INSTALLING AN LPR PORT

11-37Troubleshooting Lab

Troubleshooting Lab

Read the following troubleshooting scenario and then answer the question that fol-

lows. You can use this lab to help determine whether you have learned enough to

move on to the next chapter. If you have difficulty completing this work, review the

material in this chapter before beginning the next chapter. You can find the answer to

this question in the “Questions and Answers” section at the end of this chapter.

Scenario

You are working as an administrator for a company named Margie’s Travel, one of the

largest travel agents in the southeast United States. Angela, one of your users, has a

color laser printer that is connected to her computer running Windows XP Profes-

sional. Angela shares the printer with other users on the network. Sometimes, the other

users on the network print large documents that take a long time to print. Angela wants

to keep the printer available to other users because it is the only color printer available

in the department, but she often has important documents that need to be printed

before any long documents that are waiting to be printed.

Question

How would you solve Angela’s problem?

Chapter Summary

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A printer is a hardware device that puts text or images on paper or on other print

media. Local printers are connected to a physical port on the print server, and net-

work interface printers are connected to a print server through the network. Net-

work interface printers require their own NICs and have their own network

address, or they are attached to an external network adapter. Before configuring a

print server, you should make sure that the computer has sufficient RAM to pro-

cess documents and sufficient disk space to ensure that the print server can store

documents until it sends the documents to the printer.

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To install and share a local printer, use the Add Printer Wizard on the print server.

Sharing a local printer makes it possible for multiple users on the network to uti-

lize it. In larger companies, most printers are network interface printers. To install

a network interface printer, use the Add Printer Wizard and specify the port infor-

mation for the printer (such as a network address).

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Clients can connect to a shared printer by using the Add Printer Wizard, by con-

necting directly to the printer (using My Network Places, the Run dialog box, or

the Command Prompt), by using a Web browser, or by searching Active Directory.

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To share an existing printer, use the Sharing tab of the Properties dialog box for

the printer and select Share This Printer. If you expect network users of a shared

printer to have computers that are running different versions of Windows, you can

install different drivers so that they are automatically available to users who con-

nect to the printer. You can also create two advanced printer configurations:

❑

A printer pool consists of two or more identical printers that are connected to

one print server and act as a single printer.

❑

Setting priorities on virtual printers makes it possible for users to send critical

documents to a high-priority printer and noncritical documents to a lower-pri-

ority printer, even when there is only one physical printer.

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Windows XP Professional helps you interactively troubleshoot problems you

encounter. To troubleshoot printing problems, you can use the printing trouble-

shooter. You should also learn to resolve common problems such as improper

printer drivers, improper ports, and low ink or toner.

Exam Highlights

Before taking the exam, review the key points and terms that are presented in this

chapter. You need to know this information.

Key Points

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Windows XP Professional supports up to 10 simultaneous network connections.

Windows XP Professional supports printing from the following clients: MS-DOS,

Windows 3.1, Windows 95, Windows 98, Windows Me, Windows NT, Windows