Remote Printing Question: Is it possible to print through...

[pol098]

Remote Printing Question: Is it possible to print through a VNC session back to the printer on your local machine where you are running the VNC Viewer from?
This question is addressed in the FAQ, but I don't have posting rights there.

What is perhaps the most straightforward answer is hinted at there: "Only if the printer is available as network printer on the server machine."

I use VNC over the Internet using a Virtual Private Network (VPN). I set up the LOCAL (viewer, not server) printer as a network printer, then add this network printer to the list of those supported on the host (server) machine. This works beatifully. I don't know if it would work without the VPN connection.

Another suggested solution is to transfer and print a PDF (or other device-independent) file. There is a simpler solution not requiring a program to create the file. I haven't done this for a long time or on a recent version of Windows, but I would expect it to work:

If the actual local printer is, say, a Laserjet 5 (LJ5), set up LJ5 on the server as a printer which prints to file. After "printing" to such a file (e.g. MYFILE.PRN), transfer it to the client (viewer) machine, and from the command prompt type
COPY /B [path\]MYFILE.PRN LPT1:
followed by Enter, where LPT1 has been assigned to an LJ5 printer for MS-DOS printing. The PRINT command may be usable as well as or insted of COPY; I don't remember.

HTH,
--
Michael Salem

[RobH]

Look through some of the posts. They were just talking about remote printing. I know Ultra doesn't do it now, but they posted a bunch of .pdf alternatives that I thought were real good.