atcomsystems.ca/forum Forums Computers & Programming Computers, Software, Accessories remote desktop printing

I have two Windows Vista PC's, and I connect from PC A to PC B via Remote Desktop. Connected to PC A, is a Brother USB printer. While connected to PC B, there are instances where I would like to print what I am working with on PC B to the Brother printer on PC A. In my remote desktop setup, I have checked Printers under the local resources tab, but when I connect...my printer does not show up in my printers list. This did work with the old HP Deskjet 842 that I had. Any ideas what I may be doing wrong?

Is the driver for the Brother installed on the connecting PC?

Justin

You need a matching driver on both ends.

Does the printer have sharing enabled?

Print sharing is not turned on. How do I install the print driver for the printer on PC B, without the printer physically being present to install it?

After you turn on print sharing on PC A, and then try to access the printer from PC B - it should automatically transfer the required driver files to PC B from PC A.

Do workgroup names etc. need to be the same on both machines, or is that not an issue if going thru remote desktop?

It's generally better to keep them the same, but if you can RDC from one desktop to another I don't _think_ it should matter. Can you see the printer on PC B, after having enabled it for sharing (via printer properties) on PC A?

I enabled print sharing on PC A, but it still does not show up on PC B. Any other suggestions? PMCook mentioned having matching drivers on both ends. How would I go about installing the correct driver on PC B, without the printer actually being at that site?

I don't have an answer for that, other than temporarily moving the printer over to PC B from PC A.

Assuming you can't do that, the driver will probably require that it can see the printer before it installs anything, so I don't know how you would do it.

I still think the key is to be able to "see" the printer before worrying about the drivers.

Let's take remote desktop out of the equation for the moment. Assuming you were sitting in front of PC B, you should still be able to print to PC A, completely outside of remote desktop.

So, in this situation, I'd try:

1) As you mentioned earlier, make sure both PC's are on the same workgroup, rebooting as needed.

2) Sitting in front of PC B, go to control panel -> printers.

3) Select "Add a printer".

4) Select "Add a network printer"

5) Wait while windows searches for available network printers. There's a chance it will find PC A, and the printers on it, and from there you would select it and the drivers should automatically install.

6) If it didn't find it, then select "The printer that I want isn't listed".

7) In the next dialog, you can either type the machine name, followed by the printer name (e.g. \\PC A\BrotherPrinter) or, you can hit the Browse button.

8) If you had to hit the browse button, you should see PC A listed. From there you should be able to select PC A, and the printer should be listed as a shared resource under it, you should then be able to select it, and then the drivers will install.

9) You should be able to go back to PC A now, remote in to PC B, and the printers on PC A will still be listed, just as if you were still sitting in front of it.

I know there were alot of "shoulds" in the above steps. The reason for this, and what's got me scratching my head is you'd mentioned you had this working before, only with a different printer - that tells me your network is set up properly for remote printing.

Give the "Add a printer" option a shot, and we'll go from there.

Strictly speaking RDP. You may need to install the printer on to the host machine before RDP will initiate the printer connection. However USB printers and RDP is very finicky and i suggest you do a Bing search for help and suggestions (RDP and USB printer redirect). We setup RDP with clients on a weekly basis, and invariably this always comes up; you either need to go with a parallel printer or one with a network card installed for guaranteed success.

This may be obvious, but do you have printers checked under the local resource tab?

Of course all the suggestions above are a work around, assuming the PC are on the same network; but windows printing and sharing protocols have nothing to do with RDP and the ability to print.

Printers is checked under local resources of the RDP setup. I cannot sit at PC B and add the printer on PC A via Control Panel | Printers, as the two PC's are in separate towns and separate networks. The old printer I had was connected via parallel port. Not sure what else to try.

Connect remotely, download driver and install. However like i said, it may not solve the problem, and i suggest you do a search on what i spoke about above.

"as the two PC's are in separate towns and separate networks"

Oh. Now we're talking a slightly different ballgame.

Ok, well then we have to put RDP back into the picture. Can you try the add printer option as above, but instead of going to the PC, just try it via RDP?

Another question: When you connect via RDP, do you use the PC name, or it's IP address?

I connect via IP address.

OK, that's what I thought. Before we can worry about printing, we need to first make sure that PC A is visible from PC B.

The above steps I listed should help you determine that. Optionally, you could use windows explorer to browse your workgroup computers.

So the next question - can you "see" PC A from PC B?

So, you are saying once I Remote Desktop to PC B from PC A, I should be able to see PC A from PC B's Network and Sharing Center?

NOOOOO!

Matt,

No offense but I don’t think you know what you are talking about here. He is connecting over the internet to the host machine via a routable/public address. Windows workgroup name resolution will not resolve over the internet, unless he has some sort of VPN setup. But even that typically requires some sort of domain controller with DNS and/or WINS server for NetBIOS resolution, which is what windows workgroup typically uses. If indeed he does have that type of setup, he certainly would not be here asking how to install a printer on an RDP host, his skill level would be far beyond that, or the network administrator would be involved at this point.

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No offense taken....! We're all just going off what info we have. If I'm off base, I'm cool with that, and appreciate the correction. With that said, I think it's best I step away from this now; as I'm out of ideas and don't want to steer anything into the ditch (that is .. any more than maybe I already have)

I appreciate everyone's help and suggestions so far. I checked PC B, and it appears that Windows already has the driver for this particular printer built into it. But I still cannot get it to see my printer when I remote into it.

You just need the driver. You can specify any port. You do not need the printer to be connected to the remote. The printer will use a logical port associated with the TS session. They are labelled TS00n where n is the session number.

Can I go to PC B and simply go to "Add a printer" and specify a a TS00n port?

Just install the driver. Choose LPT1. Then when you connect from the other PC it will change the port. TS will see the matching driver and know you want to print to your own local printer port.

Thanks for the suggestion. I will try it out.

It'll work. Just remember that TS will create a local logical printer on the remote system for every driver it sees in the remote that matches on on the host. It's all automatic if you check the proper resources check box under the options part of the connection applet.

I tried your suggestion, and still nothing. On PC B, I installed the printer and told the computer it was a local printer and to use LPT1. I then connected from PC A to PC B, but the printer is still listed on LPT1 and not on a TS port. Anything I may be missing?

OK, you should see another icon for that printer specifically for TS. You can actually delete the printer you just added, all you need is the drivers in the system folder. What printer is it specifically? Some printers are not compatible with TS.

start -> control panel -> printers. File -> Run as Administrator -> Server Properties (I believe that is the way to that window, don't have vista in front of me atm). Then select the Drivers tab. Do you see the printer driver for the model printer you are trying to use listed there? If not, you need to add it.

The printer I am trying to use is a Brother HL-2140. It is connected to PC A via USB. No other printer icons are present on PC B. I am assuming that the driver is present on PC B, as this printer is listed in the built-in Windows list when I added the printer. Thats the one I used anyways.

The best I can say is the driver just will not work under TS with Vista. You see that often in printers which rely heavily on support programs, such as the HP Photosmart printer. Those never work under TS. That said, you can look into Microsoft's Easy Print. I have not dealt with it myself, and it may only run under 2008 Server but have a look.

Man ffej010, i sure wish you would have done an internet search on what i recommended above; and perhaps you wouldn't have led everybody on this wild goose chase. Not only that you might have solved the problem by now.

I am not sure that this has been a wild goose chase as you call it. I think it is just an issue of this particular printer/driver not working over RDP. I have searched the Internet high and low, trying just about every suggestion mentioned. I even have tried installing the printer locally, as you suggested, to PC B verified print is ok, and then taking printer back to PC A and trying again w/ no luck.

I think I will leave this dead horse lie and attempt another avenue. I do appreciate everyone's time and suggestions.

I am chiming in late on this... sorry.

but for posterity, this is what we do.

I have 5 hotels and a CenRez that Remote into a Property Management System. Obviously I can't load 100 different printers onto the Terminal Server.
I use a program that emulates local printer drivers for each TS Client session...works like a champ.

The problem (and this may have been discussed) is that traditionally, even though the printers are available through the Terminal Server Client, there has to be a translation driver-wise for the Terminal Server to at least pass the job along. That whole process has been jacked since Citrix, which is really all RDP is (even the DOS comands for querying and removing clients is the same.) anyway, the only solid way to get it running is to:

a: Install the drivers on the server for every flavor of windows.

b: Use ScrewDrivers to emulate and pass the drivers to your Terminal Server on a connection by connection basis.

A: sucks
B: doesn't require possibly blowing up your server with dirty drivers for 100 different printers, gives the client the ability to choose what printer they want to use, and requires 0 install on the server.

PM'ing a link if you'd like to 'evaluate' it.

M$ never fixed what really is a bad way to do printing over TS. What they really just needed was a passthrough driver that redirected the printing to the client. PCAnywhere did just that and it worked fine.