We have a CC3 network in our school and are experiencing some problems with a shared printer in a room of 15 computers. The printer is an Epson Stylus 1400 and is attached to a station via a USB cable. The printer has been shared and then allocated to the other stations in the room using the RM Management Console. The problem we have is that it seems to be a complete lottery as to whether or not users pick up the printer. For instance, a user logs and does not get the printer, I log onto the same machine as a test user and get the printer, I log on as another test user and do not get the printer! We have other rooms in the school where we have shared printers exactly the same way and have had no problems.
The same issue was occurring last November but we eventually got it working by finding a different driver. Since then the printer has developed a fault and was returned a few weeks back. We are now experiencing the same problem with the replacement printer (exactly the same model/make) even though we have continued using the same driver. (I have also tried the other driver)
We have tried sharing the printer on a different station all together and using a different network port in the room.
We have added another shared printer (different make/model) to the station to test if users can see one but not the other. We have then allocated this printer and a printer from a neighbouring room to the stations. I find that some users get all three printers, some get none, some get the neighbouring printer, some just get the test printer……..a real mixture!
It doesn’t seem to be user specific either. For instance, a user might log onto one pc and not get any printers but log onto another and get printers. Then again, it doesn’t seem to be station specific, as a user can log out, someone else log in and get the printers.
One thing to note is that I don’t recall ever logging on as an administrator and not getting the printer.
I thought I could set up the printer manually on every station in the room, to get around RM Management Console allocating the printing every time a user logs on. The problem is, it seems only the person who installed the printer gets the printer when logged on i.e. Installed as systemadmin, log in as systemadmin2 and no printers installed! I have asked RM if it is possible to set up the printer for each station so that whoever logs on gets the printer. They have said I need to set up the users as “privileged” users which basically means they can do whatever they like on the computer when logged in. This is not an option! I was hoping someone out there might have some ideas about how I could do this or have any suggestions as to what I could try next?