topic Trouble mapping OpenVMS printer in Windows7 in Operating System - OpenVMS

Trouble mapping OpenVMS printer in Windows7

Tschroeder — Fri, 20 Aug 2010 18:12:03 GMT

We have all of our printers Served off of our VMS machine and have been mapping them just fine for years with XP. We are not trying to move to Windows7. When I try to add a network printer, I get "Windows Cannot connect to the printer". Any ideas?

Re: Trouble mapping OpenVMS printer in Windows7

Steven Schweda — Fri, 20 Aug 2010 20:32:56 GMT

> [...] our VMS machine [...]

While that description may uniquely specify
the system, it conveys very little useful
information to anyone outside your
organization.

> [...] We are not trying to move to
> Windows7. [...]

That may be wise. Or did you mean "now"?

> [...] I get "Windows Cannot connect to the
> printer".Any ideas?

Someone with some Microsoft expertise might
have some clue as to what that message
actually means.

Re: Trouble mapping OpenVMS printer in Windows7

Bob Blunt — Sat, 21 Aug 2010 03:48:11 GMT

OpenVMS does not, by default, share any common protocols for printer sharing with any other operating system. It doesn't live with an Appletalk stack or LPD or LPR or any of the tools that Windows of any sort for printer sharing. So you have probably been using some additional software or hardware scheme to share the printers you mention.

Unless we're sure what environment is in use we're guessing. Now, personally, my gut feel is that the fault lies in W7 and some of the new security it's supposed to have. Something in the working setup no longer works as expected. Start by looking at the tools you're using to share printers and find out if they've been fully tested and supported with the version of Windows you're using. But that would just be a GUESS...

bob

Re: Trouble mapping OpenVMS printer in Windows7

Hoff — Sat, 21 Aug 2010 12:07:42 GMT

What you're aiming at is an LPD printer, and there's nothing special about those; Linux, Unix, Mac OS X and VMS all support that. And given VMS hasn't changed here, this looks to centrally be a Microsoft Windows 7 question.

Windows 7 into a (generic, remote) (LPD or telnet) printer connection.

Tossing a query (your error message, Windows 7) into Google returns some part of 313,000 hits, including this one:

http://social.answers.microsoft.com/Forums/en-US/w7network/thread/49458c16-e99e-4af9-8cd9-40299af66f8e

One of the usual pointers is to setting the printer connection up as "local", whatever that means for Windows.

The local printers are all network printers and are not served printers, an approach which (usually, greatly) simplifies the printer configuration, connection and maintenance; everybody connects directly.

But at its core, you're asking a Microsoft Windows 7 support question of folks that are mostly familiar with VMS. Not the best audience for Microsoft Windows support; some of us don't even use Windows. Not the spot to get a quick answer.

Re: Trouble mapping OpenVMS printer in Windows7

Doug Phillips — Sun, 22 Aug 2010 16:41:11 GMT

I suspect there is more Windows knowledge here than there is OpenVMS knowledge in the Microsoft forum. The reply from a MS forum would probably be "sounds like an OpenVMS problem... ask there."

It would help, however, to know what networking product is being used and how XP maps to the printers.

Tschroeder: I suspect you would have the same problem with Vista so use the Forums advanced search option to search the OpenVMS forum for Vista.

Re: Trouble mapping OpenVMS printer in Windows7

Tschroeder — Mon, 23 Aug 2010 11:50:02 GMT

We are running OpenVMS 7.3-2 and Advanced Server so the VMS machine will act as a windows file server and print server. My guess is that we may need a newer version of OpenVMS/Advanced Server to support Windows 7, but I don't know where to find that information from HP.

Re: Trouble mapping OpenVMS printer in Windows7

Paul Nunez — Mon, 23 Aug 2010 12:05:00 GMT

Hi,

I suspect even with the most recent version of Advanced Server you're not going to have much success unless...

I recommend configuring the printer on the Windows 7 client as a local printer rather than a network printer. At some point in the Add Printer Wizard it wil allow you to add a "port" and you want to specify the new port name as:

\\servername\printsharename

Most current Windows printer drivers no longer support the archaic printing system used by Advanced Server (which is based on very old pre-Windows NT protocols).

You might have some success configuring it as a network printer if you reconfigure the Advanced Server to use NT-style printing (aka supports the SpoolSS service), but I suspect you don't want to go through the extra work that will entail. If interested, please refer to the Advanced Server documentation.

Regards,

Paul