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brad.lane
Asked: 2009-07-31 14:10:13 +0800 CST

Enabling bidirectonal support for a shared printer

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We have 2 pooled HP LaserJet 9050 printer on our network (using the PostScript drivers). Users connect to it via our print server, which runs Windows 2000 Server. I am unable to enable bidrectonal support for these printers (the box is grayed out).

Is there something I'm missing? When I set them up, I created a new TCP/IP port, then pointed the wizard at the port and the downloaded drivers. I suspect there's something wrong here that I'm not aware of.

The problem I keep seeing is that if a large print job is printing and one pooled printer runs out of paper, after a certain amount of time, the job will automatically start from the beginning on the other pooled printer. Obviously for a job that's 1k+ pages, this isn't ideal.

I suspect I need bi-directional support, but if it's something else, please let me know

windows-server-2000 printing

2 Answers

  1. Best Answer

    I'm not sure if this KB is valid for your setup, but it states, in part:

    Although TCP/IP can carry the [bidirectional] signal, the Line Printer Remote (LPR) specification has no facility for this signal. Therefore, the Windows NT TCP/IP protocol does not support network bi-directional printing.

    and:

    One of the Windows NT Print Monitors, HPMON, supports bi-directional printing over the network. HPMON uses one of its features called "Advanced Job Status" for detecting a response signal sent from the print device. This feature is disabled by default.

    ...so it looks like there should be some setting in the driver or HP software for "advanced job status," so I would look for that.

    Also, in this thread (though another printer), it indicates (last post) that bi-directional support might not work unless you install the full HP software (not just the drivers).

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  2. I have one of those as well. Their is no bidirectional support on the IP printing protocol (LPR or HPs RAW/port 9000), thusly this information is retrieved from the printer by SNMP.

    To enable bi-directional support you need to install SNMP on your server, and also, if you are concerned about security, at least change the SNMP comminity names.

    At that point you will be able to enable bi-directional support in the HP driver advanced options dialog.

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