Print from Quickbooks 2003 in XP Pro

Print fine, but not from Quickbooks 2003

(I have looked through the forum but can't seem to find an answer to this problem.)

I have installed Bonjour and can print from Firefox but not from QuickBooks Pro 2003. I am using an HP LaserJet 4050N connected via ethernet to a Macbook Pro Core2Duo (OS 10.4.8; Windows XP Pro via Parallels Build 1970).

The error message I get is this:

Microsoft Visual C++ Runtime Library
Assertion failed!
Program: C:\ProgramFiles\Intuit\Quickbooks Pro\qbw32.exe.
File: .\.\scr\getprtrs.cpp.
Line: 96.
Expression: pPort !=NULL.
For information on how your program can cause an assertion failure, see the Visual C++ documentation on asserts
(Press Retry to debug the application - JIT must be enabled)
[Abort] [Retry] [Ignore]

If I click Ignore, I get this message:

No Printer Installed Message
Problem:
Only one printer is installed, the Intuit Internal Printer, which is only used for creating PDF files. You cannot print from it.
Solution:
Connect and install an external printer.
After connecting the printer, from Windows start menu choose Settings and then Printers. Double-click the Add Printer icon and follow the onscreen solutions.
[OK]

If I follow these last instructions, in Printers and Faxes I see that the HP Laser Jet 4050 Series printer is installed and selected with a check mark next to its icon. I can print a test page from that screen with no problem.

Anyone successfully printing from QB 2003 or another QB version? I will appreciate any help.

Thank you,

David

 

Works fine for me, through network printing.

I was told to get bonjour to get the printer working but it's too much of an hassle. Here's what I ended up doing with my USB printer:

1) Connect printer in Host OS (I use Linux) in USB port.
2) Setup printer in CUPS - open browser and type localhost:631 and enter. Set up all of my printers, local and networked.
3) Configure and run samba, share printers from host through samba.
4) Run Parallels, open network neighborhood and browse the network for your host computer and connect to it. TIP: it helps to have an account that's the same for both host and guest machines.
5) Once you connect to the host shares, you should see all of the printers shared by the host, double-click any of them to automatically install native drivers in the windows VM.
6) Test printing, if it works, then you have just one last step to go.
7) In Quickbooks, you need to configure QB to print to the printers you just set up in windows. After that you can print from Quickbooks without a problem.

Note: Bonjour is not needed in this setup, you do not need to use the raw printer driver either. The native drivers work fine for any printer you have on the network.

Happy printing and Good luck.
Titetanium

 

Thanks for this advice. Sorry to be so ignorant, but are steps 2 and 3 doable in Mac OS? If so, do I need to uninstall Bonjour before I follow them?

Also, in step 4, when you say "network neighborhood," do you mean Start>Control Panel>Network and Internet Connections>Network Connections?

David

 

As a matter of fact, yes. I have set up printers in the mac using CUPS instead of going to the system preferences>printing utility.

As for samba, I'm not sure if the mac uses samba, but the mac does have a share server of some sort, the underlying utility could be samba even though on the mac, it might be called by another name.

Edit: As for Bonjour, you don't have to uninstall it. You can keep it for later use, if you wish.

Edit #2: No, I mean click network neighborhood or my network places>entire network>windows network> Your workgroup> your host os machine> your host os machine shares and printers. Double-click any shared printer and install the windows drivers for them. It's that easy.

 

I can't think of any reason why the Bonjour solution should not work, unless there is something odd about the back release of Quickbooks.

Until you get it working, could you print to a PDF file? If so, you could print the PDF file either through Bonjour or on OSX (after making it available to OSX through file sharing.)

 

Okay, assuming I can do this, first, I am having some difficulty with the terminology, which doesn't seem to match my setup. Just so I can understand better, what do you mean by system preferences>printing utility in OS 10.4 and where is "share server?"

Also, by "network places>entire network>windows network> Your workgroup> your host os machine> your host os machine shares and printers" do you mean "Start>Control Panel>Network Connections? Otherwise I am confused as to where exactly to go.

David

 

I will try printing to a PDF. Are you running QB (any version)? If so, could you let me know your setup? I have a feeling it may be just a setting I have wrong.

David

P.S. Everyone keeps talking about USB printers. My printer is connected via ethernet. I assume this makes no difference? Also, the port is set up as LPT1--is this correct?

One more thing: The printer is of course connected to the Mac. Is the Mac networked with the VM or is the printer connected (virtually) directly with the VM?

 

I'm not at a mac machine right now as they are at the office. We have a mix of linux/mac laptops and a windows server hosting the quickbooks company file. I primarily use linux. So I'm working off the top of my head as regards to where the mac utilities are.

1) System preferences>printer & fax. You don't need this utility, just open safari instead and type: localhost:631. You'll see a page where you can configure your printers. It's not intuitive but its pretty easy to set up though.

2) System preferences>services>sharing>printer sharing. Enable that as well as windows sharing. Once both are enabled, your windows vm will see any shares as well as printers that your mac is hosting/sharing over the network.

It's not in the start menu, it's on your desktop in windows. there should be an icon called My Network Places or Network Neighborhood, depending on which version of windows you are using. If you don't see that on your desktop, enable your desktop icons and you should see it.

 

I have now tried this but Quickbooks says, "Only one printer is installed, the Intuit Inernal Printer, which is only used for PDF files. You cannot print from it." (There is no Create PDF command that I can find in QB, so I don't know how a PDF can be created except by printing to a PDF file.)

David

 

When I go to localhost:631 my printer is there but what more do I need to set it up?

Now I see where you mean by System Preferences>Print & Fax. The printer is recognized there and sharing is checked. When I use Start>Control Panel>Printers and Faxes>Printer Tasks>Add a printer, the Windows VM still doesn't see the printer though.

I also see where My Network Places is now (I'm using XP Pro) but I don't see anything there resembling entire network>windows network> Your workgroup> your host os machine>. On the left there are Network Tasks (Add a network place, View network connections, etc.) and Other Places (Desktop, My Computer, My Documents, etc.). Is it one of those?

I really appreciate your help but since I am such a beginner at this it would probably be better if someone at a machine with a similar setup to mine could give me exact instructions. I apologize for asking baby questions but it is difficult to understand otherwise. It's kind of like a master chef telling a novice cook, "First debone the chicken then make some stock."

 

Good. No further setup necessary.

Just double-click My network places and you'll see 3 icons: Add Network Place, Entire Network, Computers near Me. Double-click Entire network, then double-click Microsoft Windows Network, Not Parallels Shared folders, then double-click the icon that represents the workgroup or domain that your machine is in. You should see all the machines that are sharing files and printers. Double-click your mac machine and you should see the printers your mac is sharing. Double-click the printer and you should get a prompt to install the drivers for the printer. Pick the correct printer driver and you're pretty much set to print from windows.

 

Sorry. I have Quicken 2006 (which does support printing to PDF files). I do not have Quickbooks.

 

My setup seems to be different from what you are talking about. In My Network Places, I don't have Entire Network or Computers Near Me. Here are the choices:

Network Tasks
–Add a network place
–View network connections
–Set up a home or small office network
–Set up a wireless network for a home or small office
–View workgroup computers
–Show icons for networked UPnP devices

Other Places
–Desktop
–My Computer
–My Documents
–Shared documents
–Printers and faxes

I am a little confused about the networking aspect of this. Are the Mac and VM in a network?

 

I assume from your first message in this thread that you set up printing with Bonjour? If so, maybe you could let me know how you did it?

 

I'm a little confused too. Are you using Vista in a vm because your setup doesn't sound like either windows 2000 or XP? I'm not familiar with Vista, and I have no intention of ever upgrading to Vista. But since you've described your choices, view workgroup computers is the one you want which should lead you to the computers on the network and eventually to the printer that you wanted to install.

 

No, I am using XP Pro SP2.

Also, when I click on My Network Places>View workgroup computers, I get a message, "MShome is not accessible. You might not have permission to use this network resource. Contact the administrator of this server to find out if you have access permissions. The list of servers for this workgroup is not currently available."

In any event, just before logging on and seeing your message, I finally solved the problem, using Bonjour.

In case it might help others, I'll write out my step-by-step procedure tomorrow when I have more time.

David

 

Well, I spoke too soon. What I was able to do was print but not access the Internet using Bridged Ethernet and access the Internet but not print using Virtual Network.

After uninstalling and reinstalling Bonjour, uninstalling and reinstalling the printer many times, endlessly fiddling with System Preferences, restarting the Mac and Parallels/XP Pro countless times, I am finally able to print and access the Internet at the same time, using Shared networking.

I think the only thing I did different the last time was to click "Save" in the Parallels configuration screen.

However, after all that, I am back at square one. I can print, but not from Quickbooks 2003.

David

 

If you're using bridged networking, then you need to configure the network card in the windows VM to its own ip address that is part of your network's subnet. I.e.... if your network is 192.168.0.x then your windows VM needs an address in that space. Configure it in windows, not from the parallels configuration panel. Second, your windows VM needs to be part of the same workgroup or domain in your network. If your mac is in a workgroup called WORKGROUP, then your windows VM needs to be in the same workgroup called WORKGROUP, not MSHOME. Reboot the windows VM and you should see your network including the mac machine and it's shares.