Printing has always been a bit of a chore for me when dealing with OS X and a non USB connected printer (ie: Windows sharing).

My current setup is this: MacBookPro with Leopard. A Canon MP160 all-in-one connected to a 320Gb Maxtor Shared Storage II external drive (this has 2 usb ports which I have a 500g maxtor external drive and the Canon connected to) and an RJ-45 port that is connected to my router.

I came across this post from http://discussions.apple.com/thread.jspa?threadID=1229551 and it worked, so I'm propagating the solution:

Re: Help printed to windows shared printer Posted: Nov 17, 2007 2:07 PM in response to: flurbyrock
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Greetings:

I'll just throw in my 2c. Forum participant "Camotec" at

http://discussions.apple.com/thread.jspa?messageID=5852413

has also provided a solution to the printing difficulties encountered under Leopard, especially to shared printers connected to another machine (Windows) on a network.

Here is his advice/step by step - worked for me, finally!

"Hey guys,

I have the solution for you.

Prerequisites: 1. your windows PC with the printer on it needs to have an admin account on it with a single word no spaces. (preferred unix) 2. your printer sharename is a single word (ie. Canon iP4300 should be just ip4300).

Now follow the below steps:

  1. Open your system preferences > Open Print & Fax +2. Click + to add a printer.+
  2. Right-click on the Toolbar at the top and select "Customise Toolbar..."
  3. Drag the "Advanced" icon to the toolbar & select "Done"
  4. Click the "Advanced" icon
  5. Select "Windows" from the "Type:" drop down menu
  6. In the "URL:" textbox type the location of your windows printer in the format below (use the format depending on whether your Windows PC sharing the Printer has a password or not): smb://username:password@ipaddress/printersharename <- Print Server does have a password smb://username@ipaddress/printersharename <- Print Server does NOT have a password (eg. smb://barney@125.254.95.101/ip4300)
  7. Enter a Name and Location. (Human Friendly Names with Spaces are allowed)
  8. Now select the appropriate driver and then click "Add"
  9. Try printing somthing and then it will ask for a username and password of your windows server. Type and username and then the password and then add this to your keychain and click OK.

And there you go. Printing in OSX 10.5

Cheers Ben Camilleri Camotec Web Solutions ben@camotec.com.au http://www.camotec.com.au