[cups] Windows printing from CUPS on Mac

[Michael Sweet]

Brian,

> On Oct 22, 2015, at 3:02 PM, Brian Corbin <brian.corbin at ibethel.org> wrote:
> 
> We are trying to use our Mac Server running CUPS to not only serve our Mac’s but also our Windows clients for printing.  It would just make things so much easier for us not having to have two print servers if we don’t need to.
> 
> So my questions are:
> 
> 1.  Can windows clients print to CUPS on a Mac?

Yes, with some caveats about drivers and Windows' complete lack of support for authenticated IPP queues.

> 2.  Can Windows clients just see the printer automatically in their Windows Print Browser, or do they need to know a path to the server to be seen?

They need to know the path.

> 3.  Can CUPS deliver Windows Printer Drivers if the client computer doesn’t have the driver?  (Just like Windows server does this basically to windows clients)

No, that operation is a) undocumented and b) requires a separate spoolss RPC connection.

> 4.  If any of this is possible, are there any instructions on how to do any of this or set this up?

Windows supports IPP/1.0, which means using http://servername/printers/queuename for the URL.  Beyond that you'll need local drivers and make sure that the CUPS server recognizes the drivers' file formats as application/vnd.cups-raw.

_________________________________________________________
Michael Sweet, Senior Printing System Engineer, PWG Chair