Re: Sharing client printers

"Max" wrote:

There are 14 XP Pro workstations on the domain, and 3 XP Pro's that are in a
workgroup that people don't want to change to the domain. Go figure. So
that is 17 XP Pro boxes on the network. Does this mean I have to take a
different approach to providing printers to the workstations?? I thought SBS
was good up to 100 workstations.

SBS has no firm limit on maximum workstations. There is a limit of 75
Client Access Licenses (CALs). But the issue here is only partially related
to SBS. Problem [1] is you are using a Windows XP Pro computer as a print
server and Win XP Pro has a hard limit of supporting 10 shared connections,
regardless of whether it is in a peer-to-peer Workgroup or SBS Domain.
Problem [2] is that printers so connected are listed in Active Directory.
Since they are there, they may auto-installing on all of the domain PCs.

But it is only a subset of all the boxes that are trying to use different
printers.
We have 2 Toshiba Printers on 10.10.10.29 and 10.10.10.92 that are just
installed via ports on everybodies workstation. Is that the correct way to
go??

When you have a network-attached printer in an SBS network it's usually best
to define it as a local printer on the SBS itself and list it in the
directory. "Local printer" does not require a cable to LPT1. It can use a
static IP address, which you have. (And SBS, being based on Windows Server,
does not have the 10 connections limit.) Then, the printer is installed on
the client PCs from the SBS, which by default is automated.

Then there are four HP 1200 that are connected to different
workstations and then are shared out to different users. There aren't 10
boxes using one printer, maybe only 3 or 4. Is this a problem??

It depends on whether those printers are being auto-installed on other PCs.
You can check (Start | Printers and Faxes) some of the PCs that are NOT
supposed to be using a particular printer to see if printers are being
auto-installed. (It will say something like "Automatic".) If so, each PC
that has it auto-installed is "consuming" a shared connection on the PC
acting as the print server for that printer.

For non-networkable printers, you can solve sharing issues by using a
network-attached print server box like an HP JetDirect:
http://h10010.www1.hp.com/wwpc/us/en/sm/WF02a/18972-236253-64302.html?jumpid=re_R163/GW/external_pserver.
Many other vendors make similar products. These enable non-networkable
printers to be installed on a server without running separate cables to the
server box.

Audra's printer was shared and added to directory
Cynthia's Printer was shared and added to the directory
Linda's printer was shared and added to the directory.

Now Audra's printer has vanished from the directory, and you can't use the
printer on previously installed workstations. And you can no longer install
Audra's printer to other workstations.

You can control who can connect to what printer via security groups if you
wish. For example, create groups PrtrAudra, PrtrCynthia, PrtrLinda (although
I would use names that do NOT depend on employee names which might change).
To each group add the users (or other groups) which are allowed to use that
printer. Then change each printer's security settings to be based on it's
associated group.

But, since you have more than 10 PCs in your network, I would start by
finding out how many PCs actually have each printer connected to a Win XP
computer installed in their Printers & Faxes. If it's 10, you need to fix
that.

-- Owen Williams [SBS MVP]
.

Relevant Pages

  • Re: SBS 2003 with All-in-One printer/fax/scanner
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    (microsoft.public.windows.server.sbs)
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    (microsoft.public.windows.server.sbs)
  • Re: Server 2003 SBS security question
    ... There is no single product you can install that will do what you want, ... For a secure network you need many things and the ideas that come with ... scanning for email and web browsing - limit outbound traffic to specific ... Lock down the workstations - SBS requires that users be local admins ...
    (microsoft.public.windows.server.sbs)
  • Re: OT: all systems on network slow for last week or so
    ... While troubleshooting a problem with LogMeIn disconnecting behind WatchGuard firewalls, I found out that my workstations had it enabled, when I thought I had killed it at the same time I killed it on my server after my SBS 2003 SP2 update. ... and SP3 workstations on a client's SBS 2003 SP2 network are slow. ...
    (microsoft.public.windows.server.sbs)
  • Remote install of applications
    ... >How can I install new software on users workstations ... >a central location over a network. ... >software on 18 workstations from a single workstation ... Remote Desktop overviewWith Remote Desktop on Windows XP ...
    (microsoft.public.win2000.applications)
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