Novell problem/question

[fredwest]

Hi,
Not so much a problem as a 'how to' question.

I need to add printer drivers to a printer object in nwadmin32 so as when a user maps a path to this printer the drivers are uploaded to the users PC. This gives the user the ability to use all of the printers features....duplexing, hdd etc...

I find the broker for the ndps manager and open the details. I then click on the 'resource management' button. I click on 'Windows 2000 drivers' and then click 'add'. A new box appears and I click the 'browse' button to point to the drivers on my printers CD. However nothing happens when I click this button.

I'm quite good in Novell with setting up NDPS printers, user rights, groups etc but this is a new aspect to management that I haven't done before and have been asked to do in my job....

Am I going about this the right way? If not then how exactly do I do this? The vast majority of printers I will be setting are HPs......although I don't think that should make a lot of difference....

Any Novell guys out there with any advice? The print server is running Novell 5.

Any help would be greatly appreciated as I'm on contract from my job to this company and I'd like to do it right first time!!

[Force Flow]

Are you working on installing printer drivers on server itself or are you trying to install the printer drivers on workstations?

If I'm reading this right, you will need to install the printers on the workstations like you would any other printer. Go into "printers" in the control panel; right click and select "add printer"

In the printer properties, in the "general" tab, for location, you will need to enter "//[server name]/[printer name]" in the "location" box.

(I'm not on a 2k system right now, so I'm doing this from memory).

When you go to select a printer port, make sure you select LPT2 (or higher, if it's being used). LPT1 is usually used for a local printer, and it makes things a heck of a lot easier later if you set LPT1 aside.

Sooo...Just intall the drivers, and you should be ready to roll. What printers are you using, btw?

As for the permissions on the server, if there are different sets of users, it will make the job easier. Load the selected printer into the specified groups that need the certain printer. (Again, I can't give you specifics, unfortunatley, as I'm trying to do this from memory).

Anyway, when a user of the group with the certain printer logs on with novell client, those permissions will kick in and allow the user access to the printer.

Hope this helps!

[fredwest]

Hi force_flow,
Thanks for the input.

I want to avoid having to load the printer drivers manually on every users PC. This is the whole point of NDPS printing.

I want the drivers loaded onto the NDS for a given printer. When a user maps a path to this printer by using 'add printer' the printer is connected AND the drivers are pushed down onto the users PC too!

Of course I can just go around with a cd and manually load the drivers when prompted but it's time consuming and unnecessary if I could figure out what I'm doing wrong......or not doing at all

The printers are mainly HP 4200DTN's & 5500DN's.

Again thanks for the reply. Is this info any clearer?

[Force Flow]

Sorry fredwest, I haven't had the opportunity to try what you are describing. I administer a network of 250-300 computers, and what we do is set up one computer (O/S, client software, printers, etc) ghost it, and run multicast, which installs the ghost image on multiple computers on the network at the same time. So, usually, we only have to actually configure one or 2 workstations in a lab. However, we do have to go around and change the names of the computers after running multicast since all the computers recieve the ghost image's name.

Any other time that individual users need specific printers, we have go around and install them manually.

[mikeL]

been a while since I've used Novell, but what about creating a public access printer agent ?

[fredwest]

bump

[antbytes]

What a shame Novell sold NDPS as a product which distributes a modified profile.

IT DOESN'T WORK - Did I say that loud enough ?

Novell recommend 'Printer Properties Pro'

http://www.novell.com/coolsolutions/tools/13504.html

We won't pay for it - I suspect we will dump Novell (not just for this reason)