USB Printing problem solved! (Generic solution?)

thanks purplish, it just started to work after i tried printing a test page. don't know why because i didn't change anything but im happy.

 

Bluestar...one thing to check....Do you have USB autoconnect on? That can cause Parallels to try to take over the printer through USB rather than Bonjour. I recommend turning USB autoconnect off.

 

I wish my printing problem was solved. I finally got connected to my CX6600 using Bonjour, but when a print job from Windows arrives at the printer, the printer starts processing it, then goes offline (jobs stopped). I'm almost at the point of giving up on Parallels.

 

PaulDobbs

Try Repairing your disk permissions, then reboot OSX.

 

On the computer that is host to Parallels, or on the computer that is host for the printer? Mac jobs are printing just fine.

 

Thank you for your suggestion, but it didn't work. I repaired permissions on the computer Parallels is running on (a MacBook Pro) and on the computer the printer is attached to (an iMac). I rebooted both computers. It made no difference. When the windows print job arrives on the iMac, the printer processes it for a few seconds and then stops the queue. If I click on "Start Jobs" the job is processed for a few more seconds and then the queue is stopped again. I have never been able to get Parallels to print!

 

Haven't seen a difference in the printing between Parallels 3.0 and the previous version (using an HP 2575 Photosmart All-In-One printer - the printer, in the printer section of the VM [Windows XP] Control Panel is displayed as an HP Color Laserjet 8500 PS - it was never installed within the virtual machine, Bonjour simply found th e real printer in the Mac and gave it that label - it is checkmarked as the default printer - next to it is an icon for another printer not checked labeled: "Photosmart 2570 Series @ [my name]'s Computer" - the properties of both printers is the same Laserjet 8500, the unchecked one displays a location (my computer) and comments, "generic/postscript printer") - I never installed a printer inside the VM nor did I create either icon, Bonjour did all of that and the real printer works in the VM).

That having been said, I have been having some problems outside of Parallels (i.e.: in the Mac) with the printer, I think I solved the problem (maybe) but some of the comments sound familiar: the printer just quit printing, clicking on the "start jobs" button yielded only 2 lines on the paper.

In my case, one issue was the same printer having been installed in my other Mac, both Macs are connected to the same router. I uninstalled the printer on my first Mac, turned off the 2nd Mac, and reinstalled the printer - also, there is an ethernet cable connection that I am supposed to make to operate the printer when the computers are networked - I have not yet done so.

The other issue is a hardware issue: I installed a Belkin 4-port Switch to connect my two computers to the same printer (the switching is done manually with a switching button on top) and I found that doesn't work with 2 Macs (it used to with one Mac and one Linux computer), the HP installer doesn't see the printer thru the switch. Uninstalling the switch and connecting the first Mac to the printer directly fixed that problem.

HP advises me to uninstall both drivers in both computers, connect an ethernet cable from the printer to the router, then reinstall both printer drivers. All of this outside of the VM of course. I haven't gotten around to running another ethernet cable (some carpentry involved) but at the moment the printer is working fine with the 1st Mac.

Finally, if I may, one personal comment: why are so many users (you out there in this forum, if you are in this thread, and if your usage applies here) using the printer in the VM? I switched to a Mac to have the Mac, not Windows. I suppose I might just be ignorant of all of the potential software out there, but I have to wonder if there just isn't a Mac version for almost anything you want to accomplish? Parallels, in my unasked for and humble opinion, should be reserved for only those programs that absolutely will not run properly in the Mac. For me, that's Quicken (if you wonder why, check out the Quicken Forum, and read the messages in Quicken for the Mac section, and you will see virtual profanity like you've never read before) - a program I cannot live without, life and death and all that, and only the Quicken version will do. Parallels has been a Godsend, I would have returned my new Mac had I not had Parallels available. And I really don't have a lot of occasion to actually print something from Quicken but it does print.

Otherwise folks, why use the VM if you have the wonderful Mac at your disposal? I'm not a Word or Excel user, I am guessing the Mac versions probably work well (unlike the Quicken Mac version), but I've found a Mac version of practically everything I use, and the Mac image editing software is far and away superior to Windows. Do you all really need to use the printer inside Parallels? Not to make any excuses for problems within Parallels, but the native environment is always better.

I should end by telling you all that I played with (i.e.: used primarily) Linux as my OS for two years before switching to the Mac. There too, Windows only software doesn't work (there is no Quicken for Linux that I am aware of) and I used two very different and separate software programs that functioned like Parallels (Crossover by Code Weavers, and Win4Lin by Net Traverse) - both were very cranky, Win4Lin wouldn't print, and Crossover wouldn't backup into an external drive nor would it connect to Quicken online. These VM's are imperfect at best - I feel strongly they should be used minimally and only when absolutely necessary. I actually kept my very old Windows (Dell) machine, reinstalled XP on it after reformatting the drive, and keep a very few Windows only programs that are just too much trouble to try to use in the Mac (like TiVo downloads).

OK, just letting off steam.

 

I want to use a program that doesn't exist on the Mac (RailCad). I need to be able to print from it. Otherwise I wouldn't touch Windows (or Linux, for that matter) except when I have to, at work.

 

Hope you solve the printer problem.