USB Printer - Is there a Print Server in the Airport?

I'm a little confused. I have an HP USB printer. I currently have it hooked to an iMac that shares it on the network with 2 other laptops. Now, if I go with the newest Airport it sounds from these boards that I can just plug it directly into the Airport USB and then all of the computers will see and be able to print to it?
I did think that I might have to get a separate print server device but it sound like the Airport does it now. The printer is a USB multi-function (not concerned about scanning, faxing, etc. just printing) and it only has a USB interface port on it, no networks ports so I'm assuming it is not network ready. The printer is about 3 years old.

Yes every AirPort Extreme base station (AEBS) has a built-in print server for compatible USB printers.

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Trying to print w/ an Epson Photo R260 and a Buffalo LPV3 USB Print Server

Long story. I had a home network with my iMac, my wife's PC and a Brother Multi-Function (networkable) printer...everything worked great. Tried to add an Epson Photo R260 so I can print photos and DVDs. Purchased a Buffalo LPV3 USB Print Server. Spent two long nights on the phone with Buffalo Tech Support (great guys!) and got the printer working with both the iMac and PC...so it seemed. Turns out the Epson would print documents from the iMac, but not CD/DVDs...it kept telling me that the CD Printer Driver wasn't installed. After several calls to Epson Tech Support (not so great), found out that the culprit was the Gutenprint Printer Driver that the Epson was using with the Buffalo Server via Bonjour. Replaced the Gutenprint with the proper Epson driver and everything is hunky-dory...as long as the Epson printer is plugged directly into the back of my iMac. As soon as I connect it to the Buffalo Print Server, it stops working.
I'm no rocket surgeon, but it seems to me that if when I'm setting up the printer with Bonjour, if I could direct it to find the proper driver, everything would be happy and I could print away. Any ideas how I can make all this wonderful stuff work together? I'd even be willing to forgo using the Epson on the network if there's a good (and relatively inexpensive) way of making the printer work with my iMac via Bluetooth. Thanks...

For the record, I have successfully been able to print with the printer connected straight to the Macbook.
Is the new 7.1.1 firmware going to do magic?

Can't connect to printer via usb print server

So I've tried to connect to an EPSON stylus printer from my iMac via a print server with no success.
Here's some info to help focus the questions/help:
iMac running Mavericks, Epson SP R200 printer, Belkin Play router, Toshiba Satellite laptop, Level1 USB print server
Win8.1 laptop prints via print server just fineso IP, port, firewall issues on router/print server side are ruled out.
I have the fire wall off on the iMac
I've quadruple checked IP and subnet numbers of iMac to rest of network, and they all jive.
I can pull up the config page of the print server via Safari on the iMacso connectivity is there
I previously had the printer attached directly to the iMac, and successfully printed.
I've tried to add the printer via IP > LPD method AND Advanced > Windows printer via spoolss
I can get as far as adding the printer, but as soon as I attempt to print a test page the printer has a "filter" error, or some "color" error, the job just goes into nothingness, or the job just sits there and the que is paused.
This is very frustrating to put it nicely.
-Vince

What driver are you using? - Don't know if you remember, but you had to be using Gutenprint, because Epson's driver for USB-only printers, only works via USB.
http://gimp-print.sourceforge.net/MacOSX.php

Can't connect to a networked printer - Airlink101 USB Print Server

I am new to Mac. I am trying to connect my iMac to a Brother HL-5040 laser printer through an Airlink101 USB print server over my wireless network. The iMac connected to the 802.11g network immediately without any issues which is more than I can say for the other XP machines I own. I have several other Windows PC's networked and they all print just fine. Using the print setup utility, I can find the networked print server and add it to the printer list; however, I can not print. The status monitor indicates that it can't connect. The install directions on the Airlink101 website for the Mac does not seem to match the options that are part of the "add a printer" utilility. Any help would be appreciated.

thlatz wrote:
When we try to add another one of the printers it finds the printer with the IP, it auto-detected the driver, then when I click next, I get an error stating there was an "error connecting to the printer would you continue anyway?"
We try to print but the queue just continuously pauses and nothing gets sent to the printer.
This could be a result of the protocol you selected. IPP is the default listed. If you remove this printer and add again, but this time change the protocol drop menu to HP Jetdirect-Socket, see if this works better for the user.

Netgear PS121 USB Print Server

I have a Netgear ps121 usb print server that is set to a static address. I also have an Epson R300 printer hooked up to it and it runs great in windows but I am unable to get my MAC to print to it.
I went to the printer setup utility and addes an IP printer and set the static IP address. I selected the Epson R300 from the driver list and clicked add. Documents will not print to it.
Any body have a clue what I can do to get it to work besides going through my windows xp parallels VM and using it that way?

I haven't got it to work (properly) yet either. There's a firmware upgrade to v. 6033 on the netgear website (which is supposed to fix printing under Mac OS X), but the installer is windows-only!. Grrr!
I've contacted netgear technical support and am waiting for a reply from them.
It also helped when I set the print queue to lp0, instead of leaving it as "default".
colin

HP 5550 Deskjet + USB Print server under Windows 7

I have a HP deskjet 5550 which still runs fine. I use the printer as a network printer, at first connected to my router. However, my latest Thomson TG789 vn router does not support network printers anymore, so I switched to a dedicated network-to-USB print server set-up, using a separate Ethernet to   USB 2.0 Print Server device. The printserver is connected to my network switch, and gets an IP address via DHCP.
This works fine for machines running Vista (and XP before) but for some reason not for Windows 7, while the HP5550 Deskjet when directly connected via a USB cable to a Windows 7 machine works OK too.   When a print job is sent to the HP 5550 via the print server over the network, it looks like the printing is about to start, but the process halts at this point without further messages.
Also the HP Print and Scan Doctor - often a very useful tool - is in this case not able to make contact with the printer via the print server and to resolve the issue.
This may just require a small tweak; Perhaps anyone else encountered this issue and has the solution?
Thanks for sharing.
Jan Dijckmeester

I have a HP deskjet 5550 which still runs fine. I use the printer as a network printer, at first connected to my router. However, my latest Thomson TG789 vn router does not support network printers anymore, so I switched to a dedicated network-to-USB print server set-up, using a separate Ethernet to   USB 2.0 Print Server device. The printserver is connected to my network switch, and gets an IP address via DHCP.
This works fine for machines running Vista (and XP before) but for some reason not for Windows 7, while the HP5550 Deskjet when directly connected via a USB cable to a Windows 7 machine works OK too.   When a print job is sent to the HP 5550 via the print server over the network, it looks like the printing is about to start, but the process halts at this point without further messages.
Also the HP Print and Scan Doctor - often a very useful tool - is in this case not able to make contact with the printer via the print server and to resolve the issue.
This may just require a small tweak; Perhaps anyone else encountered this issue and has the solution?
Thanks for sharing.
Jan Dijckmeester

Usb print server maybe wireless

We have two windows computers with attached printers. With our MBP we tried sharing either the canon Pixma mp830 or the HP PSC 700 but the results were I used windows printing with a "closest" match driver which seemed kind of goofy. I am thinking of adding a print server to the network so we dont have to have a pc on to print. Does it really matter what brand I get (of course I will get something like hp etc) to work with the apple, I am hoping with the print server that I can get more features of the printers than using windows printing?
Kihei

Beberas,
I'm not sure why you would have problems with that particular print server, being unfamiliar with it.
But, I can tell you about the Airport Express
Your profile mentions you have a G5 tower (do you also have a Macbook Pro, and that's why you are posting here??). If there is already an Airport card installed in it, you will not need another. If you have a Macbook Pro, it already has an Airport card.
The Airport Express would allow both wired and wireless printing, and it will do so seamlessly. As far as the AE is concerned, there will be no need for drivers, but you will need drivers for the various printers that are connected (I'll talk more about that).
Whether you want wireless connections, wired, or a mix of both makes no difference. If you want to go exclusively wireless, your Macbook Pro is ready, but your tower may not be. If you need an Airport card, it would be for the tower. The AE will either join an existing wireless network, or connect directly to the router via ethernet; your choice. If it is connected via ethernet, it could serve as a wireless "bridge" to the wired network, if you like (I am also unfamiliar with your router, and whether or not it is wireless).
Now, let's talk about printers and drivers. You should already have drivers for most popular printers installed with OS X. If the drivers for all your printers are present, any connected printers will be automatically recognized via Bonjour, and they will show up in your list of printers.
If you don't have the drivers for one or more printers, all is not necessarily lost. You might be able to find OS X native drivers on the manufacturer's website. If not, it is likely that OS X native drivers for a similar printer from the same manufacturer will work, but perhaps without all of the printer's features. I have a laser Samsung laser printer that works this way, and it works flawlessly (I had to find an appropriate, but not "dedicated," driver on the Samsung website).
Even if no appropriate OS X native driver exists, it still might be possible to use the printer. You see, OS X uses "CUPS," the Common UNIX Printing System. Using CUPS, it is possible to print to almost any printer, provided you can find a "Printer Description File" for that printer. That's all CUPS needs, in most cases, to print to that device. Again, all features might not be available, but CUPS can turn an otherwise useless printer into an asset.
In general, if you can print to something that is connected directly to your Mac, you can print to it through an Airport Express.
Scott

Error when trying to add printer on USB Print Server

I'm attempting to connect to a Canon MP530 printer via a Netcomm NP3680 USB Print Server.
When attempting to add the printer via the Print & Scan process, the USB port is seen by the MacBook and listed - ie: mini_me-3-usb2, and the driver is selected automatically without any problem after gathering printer information, however the macbook is unable to connect and returns the error: "An error occurred while trying to add the selected printer."
If a manual configuration is attempted the message returned is: "An error occurred while trying to add the selected printer. Unable to communicate with the printer at this time." Further manual config via the IP address will allow the printer to be entered, however the printer is non-responsive.
I have setup this printer via the same Print Server on the same Macbook prior to this and it setup and worked correctly - the same setup is working correctly on my wife's macbook. However I had to remove the setup on my Macbook and can't get the printer functioning again on this particular Macbook, or my son's.
The direct connection setup via USB directly works without any problem at all.
I'm currently running OSX 10.8.1, however my son is running 10.7.x and has the same problem. My wife's macbook is also running 10.7.x and is working fine.
Can anyone throw any light on this issue - it is truely frustrating, especially when I know it has worked in the past.
thanks very much in advance
GDT

After 55 views and 0 replies, and a number of calls to Applecare (without success) , I decided to once again troubleshoot the problem.
Fixed!
Bearing in mind, I had no other printers already set up in the Print and Scan window....
I removed the following items from the /library/preferences directory:
"com.apple.print.makequeues.plist",
"jp.co.canon.ij.print.filter.raster2canonij.plist",
"jp.co.canon.ij.print.utility.command2canonij.plist",
"org.cups.printers.plist"
I also removed all items from the /library/printers directory (including Canon, PPDs, plist files and icons)
Then I retried to install the printer..... (holidng my breath) and the Console showed:
Repairing access permissions of "/Library/Printers/InstalledPrinters.plist"
All is fine now

Printing via Network USB print server suddenly not working any more

I have always been able to print with my USB
printers connected through a small, pocket-sized Keyspan USB Print server, Model US-4A, very easily and seamlessly, - until the very latest update to Snow Leopard.
This server is connected to my router and the rest of my in-home Mac network by means of an ethernet port, and it has four USB device ports, 1 each for my various printers and a flatbed scanner. It worked well under OS 10.6 until just now.
Now, all of a sudden, though the server hardware can still easily "see" and connect to
the printers, when I actually hit 'PRINT', then the Mac OS
print dialogues are showing some of the printers as "offline." They show up as 'unavailable' in the dialogue where you choose which printer to print to and the print dialogue boxes show the print jobs cused but then report - 'printer offline'
When I bypass the print server - and connect the same
printers directly to the Mac's USB ports, they print fine.
It suits my setup to be able to continue printing via the print server, however, and I am wondering what sort of new issue could now begin fooling the MAC OS into thinking printers are not connected when it has had no trouble with the same print server and exactly the same physical connections previously ?
I've already tried 'deleting' and uninstalling the printers and then reinstalling, and this attempted fix does not work.
Any suggestions here ? Is this a known issue with 10.6.3 ?
What has happened to suddenly bring this about ? Any ideas ?

It appears that 10.6.4 has essentially broken the US-4A usb server. Keyspan's (now Tripp-Lite) response is that the latest driver is for 10.5.x and Snow-Leopard is still not supported. (1 year after 10.6.0 was released to the public). In fact, their response is that they do not even know if they will continue to produce the US-4A. Note that the U2S-2A (2 port USB 2.0) server does not support 10.6 either. Shame on Tripp-Lite for continuing to advertise, and sell a product that does not work with the current version of OS X.

Is there a difference between AirPrint and printing via usb printer plugged into an airport extreme?

My printer does not show up in the add a printer option on my iMac when plugged into the extreme. I have a HP officejet 5610 All-in-One. I want to be able to print wirelessly using my Airport Extreme. Thank you

Is there a difference between AirPrint and printing via usb printer plugged into an AirPort Exreme?
Big difference.
AirPrint for one will not work via USB, so you will not be able to print from an iOS device like an iPhone or iPad using this type of connection unless you look at additional software....that may or may not allow this option.
Assuming that you get the All-in-One setup using the USB port on the AirPort.......only printing is supported.
You will not be able to use any other advanced features like maintenance, scan, copy, fax, etc when the device is connected to the USB port on an AirPort.
If you plan to use the HP for other things, I would strongly recommend that you connect it to your computer.
My printer does not show up in the add a printer option on my iMac when plugged into the extreme.
This usually indicates that your printer model is not supported. Check with HP Support to see if they have any updated Macintosh drivers for the 5610 that you could download and install that might allow this.
HP Officejet 5610 All-in-One Printer Drivers - Hewlett Packard

USB Print Server

Can anyone recommend a wired USB print server to be connected to a wired router?
MacBook 2 GB, 1GB RAM Mac OS X (10.4.8)

I use the hp 6980 if works of wifi and it is good and makes nice prints.

Installing Printers from Windows 2008 R2 printer server using the Cname

Am having issues installing printers on workstations from the windows 2008 R2 print server using the DNS names. the servername and Full qualified Name works fine.
l have tweaked the Registry and Disabled the StrictNameChecking but still getting an error. this is the message am getting...
Printer Installation Failed
You do not have enough privilege to complete the printer installation on the local machine.
I found this KB and did exactly what is in the KB but stilll....
lhttp://support.microsoft.com/kb/870911/en-us
need help

Hi.
I think I solved this yesterday. We got 1 printserver, with an alias, which we had this problem to connect to. I noticed that there is a difference between x86 and 64bits system entries in the registry...
When you are having a 64bit system, you must use REG_QWORD instead of REG_DWORD, REG_DWORD is only to be used in x86 system! See below.
Windows 2008 server R2 64-bit
HKLM\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Control\Print
= ”DnsOnWire” = REG_QWORD Decimal = 1
(reg add hklm\system\currentcontrolset\control\print /v DnsOnWire /t REG_QWORD /d 1)
HKLM\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\services\LanmanServer\Parameters
= DisableStrictNameChecking = REG_QWORD Decimal = 1
(reg add hklm\system\currentcontrolset\services\lanmanserver\parameters /v DisableStrictNameChecking /t REG_QWORD /d 1)
HKLM\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\services\LanmanServer\Parameters\
REG_SZ = OptionalNames = “aliasname” (C-name record in DNS)
(reg add hklm\system\currentcontrolset\services\lanmanserver\parameters /v OptionalNames /t REG_SZ)
Windows 2008 server x86
HKLM\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Control\Print = "DnsOnWire" = REG_DWORD Decimal = 1
(reg add hklm\system\currentcontrolset\control\print /v DnsOnWire /t REG_DWORD /d 1)
HKLM\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\services\Lanmanserver\Parameters = DisableStrictNameChecking = REG_DWORD Decimal = 1
(reg add hklm\system\currentcontrolset\services\lanmanserver\parameters /v DisableStrictNameChecking /t REG_DWORD /d 1)
HKLM\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\services\LanManServer\Parameters\ REG_SZ = OptionalNames = “aliasname”
(C-name record in DNS)
(reg add hklm\system\currentcontrolset\services\lanmanserver\parameters /v OptionalNames /t REG_SZ)
Don't forget to reboot your system after these changes!
Best Regards, Mats

Can any printer connect to the airport extreme or do i need a special printer?

can any printer connect to the airport extreme or do i need a special printer?

There are rare exceptions but any USB printer should be able to use its USB printer port. Only the print function of all-in-one a/k/a "multifunction" devices will work with the USB port though.
The Extreme will support any networked (wired or wireless) printer or multifunction device.

My printer works thorugh the airport but my internet wont

I have been using the airport fine, then suddenly today it stopped working.
I tried to see if the internet was the problem but it works directly plugged in , my printer also still prints wirelessly thorugh the airport express. When I plug the internet connection in it just flashes orange, how should I fix this ?

Hi
Im having the same problem (almost)my Light on Airport Express in Green when attempting internet access
The printer works (I somehow managed to solve my setup issues there)
Internet works when cable plugged in to computer
Started to slow down - I noticed it when updating my podcasts and initially thought it was an itunes issue
Any suggestions anyone???
Cheers
Cecilia

There was an error joining the Airport network

Re: error joining the Airport Network
My wife and I bought two new Macbooks at Best Buy on December 28, 2006. On the first day, I set them both up to work with our 2WIRE wireless router, and they both worked flawlessly.
However, on January 27, 2007, my wife started her MacBook, tried to select the wireless router in the Airport drop down menu (like she always has done before with no problem), and received the following error message:
"There was an error joining the Airport network "2WIRE229"
After several unsuccessful attempts to fix this problem by restarting and reconnecting, I did some research on the internet and came across the following discussions from other people who have experienced exactly the same problem:
http://discussions.apple.com/thread.jspa?messageID=3815739

I am having the same problem. I have an access point in my living room and a homework desk in my bedroom. My desk is maybe thirty feet from the access point through one wall. The desk does sit in front of a window. When I try to use my PowerBook at my homework desk I can, intermittently, pick up three access points: mine and two others. The two others are on the same channel as each other, but that should not be interfering with my access point and certainly shouldn't be causing it to disappear from the list all together.
Hoping that my signal just wasn't reaching well enough (the antenna on the AP was not very prominent) I bought a 6dBi antenna for it. My PowerBook has always worked in the living room and certainly works there now. I do get a much stronger signal in my bedroom but I still can't use the laptop on my homework desk.
What doesn't make any sense in all of this is that the wall in my room with the window is the same wall in the living room where there is a large sliding glass door. So, if the interfering signal is coming from outside it should be affecting the living room as well. I am at my wits end on this one.

USB Printer - Is there a Print Server in the Airport?

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