Connecting to a Network Printer in Mac OS X

Contents:

Section 1 - Guide Introduction
Section 2 - Configuration and Installation Prerequisites
Section 3 - Configuration and Installation Steps
     Section 3a = Procedure for installation of print queue in a Mac OS X machine
     Section 3b Installation and configuration of Printer specific device drivers
APPENDIX A: How to search for list of available print queue
APPENDIX B: How to add a Print Queue in a user’s Active Directory Profile

Section 1 - Introduction

Configuring a Mac Computer to enable access to a network printer is one of the deliverable when working with Mac OS X based computer. The process of adding a print queue in a Mac OS X based computer is not as straight forward compared to adding a print queue in a Windows based machine.

This document guide provides:

1. List prerequisites that must be met prior to configuring access to a network printer.
2. Step by step procedure on how to configure access to a network printer from a user’s Mac OS X based computer.

Audience

This document is recommended reading for Desktop Support personnel who need to configure access to a print queue in a Mac OS X based computer that is connected to the CSULB Active Directory (AD) and CSULB network.

Section 2 - Configuration and Installation Prerequisites

Read Configuration and Installation Prerequisites section before beginning the installation. Failure to do so may result in an installation failure.

The list below provides all pre-requisite items that installer and user has to have before starting the configuration and installation of a print queue.

• This instructions will only work on Mac OS X Computers connected to the CSULB campus network via wired or wireless (Wi-Fi connection using beachnet+ not Guest).
• Ensure Centrify software is installed in the Mac Computer and user is logged in to the machine using his/her Beach ID account and not a local account.
• This instruction assume the print-queue is published in ITS Print Servers ITS-PRINT01 and ITS-PRINT02. Some departments publish their network printers utilizing their own department specific Print Server in which case, these instructions are not applicable.
• To search for a list of available Printers and its print queue name, refer to Appendix A: Search for list of available Printers.
• Having extracted the name of the print queue from previous prerequisite, requester must contact his/her department’s Campus Technical Coordinator to add print queue's security group to his/her Active Directory membership.For steps on how to add the print queue to the user’s Active Directory profile, refer to Appendix B, adding the print queue to the user Active Directory membership.

Section 3 - Configuration and Installation Steps

Section 3a: Procedure for installation of print queue in a Mac OS X based Computer

This section lists the steps to add a print queue in a Mac OS X based computer utilizing Generic PostScript Printer or Generic PCL Printer drivers.

1. Open System Preferences by going to the Apple Menu select System Preferences.
   
   
2. In the System Preferences window, open Printers and Scanners.
   
   
3. In the Printers and Scanners window, click the lock icon so it is displayed in the unlock position, followed by clicking the ‘+’ symbol to add a new print queue. Select Add printer and Scanner from the pop-up menu.
   
   
4. The Add window appears as shown below. Hover your mouse around the menu area and CTRL + mouse click the area to expose the menu shown below. Select Customize Toolbar from the pop-up menu.
   
   
5. Customize Toolbar window appears. Drag the Advanced (gear icon) item to the toolbar as shown below then click Done.
   
   
6. In the Add window, click on Advanced menu item to open Advanced configuration.
7. In Type dropdown list, select Windows printer via spoolss option as shown below.
   
   
8. In the URL textbox, type the SMB path to the print queue at ITS-PRINT01 print server for example:
        smb://its-print01/ATHL-KonicaC364-BAAC
   
   In the Name text box, type in an appropriate print queue name, for example:
        ATHL-KonicaC364-BAAC
   
   Enter the appropriate location in Location text box as shown below.
   
   
9. In the Use dropdown list, select Select Software item as shown below.
   
   
10. The Printer Software drop down menu appears. Scroll down to select Generic PostScript Printer or Generic PCL Printer as shown below then click OK.
    
    
    
    
    Note: Select generic PS or PCL driver.
11. Click Add button to add the print-queue in the client machine and test to see if printing works.
12. If a test page is printed using the newly configured print queue then configuration is complete. Skip performing Section 3b.
13. If after selecting a generic driver based from directions in previous steps, print queue will not work then proceed to Section 3b Installation or Printer Device Drivers. After completing that section, return to re-perform this section.

Section 3b: Installation and configuration of Printer specific device drivers

This section shows the steps to download, install, and configuration of device drivers specific to the make and model of the Printer being added in the Mac Computer. This section needs to be performed if after utilizing generic Postscript (PS) or Printer Control Language (PCL) drivers in previous section does not give user ability to print utilizing the print queue. In that case, this section must be performed, then return to re-perform Section 3a.

• In user’s desktop, open a browser window. Go to a search engine website to look for the latest version of Mac platform specific device driver software for the make and model of the Printer being added to user’s Mac OS X based Computer.
• Download the *.dmg printer drive installer for the specific Printer model and version of Mac OS X from the Printer manufacturer’s website.
  
  
• Open the *.dmg file by clicking on it and select “open’ from the pop-up menu.
• The dmg file is mounted as a virtual drive. Navigate to the virtual drive.
• While in the virtual drive, locate the *.pkg file and open it.
  
  
• Click Install, Continue, and Agree, to install the driver software.
• If an Admin credential window appears, have Technical Coordinator who has knowledge of Local Admin credentials enter local administrator’s password then click Install Software.


• Click Close to confirm that printer driver software has been installed.
  
  
• Return to Section 3a Procedure for installation of print queue in a Mac OS X based Computer to re-perform that section. In the step which asks for printer device driver, select device driver specific to the make and model of the printer.

APPENDIX A: How to search for a print queue from a list of available Printers

The list below shows the procedure on how to search for a desired print queue using a Windows based machine. As of this writing there is no established process to search list of print-queue from a Mac OS X based Computer. Search of available print queue is performed using a Windows based Computer.

1. Using a Windows based computer, ensure user is logged into the machine using his/her Beach ID and corresponding password.
2. Open File Explorer by right clicking Start button and select File Explorer from the menu.
   
   
3. File Explorer window opens. In the address bar type '\\its-print01' or '\\its-print02' without quotes as shown below.
   
   
4. User should be presented with a list of available network printers that he/she can choose from. Make a note of the print-queue's name.
5. Submit a request to user's Technical Coordinator that print-queue selected from previous step must be added to his/her Active Directory (AD) profile membership.
6. When user gets a confirmation from Technical Coordinator that print-queue has been added to his/her AD profile membership, issue the command: gpupdate /force from command line console as shown below.
   
   

APPENDIX B: How to add a Print Queue in a user’s Active Directory Profile

List below shows the procedure on how to enable add the desired print queue in a user’s Active Directory Profile.

1. Locate the Active Directory Users and Computer (ADUC) console Shortcut from Windows Administrative Tools folder.
2. Press Shift key and right click ADUC shortcut. Select Run as different user from the context menu.
3. Run as different user dialog box appears. Enter your Administrator credentials then click OK to utilize ADUC as an Administrator.
4. Use Find to search the user whose profile the print queue needs to be added to.
5. Open the user’s Active Directory Profile and click Member Of tab as shown below.
   
   
   
   Click Add.
6. The Select Groups dialog box appears. In the text box labeled Enter the object name, type in the Active Directory Security Group name of the Printer as shown below.
   
   
7. Click Check Names button to verify that the Security Group has been typed accurately. Active Directory confirms that it is a valid Security Group name and displays path to Security Group.
8. If Active Directory verifies existence of print queue Security Group then click OK.
9. Back in the user’s AD Profile, click Apply, then OK.