Printing to 10.4 With Windows XP
9th May 2006, 10:30:27
By popular demand, here's how to set up printing from a Windows XP PC to a printer shared from Mac OS 10.4.x "Tiger"...
On the Mac, go to System Preferences → Accounts. Click the lock to authenticate and then add a new user with the '+' button. Fill in the fields like this:
Make up a username and password without special characters or spaces. Do not enable administrator access. When you're done, click 'Create Account'. Make a note of the details, you'll need them later.
Now, click 'Show all' and go to the 'Sharing' preference pane. Tick 'windows sharing' and 'printer sharing'.
Click on Windows sharing and make a note of the IP address shown at the bottom of the window. Now click 'Enable Accounts...' and tick the user just created. you need to enter the password you just created. Click Done.
Move over to your PC. Click Start → Run and type '\\11.22.33.44', substituting your IP address as noted a moment earlier. You'll be prompted for a username and password, you should use the one you just created on the Mac.
You'll see a list of the printers you have connected to the Mac:
Right click on the one you want to use and click 'Connect...', accept the security warning by clicking Yes. You'll be told that the computer you are connecting to doesn't have the right drivers, which is fine, just click OK. Any PostScript driver will do, if you're not sure, Choose 'Apple' as the make and 'Apple Color LW 12/660' as the model.
Now click OK. If you go to Start → Settings → Printers and Faxes, you'll see your Printer. Try printing a document to test it. If you get unexpected results (parts of the document don't print, etc. try deleting the printer and re-adding it with a different driver. I've had good results with the LaserWriter drivers and also the HP LaserJet drivers.