a given driver)

  1. rpcclient: Get the appropriate upload directory on the remote server

  2. smbclient: Upload the driver files

  3. rpcclient: Issues an AddPrinterDriver() MS-RPC

- rpcclient: Issue an AddPrinterEx() MS-RPC to actually create the printer

One of the problems encountered when implementing the Imprints tool set was the name space issues between various supported client architectures. For example, Windows NT includes a driver named "Apple LaserWriter II NTX v51.8" and Windows 95 calls its version of this driver "Apple LaserWriter II NTX"

The problem is how to know what client drivers have been uploaded for a printer. An astute reader will remember that the Windows NT Printer Properties dialog only includes space for one printer driver name. A quick look in the Windows NT 4.0 system registry at

`HKLM\System\CurrentControlSet\Control\Print\Environment`

will reveal that Windows NT always uses the NT driver name. This is ok as Windows NT always requires that at least the Windows NT version of the printer driver is present. However, Samba does not have the requirement internally. Therefore, how can you use the NT driver name if is has not already been installed?

The way of sidestepping this limitation is to require that all Imprints printer driver packages include both the Intel Windows NT and 95/98 printer drivers and that NT driver is installed first.

## Add Network Printers at Logon without User Interaction

The following MS Knowledge Base article may be of some help if you need to handle Windows 2000 clients: How to Add Printers with No User Interaction in Windows 2000. ( http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;en-us;189105 ). It also applies to Windows XP Professional clients.

The ideas sketched out below are inspired by this article. It describes a commandline method which can be applied to install network and local printers and their drivers. This is most useful if integrated in Logon Scripts. You can see what options are available by typing in a command prompt ("DOS box") this:

`rundll32 printui.dll,PrintUIEntry /?`

A window pops up which shows you all of the commandline switches available. An extensive list of examples is also provided. This is only for Win 2k/XP. It doesn't work on WinNT. WinNT has probably some other tools in the respective Resource Kit. Here is a suggestion about what a client logon script might contain, with a short explanation of what the lines actually do (it works if 2k/XP Windows clients access printers via Samba, but works for Windows-based print servers too):

    rundll32 printui.dll,PrintUIEntry /dn /n "\\sambacupsserver\infotec2105-IPDS" /q
    rundll32 printui.dll,PrintUIEntry /in /n "\\sambacupsserver\infotec2105-PS"
    rundll32 printui.dll,PrintUIEntry /y /n "\\sambacupsserver\infotec2105-PS"

Here is a list of the used commandline parameters:

/dn

  deletes a network printer

/q

  quiet modus

/n

  names a printer

/in

  adds a network printer connection

/y

  sets printer as default printer

- Line 1 deletes a possibly existing previous network printer infotec2105-IPDS (which had used native Windows drivers with LPRng that were removed from the server which was converted to CUPS). The /q at the end eliminates "Confirm" or error dialog boxes popping up. They should not be presented to the user logging on.

- Line 2 adds the new printer infotec2105-PS (which actually is same physical device but is now run by the new CUPS printing system and associated with the CUPS/Adobe PS drivers). The printer and its driver must have been added to Samba prior to the user logging in (e.g. by a procedure as discussed earlier in this chapter, or by running cupsaddsmb). The driver is now auto-downloaded to the client PC where the user is about to log in.

- Line 3 sets the default printer to this new network printer (there might be several other printers installed with this same method and some may be local as well -- so we decide for a default printer). The default printer selection may of course be different for different users.

Note that the second line only works if the printer infotec2105-PS has an already working print queue on "sambacupsserver", and if the printer drivers have successfully been uploaded (via APW , smbclient/rpcclient or cupsaddsmb) into the `[print$]` driver repository of Samba. Also, some Samba versions prior to version 3.0 required a re-start of smbd after the printer install and the driver upload, otherwise the script (or any other client driver download) would fail.

Since there no easy way to test for the existence of an installed network printer from the logon script, the suggestion is: don't bother checking and just allow the deinstallation/reinstallation to occur every time a user logs in; it's really quick anyway (1 to 2 seconds).

The additional benefits for this are:

- It puts in place any printer default setup changes automatically at every user logon.

- It allows for "roaming" users' login into the domain from different workstations.

Since network printers are installed per user this much simplifies the process of keeping the installation up-to-date. The extra few seconds at logon time will not really be noticeable. Printers can be centrally added, changed, and deleted at will on the server with no user intervention required on the clients (you just need to keep the logon scripts up to date).

## The addprinter command

The addprinter command can be configured to be a shell script or program executed by Samba. It is triggered by running the APW from a client against the Samba print server. The APW asks the user to fill in several fields (such as printer name, driver to be used, comment, port monitor, etc.). These parameters are passed on to Samba by the APW. If the addprinter command is designed in a way that it can create a new printer (through writing correct printcap entries on legacy systems, or execute the lpadmin command on more modern systems) and create the associated share in , then the APW will in effect really create a new printer on Samba and the UNIX print subsystem!

## Migration of "Classical" printing to Samba

The basic "NT-style" printer driver management has not changed considerably in 3.0 over the 2.2.x releases (apart from many small improvements). Here migration should be quite easy, especially if you followed previous advice to stop using deprecated parameters in your setup. For migrations from an existing 2.0.x setup, or if you continued "Win9x-style" printing in your Samba 2.2 installations, it is more of an effort. Please read the appropriate release notes and the HOWTO Collection for 2.2. You can follow several paths. Here are possible scenarios for migration:

- You need to study and apply the new Windows NT printer and driver support. Previously used parameters `printer driver file`, `printer driver` and `printer driver location` are no longer supported.

- If you want to take advantage of WinNT printer driver support you also need to migrate the Win9x/ME drivers to the new setup.

- An existing `printers.def` file (the one specified in the now removed parameter `printer driver file`) will work no longer with samba 3. In 3.0, smbd attempts to locate a Win9x/ME driver files for the printer in `[print$]` and additional settings in the TDB and only there; if it fails it will not (as 2.2.x used to do) drop down to using a `printers.def` (and all associated parameters). The make_printerdef tool is removed and there is no backwards compatibility for this.

- You need to install a Windows 9x driver into the `[print$]` share for a printer on your Samba host. The driver files will be stored in the "WIN40/0" subdirectory of `[print$]`, and some other settings and info go into the printing-related TDBs.

- If you want to migrate an existing `printers.def` file into the new setup, the current only solution is to use the Windows NT APW to install the NT drivers and the 9x drivers. This can be scripted using smbclient and rpcclient. See the Imprints installation client at:

  http://imprints.sourceforge.net/

  for an example. See also the discussion of rpcclient usage in the "CUPS Printing" section.

## Publishing Printer Information in Active Directory or LDAP

We will publish an update to this section shortly.

## Common Errors

### I give my root password but I don't get access

Don't confuse the root password which is valid for the UNIX system (and in most cases stored in the form of a one-way hash in a file named `/etc/shadow`) with the password used to authenticate against Samba!. Samba doesn't know the UNIX password; for root to access Samba resources via Samba-type access, a Samba account for root must be created first. This is often done with the smbpasswd command.

### My printjobs get spooled into the spooling directory, but then get lost

Don't use the existing UNIX print system spool directory for the Samba spool directory. It may seem convenient and a saving of space, but it only leads to problems. The two must be separate.

Prev | Up | Next
Chapter 17. Hosting a Microsoft Distributed File System tree on Samba | Home | Chapter 19. CUPS Printing Support in Samba 3.0