Local Printers in Remote Desktop - Can this be explained?

[Charles May]

I have a client that is accessing her machine via remote desktop. Today, I
discovered that she could print to her local printer by
selecting printers in the local resources tab of Remote Desktop Connection.
On her home system everything works fine.

So... She is going away for 3 weeks and had me set her laptop up to connect
remotely which I did. She also bought a Lexmark 600 series
inkjet printer to take along so that she can print out her work from the
server to her local printer. I can not get this printer to show up in
the available printers. On the home PC the Printer is a Brother Laserjet
Printer (ML4500 I think) it is attached to the computer with a
parallel cable.

The laptop, which I cannot get to work is a Lexmark 600 series inkjet
printer attached to by USB. Is there a problem bringing local printers
into Remote Desktop sessions that are attached via USB on the client side?


BTW. The printers print fine on both machines outside the RDP session.
(Locally as if Remote Desktop was never being used).

One other thing to note... She also has a network printer setup on the
laptop that allows her to print when she brings the laptop into the office.
This printer shows up in the RDP session but the Lexmark does not.


Any help is greatly appreciated.

 

[Bill Sanderson]

Take a look at this KB article which may help, or may not.

If you make the registry change mentioned in the article, the laptop must be
rebooted afterward for it to take effect.

http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;en-us;302361

 

[Charles May]

Bill, I will give this a try tomorrow after work and let you know how it
went. I wonder why I didn't find that searching for
Printer USB Remote Desktop in the Knowledge Base. Hmmm

Thanks

Charlie

 

[Charles May]

Bill,
Just wanted to let you know that the KB article didn't work for me. The
printer comes up in properties using port "USB001 (Virtual printer port for
USB)"

I don't know why it's not bringing in the USB printer but since I'm on a
time limit, I guess I'll have to try and find a compact Parallel printer

Thanks for the response though

Charles.

 

[Bill Sanderson]

Hmm - I've got an HP printer which uses USB001 port and it works just fine
over RDP.

The other issue, besides port redirection, is having the driver available at
the host end.

I think that I thought from your original post that the drivers were already
available at the host end, thus the post pointing to the USB issue. Is this
the case, though?

 

[Charles May]

Nope, the host does not have the drivers, but from the desktop client, the
laser printer worked without installing anything to the host and also my HP
that I have hooked to this machine worked without installing it on the host.
(see below my findings with this hooked to the Laptop)

Something I did not mention previously that might be a part of it is that
the Laptop with the Lexmark printer that isn't working on the connection is
a WindowsME setup.

I just discovered tonight that I too have an HP with USB hookup that works
on a XP Pro machine. I tried this printer on the ME machine and it doesn't
come through either. With and without the registry change in place.

I'm scratching my head on this one. I'm gonna find a Win98 machine and hook
the printer to it and see if it is a ME issue. She has 3 more unused Win98
packages at the office so if it works, I'll wipe out ME (which I should have
done in the first place) and install one. I think her HD is too small to
install XP on.

I really appreciate the help on this and I will definately post my findings
when I get a chance to test it.


Thanks Again

Charlie

 

[Bill Sanderson]

My guesses:

Not a WinMe problem
Probably just need to install the drivers on the host end.

My method of doing this is to download and install drivers from the mfgr
(you can do this using RD), and install the printer as though it were on
LPT1, if that's a choice.

Once installed, delete the printer. If asked whether files associated with
the driver should be deleted, say no.

This leaves the driver available for on-the-fly installation for RD
sessions, but not visible during normal host operation.

 

[Cara]

Bill:
I am having the same problem and I have also followed all
the steps discussed between you and Charles May,
including installing the driver on the host. (The only
difference is that I'm using a Desktop with XP-Home on
the client, and XP-Pro on the remote.) The printer I'm
trying to hook up is a multi-functon HP6110.

If you find any solutions, I sure hope you'll post them!
Thanks,
Cara Potter

 

[Cara]

I finally figured out the problem--and I'm posting in
case anyone else needs this info. Under
remote "options"/"local resources" the disk drives and
serial ports must be enabled, as well as the printers.
You can then see the CD rom on the local PC while logged
into a remote session. You can then install the printer
and driver. The driver and printer must be installed
while logged on the remote. Access the disk on the local
CD-Rom from the remote PC to install the driver on the
remote, and the printer must be added by pointing to the
LPT1 port or PRN1 port (you need to experiment) on the
client .

 

[Bill Sanderson]

Hmm - I'm not sure of all your steps being required, but I'm glad you got it
going, anyway.

Sorry for being away from the forum for a bit.