On 02/02/2010, at 12:58 PM, Neil Houghton wrote:
> Yes, if you remember when we talked I said there were basically three ways > you could set up your printer, the Parallels manual probably explains this > better than I did: > >> There are three basic ways to set up printing in a virtual machine. You can: > >> • Share any of the printers connected to your Mac computer via a printer port >> of your virtual machine. > >> • Set up a printer via Apple's Bonjour Printer wizard. >> Note: Apple's Bonjour printer is available in Windows guest OSs only. > >> • Use a network printer. > >> You can also connect a USB printer directly to your virtual machine. In this >> case, the printer will not be available to Mac OS X. For detailed information >> see Connecting USB Devices to a Virtual Machine (p. 141). > > Which is actually four ways when you include the direct USB connection - I > didn't include the third "Use a network printer" as it wasn't relevant in > your case. (Although, as a confusing aside, a printer set-up using Bonjour > is actually set-up as a network printer). > > > Approach 1) is the traditional Parallels way of sharing the connected Mac > printer with the VM, as the manual describes it: > >> Sharing a Mac Printer >> You can share any printer connected to you Mac with your Windows or Linux >> virtual machine. The printer will be available through the virtual machine's >> printer port. >> To share your Mac's printer: > (They then give detailed instructions on setup) > > > This is generally relatively easy to set up and works well and is how I > originally had my printer setup - however, as I mentioned in my original > post, at some point (in the dim & distant past) it stopped working In the case of the first option, you tell Windows that you are installing a directly-connected printer, and then you specify either the printer model you actually have or Parallels' special Laserwriter emulator (which used to be the old SoftWindows approach). The documentation sternly warns you against using any form of Windows Driver installation. This method does allow you to share the printer between Mac and Windows, but you don't necessarily have access to all the features you might have in the Mac setup, and as you say, it can problematic. Given that the running of Windows on a Mac is simply a means to an end anyway, most people probably run their Windows solution, do what they have to do, then quit their VM instead of leaving it running, so sharing is not generally a problem anyway. -- Peter Hinchliffe Apwin Computer Services FileMaker Pro Solutions Developer Perth, Western Australia Phone (618) 9332 6482 Mob 0403 064 948 -------------------------------------------------------------------- Mac because I prefer it -- Windows because I have to. -- The WA Macintosh User Group Mailing List -- Archives - <http://www.wamug.org.au/mailinglist/archives.shtml> Guidelines - <http://www.wamug.org.au/mailinglist/guidelines.shtml> Unsubscribe - <mailto:[email protected]>
