Another common use of Samba is to configure it to share printers installed, either locally or over the network, on an Ubuntu server. Similar to the section called “Samba File Server” this section will configure Samba to allow any client on the local network to use the installed printers without prompting for a username and password.
For a more secure configuration see the section called “Securing a Samba File and Print Server”.
Before installing and configuring Samba it is best to already have a working CUPS installation. See the section called “CUPS - Print Server” for details.
To install the samba package, from a terminal enter:
sudo apt-get install samba
After installing samba edit /etc/samba/smb.conf. Change the workgroup
attribute to what is appropriate for your network, and change security to
share:
workgroup = EXAMPLE ... security = user
In the [printers] section change the guest ok option to yes:
browsable = yes guest ok = yes
After editing smb.conf restart Samba:
sudo /etc/init.d/samba restart
The default Samba configuration will automatically share any printers installed. Simply install the printer locally on your Windows clients.
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For in depth Samba configurations see the Samba HOWTO Collection
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The guide is also available in printed format.
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O'Reilly's Using Samba is another good reference.
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Also, see the CUPS Website for more information on configuring CUPS.
