Difference between revisions of "Adding printer to OS X"

Latest revision as of 10:03, 7 March 2019

All network printers in the ECE Department can be accessed through our central print server, ECE-PRINT-03. If you have any questions about the print server or experience any problems setting up a printer, please email ecehelp@ncsu.edu.

If you experience issues not covered by these directions or due to version differences, please email us with a description of your problem and which OS version you are using.

Add printers in Mac OS X

STEP 1 - Download and install the appropriate driver

We recommend using a model-specific driver provided by the vendor. The generic drivers may work for older black and white printers, but overall you will have better and more reliable performance with vendor drivers.

Check the manufacturer's website for OS X drivers and be sure to install them before attempting to add the printer.

Again, you must install the driver before adding the printer.

If you cannot locate an appropriate driver or have difficulty installing it, contact us for assistance.

STEP 2 - Opening the Printers & Scanners window

To add printers in OS X, first open System Preferences either from your Dock icon, or from the Apple menu -> System Preferences. From there, choose Printers & Scanners under the Hardware section.

See Figure 1 below. Once in the Printers & Scanners window, click the + button to begin adding a new printer.

Fig 1 - Printers & Scanners window

STEP 3 - Enter server and printer information

Once the Printer Browser window opens, click on the IP icon at the top. Then fill in the information for the network printer you wish to add.

Address should be "ece-print-03.ece.ncsu.edu", Protocol should remain "LPD", and Queue is the name of the printer (this should be labeled on the printer). Name is how the printer will appear in your printer list, and we recommend again using the printer name. If you do not know the queue name for your printer, please email ecehelp@ncsu.edu.

In Figure 2 below we have used a placeholder name as an example.

Fig 2 - Network server and printer information

STEP 4 - Selecting a specific driver

We recommend using a model-specific driver provided by the vendor. You must have already downloaded and installed the driver before now. If you have not, cancel the add printer wizard and install the driver, then add the printer again.

After you have filled in the server and printer information, click the blue button (with up/down arrows) for the Use field, then click Select Software as shown in Figure 3.

Fig 3 - Choose Select Software for the Use field

This will bring up the list of installed drivers shown in Figure 4. Use the Search field to narrow the list and select the appropriate driver, then click OK.

Fig 4 - Searching for installed driver

Then click Add.

STEP 5 - Options

After adding the printer, OS X will search for installable options such as two sided printing, extra paper trays, etc. You should leave these options as the defaults unless you are certain of options that should be changed or will not be used. Most importantly, you should activate the Duplex or Two-Sided Printing option if you know the printer has that option. Once the options are set, click Continue to finish the process.

Final Notes

You should now to able to print to the printer through your OS X applications.

One last note is that if you need to change any settings for the printer, you may do so by going back into the Print & Fax, choosing the printer in the list, and clicking the "Printer Setup" button. However, you may only change installable options and Name and Location. Changing the print server, print queue, or the driver requires you to remove the printer and re-add it.

@@ Line 1: / Line 1: @@
 __NOTOC__
-All network printers in the ECE Department can be accessed through our central print server, ECE-PRINT-01.  If you have any questions about the print server or experience any problems setting up a printer, please email [mailto:ecehelp@ncsu.edu ecehelp@ncsu.edu].
+All network printers in the ECE Department can be accessed through our central print server, ECE-PRINT-03.  If you have any questions about the print server or experience any problems setting up a printer, please email [mailto:ecehelp@ncsu.edu ecehelp@ncsu.edu].
-Please note that the snapshots in this article were created with an older version of Mac OS X and so there may be visual differences between them and your machine.  However, the process should still be correct for current versions of OS X.
 If you experience issues not covered by these directions or due to version differences, please email us with a description of your problem and which OS version you are using.
@@ Line 10: / Line 8: @@
 ====STEP 1 - Download and install the appropriate driver====
-Printers work best in OS X when you have the specific driver for the model and your OS X version.  Check the manufacturer's website for OS X drivers and be sure to install them before attempting to add the printer.
+We recommend using a model-specific driver provided by the vendor. The generic drivers may work for older black and white printers, but overall you will have better and more reliable performance with vendor drivers.
+Check the manufacturer's website for OS X drivers and be sure to install them before attempting to add the printer.
+Again, you '''must''' install the driver before adding the printer.
 If you cannot locate an appropriate driver or have difficulty installing it, contact us for assistance.
-====STEP 2 - Opening the Print & Fax window====
-To add printers in OS X, first open System Preferences either from your Dock icon, or from the Apple menu -> System Preferences.  From there, choose '''Print & Fax''' under the Hardware section.
+====STEP 2 - Opening the Printers & Scanners window====
+To add printers in OS X, first open System Preferences either from your Dock icon, or from the Apple menu -> System Preferences.  From there, choose '''Printers & Scanners''' under the Hardware section.
+See ''Figure 1'' below.  Once in the Printers & Scanners window, click the '''+''' button to begin adding a new printer.
+<table>
+<TR><TD>[[Image:Macprint-start.jpg|thumb|450px|'''Fig 1 - Printers & Scanners window''']]
+</TD></TR>
+</table>
+====STEP 3 - Enter server and printer information====
+Once the Printer Browser window opens, click on the '''IP''' icon at the top. Then fill in the information for the network printer you wish to add.
+Address should be "ece-print-03.ece.ncsu.edu", Protocol should remain "LPD", and Queue is the name of the printer (this should be labeled on the printer). Name is how the printer will appear in your printer list, and we recommend again using the printer name. If you do not know the queue name for your printer, please email [mailto:ecehelp@ncsu.edu ecehelp@ncsu.edu].
+In ''Figure 2'' below we have used a placeholder name as an example.
+<table>
+<TR><TD>[[Image:Macprint-details.jpg|thumb|450px|'''Fig 2 - Network server and printer information''']]
+</TD></TR>
+</table>
-See ''Figure 1'' below.  Once in the Print & Fax window, click the '''+''' button to begin adding a new printer.
+====STEP 4 - Selecting a specific driver====
-====STEP 3 - Choosing the printing protocol====
+We recommend using a model-specific driver provided by the vendor. You must have already downloaded and installed the driver before now. If you have not, cancel the add printer wizard and install the driver, then add the printer again.
-Once the Printer Browswer window opens, click on the '''IP''' or '''IP Printing''' button at the top.  This will allow you add a network printer through our department print server.
+After you have filled in the server and printer information, click the blue button (with up/down arrows) for the Use field, then click Select Software as shown in ''Figure 3''.
-See ''Figure 2'' below.  Change the Protocol option to read "Line Printer Daemon - LPD".
+<table>
+<TR><TD>[[Image:Macprint-selectsoftware.jpg|thumb|450px|'''Fig 3 - Choose Select Software for the Use field''']]
+</TD></TR>
+</table>
-====STEP 4 - Setting up print server and queue====
+This will bring up the list of installed drivers shown in ''Figure 4''.  Use the Search field to narrow the list and select the appropriate driver, then click OK.
-Now you must input the print server and the queue name for the printer you wish to use on your Apple machine.  In ''Figure 3'' below we have used the printer HIPPOGRIFF as an example, but you should use the name of the printer you wish to use (should be labeled on the printer).  If you do not know the queue name for your printer, please email [mailto:ecehelp@ncsu.edu ecehelp@ncsu.edu].
+<table>
+<TR><TD>[[Image:Macprint-driverlist.jpg|thumb|450px|'''Fig 4 - Searching for installed driver''']]
+</TD></TR>
+</table>
-For Address, input "ece-print-01.ece.ncsu.edu", and for Queue, input the name of the printer you wish to use.  For example, we have input "hippogriff".
+Then click Add.
-====STEP 5 - Setting options and driver====
-See ''Figure 4''.  Input the printer name for Name (this will become the name of the printer queue in your list of available printers), and set the Location if you desire.
+====STEP 5 - Options====
-You then need to set the driver the OS X will use by filling out the Print With option.  Choose to select the printer software and then search for the model-specific driver you installed.  If no such driver exists, you can use the Generic Driver, but be aware that most printers will not function properly with these drivers.
+After adding the printer, OS X will search for installable options such as two sided printing, extra paper trays, etc.  You should leave these options as the defaults unless you are certain of options that should be changed or will not be used.  Most importantly, you should activate the Duplex or Two-Sided Printing option if you know the printer has that option.  Once the options are set, click Continue to finish the process.
-After selecting a driver, OS X will search for installable options such as two sided printing, extra paper trays, etc.  You should leave these options as the defaults unless you are certain of options that should be changed or will not be used.  Most importantly, you should activate the Duplex or Two-Sided Printing option if you know the printer has that option.  Once the options are set, click Continue to finish the process.
+===Final Notes===
-You should now to able to print to the printer through your OS X applications.  One last note is that if you need to change any settings for the printer, you may do so by going back into the Print & Fax, choosing the printer in the list, and clicking the "Printer Setup" button.  However, you may only change installable options and Name and Location.  Changing the print server, print queue, or the driver requires you to remove the printer and re-add it.
+You should now to able to print to the printer through your OS X applications.
+One last note is that if you need to change any settings for the printer, you may do so by going back into the Print & Fax, choosing the printer in the list, and clicking the "Printer Setup" button.  However, you may only change installable options and Name and Location.  '''Changing the print server, print queue, or the driver requires you to remove the printer and re-add it.'''
-'''Gallery - Click on a picture to see in full-size'''
-<gallery>
-image:mac_print.jpg|Fig 1 - Print & Fax window
-image:mac_printer4.jpg|Fig 2 - Setting printing protocol
-image:mac_printer5.jpg|Fig 3 - Setting printer server and queue
-image:mac_printer6.jpg|Fig 4 - Setting name and location
-</gallery>
 [[category:printing]]