Professional Documents
Culture Documents
you can share one or more of that system's folders with other computers and users on that
network. Learn when it's possible and exactly how to set up shared folders in Windows
XP Professional.
• Printer—A software interface between the operating system and a print device. It
defines ports through which print jobs get routed. Printer names direct print jobs
to one or more print devices.
• Print device—A piece of equipment (hardware) that physically produces printed
documents. A print device may be attached to a local computer or connected via a
network interface.
• Printer port—A software interface through which print jobs get directed to either
a locally attached print device, or a network-connected print device. Windows XP
supports local line printer terminal (LPT), COM (serial), and Universal Serial Bus
(USB) ports. It also supports network-connected printer port devices such as the
Intel NetPort and the Hewlett-Packard (HP) JetDirect.
• Print server—A computer that serves as the host for printers that are associated
with print devices.
• Printer driver—Software specific to each print device (designed to run in
Windows XP) that translates printing commands into printer language codes for
each print device. PCL5 and PostScript are examples of two types of printer
languages.
• Print job—The actual document to be printed along with the necessary print
processing command.
• Print resolution—What determines the quality and smoothness of the text or
images that the print device will render. This specification is expressed in dots per
inch (dpi). Higher dpi numbers generally result in better print quality.
• Print spooler—The process (service) that runs in the background of Windows XP
that initiates, processes, and distributes print jobs. The spooler saves print jobs
into a temporary physical file on disk. Print jobs are then despooled and
transferred to the appropriate print device.
• Print queue—A logical "waiting area" where print jobs are temporarily stored
until the print device is available and ready to process each job according to the
job's priority level, and according to its order within the queue.
After you add a local printer to a Windows XP Professional computer, you have the
option of sharing it with other users on the network. To add a local printer to your
system, perform these steps:
To connect to a network printer, you also use the Add Printer Wizard from the Printers
folder. Simply follow these steps:
Select Connect To This Printer, type in the UNC path for the printer, and then
click Next.
Select Connect To A Printer On the Internet Or On A Home Or Office Network,
type in the URL address for the printer, and then click Next.
7. If you choose to browse for a printer, locate the printer from the Browse For
Printer dialog box and then click Next.
8. Click Yes or No when prompted to make the printer the system's default, and
click Next.
9. Click Finish to exit the Add Printer Wizard.
As mentioned earlier in this chapter, you can use the net use command to connect to
network drive shares. You can also use this command to connect to remote printers from
a command prompt window. The syntax is as follows:
Printer ports lpt1, lpt2, and lpt3 are represented by lptx. The net use command is the only
way to connect client computers that are running MS-DOS to network printers.
From the Printers And Faxes folder, you manage print jobs by double-clicking the printer
icon that you want to work with. After you have opened the printer's print queue window,
you can pause printing or cancel all documents from the Printer menu. You can also take
the printer offline from the Printer menu. If you select an individual print job that is
listed, you can Pause, Resume, Start, or Cancel that job by selecting one of these options
from the Documents menu. The print queue window itself displays the document name,
the status, the document owner, the number of pages for each print job, the size of the
job, the time and date that the job was submitted, and the port used.
Members of the Administrators group and members of the Power Users group have
permissions to manage print jobs that are listed in the print queue. At the time that users
print one or more documents, they get the built-in security principal Creator Owner
applied to their user accounts so that they are granted permission to manage documents as
well. Users may manage only their own print jobs, unless they are members of the
Administrators group or the Power Users group (if the computer is standalone or a
member of a workgroup), or members of the Print Operators group or the Server
Operators group (if the Windows XP print server is a member of a Windows domain).
Users can also manage other users' print jobs if they have been granted the Allow
Manage Documents permission.
CAUTION
Windows XP has dropped support for the Data Link Control (DLC) protocol, which is
used by some older Hewlett-Packard (HP) Jet Direct cards and Jet Direct print server
devices. These older devices should be upgraded to newer HP network interface cards
and print devices that support TCP/IP and the standard port monitor.
Configuring Print Server and Printer Properties
By right-clicking one of the available printer icons in the Printers And Faxes folder and
choosing Properties, you can configure that printer's settings and options. The printer
Properties dialog box contains six tabs (seven tabs for a color printer): General, Sharing,
Ports, Advanced, Security, Device Settings, and Color Management (for a color printer).
From the General tab, you can work with the following settings:
• Share the printer, change the network share name, or stop sharing the printer.
• Install additional printer drivers for client computers that use different operating
systems or different Windows NT CPU platforms.
TIP
Windows XP print server computers automatically download the correct printer drivers
for client computers running Windows 95, Windows 98/Me, Windows NT, Windows
2000, and Windows XP that connect to the print server, as long as the correct drivers
have been installed on the print server.
On the Advanced tab, you work with scheduling and spooling settings, like these:
You can configure the following security settings with the Security tab:
• Set permissions for users and groups (similar to NTFS file and folder
permissions): Allow or Deny the Print, Manage Printers, and Manage Documents.
• Set up printer auditing (similar to NTFS file and folder access auditing) via the
Auditing tab by clicking the Advanced button.
• Take ownership of the printer (similar to taking ownership of NTFS files and
folders) via the Owner tab by clicking the Advanced button.
• View the effective permissions for the printer (similar to viewing the effective
permissions for NTFS files and folders) via the Effective Permissions tab by
clicking the Advanced button.
TIP
For a Windows XP computer that is not a domain member, the default security
permissions for printers are as follows: Administrators–Allow Print, Allow Manage
Printers, and Allow Manage Documents; Creator Owner–Allow Manage Documents;
Everyone–Allow Print; Power Users–Allow Print, Allow Manage Printers, and Allow
Manage Documents. For a Windows XP computer that is joined to a domain, the default
security permissions for printers are as follows: Administrators–Allow Print, Allow
Manage Printers, and Allow Manage Documents; Creator Owner–Allow Manage
Documents; Everyone–Allow Print; Print Operators and Server Operators–Allow Print,
Allow Manage Printers, and Allow Manage Documents.
The Device Settings Tab
The Device Settings tab enables you to configure printer-specific settings. The available
settings on this tab vary depending on the manufacturer and the model of the printer that
you are working with. For example, many printers enable you to configure paper tray
assignments, font cartridge settings, and any installable options such as printer memory
settings.