Samba uses nmbd and smbd daemons to share files and printers with Windows PCs. nmbd acts as a Windows naming service, broadcasting your computer's name to Windows PCs on the LAN. smbd accepts file and printer requests from Windows PCs Figure 3, “Printer Sharing”.
You will need to download and install Windows printer drivers for each Linux printer you are sharing. Windows printer drivers can be found by searching the web site of your printer manufacturer.
If you are allowing anonymous access to your printer you will need to create a user account for remote print jobs:
/usr/sbin/adduser --system --disabled-password smbprint
This command adds a user called “smbprint” to your system. Make
sure there is enough disk space in /home/smbprint, the
“smbprint” user's home directory, to spool files. Check
that the “smbprint” user does not have permission on your
system to read or modify sensitive files and directories. If you have
configured CUPS to restrict printing to certain users on your system,
you must allow the “smbprint” user to access printers you
want to share.
The Samba configuration file is /etc/samba/smb.conf.
The following is an example configuration file set up to use CUPS with
the “smbprint” user:
[global] printcap name = cups printing = cups security = share [printers] browseable = yes printable = yes public = yes create mode = 0700 guest only = yes use client driver = yes guest account = smbprint path = /home/smbprint
Please note that this configuration will allow printing by anyone that can make a network connection to your computer and is not recommended for computers on untrusted networks, such as computers with direct Internet connections. If you need to implement access control, set security = user or security = domain and read the Samba man pages for further information.
Once you have added the above settings to your Samba configuration file you must restart Samba with the command:
/etc/init.d/samba restart
Windows printer drivers format their output for the printer before
sending it across the network. You must configure CUPS to accept
the pre-formatted output by uncommenting the following line from
/etc/cups/mime.convs:
application/octet-stream application/vnd.cups-raw 0 -
Also uncomment the following line from
/etc/cups/mime.types:
application/octet-stream
Now CUPS must be told to allow connections from other machines on
the network. Add these lines to /etc/cups/cupsd.conf:
<Location /printers> AuthType None Order Deny,Allow Deny From None Allow From All </Location>
As in the Samba configuration, this configuration allows any computer
to connect to your printers and is not recommended for computers on
untrusted networks. For information about tightening access control
to your printers, see the cupsd.conf man page
and the CUPS documentation.
Finally, restart cups with the following command:
/etc/init.d/cupsys restart
Your Linux printers should now be shared to Windows PCs on the LAN. Follow the usual steps for adding a network printer to your Windows PCs, and remember to print a test page.