Test Area

All network printers in the ECE Department must be accessed through our central print server, ECE-PRINT-01.

The following guide explains how to add printers to a RHEL installed machine using the SMB protocol. Please note, you must have sudo access on the machine in order to perform these steps.

If you have any problems adding a printer, printing, or have questions not answered by this page, please contact ecehelp@ncsu.edu.

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Step 1 - Starting the Printer Config

Login to the RHEL machine and open a Terminal window. Then run the following command:

sudo system-config-printer

Enter your NCSU password at the prompt and the Printer Configuration will open as shown in Figure 1. From there, click on the Add Printer button to start the wizard.

Figure 1 - RHEL Printer config

On the next page you have input fields for "Printer Name", "Description" and "Location". Enter the name of the printer you intend to add in the "Printer Name" field. This name should be labeled on the printer. The "Description" and "Location" fields are optional. Once you have put in the necessary information, click Forward to proceed.

Step 2 - Configuring the SMB connection

The next page allows you to choose and configure the connection to the printer. Choose the "Windows Printer via SAMBA" option. This will bring up additional options on the right.

• In the first blank, enter the department print server and the name of the printer you're trying to connect to as "ece-print-01.ece.ncsu.edu\printername"
• Select WOLFTECH under the "Share" column
• Enter your username as WOLFTECH\username
• Enter your NCSU password
• Click the Verify button to confirm you can access the printer share. If it fails, double-check the information you have entered. If you cannot connect to the share at this point, contact ecehelp@ncsu.edu for assistance.

Figure 2 - Configuring Samba options

See Figure 2 above. As you can see we have filled in the necessary information to add the printer, HIPPOGRIFF. If the verification succeeded, click Forward to proceed.

Step 3 - Choosing a driver

The next two screens are for choosing a driver for your printer. The first page requires that you choose a manufacturer, i.e., Dell, HP, Xerox, etc. Please note that while RHEL does contain built-in drivers for printers, there may not be an appropriate driver for the printer model you are trying to add. However, the generic PCL drivers work for almost all models.

To use the generic driver, choose "Generic" under "Makes" and click Forward. This will bring you to the page shown in Figure 3 below.

Figure 3 - Choosing Driver

From here, choose "PCL 6/PCL XL Printer" under "Model", and let it use the recommended driver under "Drivers". Then click Forward.

To check if RHEL has specific drivers for the printer model, follow the same method as choosing a generic driver, but instead choose the appropriate manufacturer under "Makes". Then see if the printer model is listed as an option. If it is not, go back and select Generic and use the generic driver.

Step 4 - Finishing the config and other options

Once you've chosen a driver, the last page gives a very brief summary. Click Apply to finish the wizard and add the printer. You should now be back at the Printer Configuration as shown in Figure 4.

Figure 4 - Setting other options

You can see that HIPPOGRIFF now appears in our list of local printers. To set the printer you've added as your default printer in RHEL, click on the Make Default Printer button. You can also print a test page, edit the optional fields, or change the driver that is being used for the printer. If the printer you have added is a color printer, the "Printer Options" field has some additional options you may wish to check.

You can now close the Printer Configuration and use the printer you've added in applications and from the Terminal.