Printing to Windows Servers
 
CUPS can print to Windows servers in one of two ways. The first way uses the LPD protocol on the CUPS system and the "TCP/IP Printing Services" on the Windows system. You can find out more about this configuration in the LPD section earlier in this chapter.
 
The second way is through the Microsoft Server Message Block ("SMB" ) protocol. Support for this protocol is provided with the free SAMBA software package. You can download SAMBA from:
 
http://www.samba.org
 
To configure CUPS for SAMBA, run the following command:
 
ln -s `which smbspool` /usr/lib/cups/backend/smb ENTER
 
The smbspool(1) program is provided with SAMBA starting with SAMBA 2.0.6. Once you have made the link you can configure your printers with one of the following device URIs:
 
smb://workgroup/server/sharename
smb://server/sharename
smb://user:pass@workgroup/server/sharename
smb://user:pass@server/sharename
 
The workgroup name need only be specified if your system is using a different workgroup. The user:pass strings are required when printing to Windows NT servers or to shares with passwords enabled under Windows 95 and 98.