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Add a LPR Printer to Windows XP


IT supports the use of HP Printers on EN machines. For a complete list of How To's for these printers, go to this Printers page.

 

If your office has another network printer or network Multifunction device, you should work through the Printer Vendor or the Distributor where the printer was purchased to install the printer on your network and setup your computers to print to it. County Extension offices may be able to work with their County IT staff as well.

 

These steps are provided AS IS. They describe using Windows XP's "LPR port" to setup a network device as a printer.

Points to Consider
Ensure that Add Other File and Print Services is installed
Verify that you can PING the Device
Configure Windows XP to print via an LPR port
Points to Consider
  1. The network printer or device will need a static IP address to be seen on your network by the computer. This can be set via the control panel on the device itself. Certain devices may also have a web interface. See its documentation. The below Notes may be used by County Extension offices to determine what IP address to assign to the device. Once the IP address is assigned, you should be able to PING the device to ensure that the computer can reach it over the network.

    Note: The following is provided as an example only but would apply in a County Extension office using a Netgear or DSL connection. If you have more than one printer to configure, reduce the IP address number by one. Examples: 192.168.1.252, 192.168.1.251, etc. The Subnet Mask and Gateway would stay the same.

    Non-Server County
    IP address: 192.168.1.253
    Subnet Mask: 255.255.255.0
    Gateway: 192.168.1.1
    Server County
    IP address: 192.168.14.10 (See note)
    Subnet Mask: 255.255.255.0
    Gateway: 192.168.14.1 (See note)

    Note: Server counties will have specific numbers for their county. At the time of server installation, you will be given your network numbers. Please refer to them when you are assigning IP addresses to your device. The range of numbers for your printers will begin at .10. Example: 192.168.14.10, the 2nd printer will be 192.168.14.11 and so on for other printers/devices. 

  2. As mentioned above, you need to print to the device via an "LPR port" from the Add Printer Wizard. To print via LPR, the "Other Network File and Print Services" must be installed. See below.

  3. When setting up the printer via the LPR port, the Print Queue name is important! You will need to get this from the device documentation or from the manufacturer. Examples queue names might be: RAW, DIRECT, direct, SPOOL, print, lp, or dssc. Some devices will let you use any name. Queue names are case-sensitive. IBM Tech Support has a page called Recommended Remote Printer Queue Values for Remote Output Queues that lists a number of devices and their Queue names as well.

  4. You will need to obtain the printer driver for the device. This may be on a CD. You should also be able to download the driver from the manufacturer's website.
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Ensure that Add Other File and Print Services is installed

  1. Click Start and select Control Panels.
  2. If necessary, click Switch to Classic View.
  3. Double-click on Add or Remove Programs.
  4. On the right side, click on Add/Remove Windows Components.
  5. Scroll down. If needed, place a check in Other Network File and Print Services.
  6. Click Next. Click Finish.
  7. Close Add or Remove Programs window. Close the Control Panels window.
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Verify that you can PING the device

  1. Click Start and choose Run.
  2. In the Open: box, remove any existing text. Then enter CMD. Click OK.
  3. At the following prompt, type PING press the spacebar, enter the IP Address, and then press ENTER. Here are two examples

    PING 192.168.1.15
    PING 128.118.82.15

  4. If the PING was successful, you will see a message like this:

    Pinging 128.118.82.15 with 32 bytes of data:

    Reply from 128.118.82.15: bytes=32 time=1ms TTL=59
    Reply from 128.118.82.15: bytes=32 time=1ms TTL=59
    Reply from 128.118.82.15: bytes=32 time=1ms TTL=59
    Reply from 128.118.82.15: bytes=32 time=2ms TTL=59

    Ping statistics for 128.118.82.15:
    Packets: Sent = 4, Received = 4, Lost = 0 (0% loss),
    Approximate round trip times in milli-seconds:
    Minimum = 1ms, Maximum = 2ms, Average = 1ms

  5. If the PING was NOT successful, you will see a message like this:

    Pinging 128.118.82.15 with 32 bytes of data:

    Request timed out.
    Request timed out.
    Request timed out.
    Request timed out.

    Pinging 128.118.82.15
    Packets: Sent = 4, Received = 0, Lost = 4 (100% loss),

  6. If you can PING the device, you can proceed with the next section. If not, please refer to the documentation and assign a Static IP address to the device. Then attempt to PING it again.
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Configure Windows XP to print via an LPR port
  1. Click Start and select Printers and Faxes.
  2. Under Printer Tasks, click Add a Printer. Click Next.
  3. Select the Local Printer attached to this computer radio button.
  4. Uncheck the Automatically detect and install my Plug and Play printer check box.
  5. Click Next.
  6. Select the Create New Port radio button.
  7. From the Type of port: drop down list choose LPR Port. Click Next.

    Note: You will now be prompted for 2 items: the Name or address of server providing lpd and the Name of printer or print queue on that server. The 1st item is the Static IP address that has been assigned to the device. The 2nd item is the Queue Name that you found in the device's documentation.

  8. In the Name or address of server providing lpd box, enter the IP Address of the device.
  9. In the Name of printer or print queue on that server box, enter Print Queue name.
  10. Click OK.

    Note: If you receive an error message saying that the "LPD server did not respond as expected ...", click Cancel. Attempt to reenter the IP Address or Print Queue name. Click OK again. If this process fails, the device may not support LPR printing. You should stop now and contact the manufacturer for further assistance.

  11. If Step 10 completed successfully, you are now ready to install the driver. Click Have Disk. Click Browse.
  12. Locate and select the .INF file for the device. You may need to browse to the CD or to the folder on your computer where you have the device driver downloaded.
  13. When ready, click Next.

    Note: If you are prompted to replace or keep existing driver, click on Keep Existing Driver. Click Next.

  14. Edit the Printer Name if needed.
  15. If you want this to be the default printer, click Yes. If not, click No. Then click Next.
  16. Select the Do not share this printer radio button. Click Next.
  17. When asked to print a test page, click No. Click Next. Click Finish.

    Note: At this point, you should have the device listed in the Printers and Faxes folder. You can attempt to use it as a printer.

    Extra Tip: You can Right Click on the Device Name and choose Properties. Look through the settings to see if it is configured correctly. You should be able to follow its User Guide at this point.

    Extra Tip: Some of these devices have a feature for "bi-directional communication" or a similarly named feature that allows the computer to pick up settings from the device directly. If you see such a setting, check it and click Apply. Allow it to think. You are trying to get the two devices to talk. If that works, you should see the device settings get updated. You can then uncheck the choice and click Apply again. You don't need the devices always talking over the network.
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Add a LPR Printer to Windows XP
10/27/05 [vcv]
Penn State University College of Agricultural Sciences