everyman-ga:
Thank you for your Question regarding how you can print to a printer
located in a remote warehouse, from the PC in your home office.
The solution that I propose, is to use a basic PC in the warehouse, to
act as both a dial-up server and a print server for the printer. This
PC does not need to be fancy; in fact, it would be best to simply
re-use or obtain an old PC that has at least Windows 98 SE installed.
In addition, this computer will need to have a parallel port to
connect to the printer, and a dial-up modem.
Based on your initial description, it is possible for you to locate
the printer (and the PC) near a working telephone line in the remote
warehouse. However, I will first recommend that you set up the printer
and PC at your home (if you have a second phone line available) or
some other nearby location with a phone line, to fully test out this
solution before introducing 100 miles' worth of troubleshooting travel
into the equation! I will also assume that you have a reasonable level
of comfort working with computer hardware and Windows operating
systems. If at any time you find that you require more explanation,
please let me know and I will clarify.
The following procedure will take you through several key steps:
A. Setting up the Printer and remote PC
B. Setting up the Dial-up Networking Server on the remote PC
C. Setting up the Printer as a shared resource
D. Setting up the Dial-up Networking connection from your home PC
E. Testing the remote printing connection
F. Using the remote printing connection
G. Final steps
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A. Setting up the Printer and remote PC
---------------------------------------
The first thing you will need to do is install the printer driver on
the PC and connect the printer to the PC. Depending on the dot-matrix
impact printer you purchase, the manufacturer should also be able to
provide the printer driver for the printer. You will need to install
the printer on both the remote PC, and your desktop PC. In order to
proceed with this set-up, make sure you have the driver available on a
disk (or CD, if the computers have CD-ROM drives).
For the remote PC (instructions assume Windows 98 SE):
(also see: http://www.helpwithpcs.com/tipsandtricks/install_printer_windows_98.htm
)
01. connect the printer to the parallel port of the remote PC using a
parallel printer cable, and power up the printer
02. Go to Start>Settings>Printers, and select Add Printer
03. Follow the on-screen prompts for installing a local printer
04. When prompted to select a printer driver, use the 'Have Disk'
button to select your driver disk or CD
05. When prompted for a port, select LPT1: (unless you know that the
parallel port is a different number)
06. When prompted for the printer name, use a short, easy to remember
name such as 'SHIPPING'
07. You can try printing a test page to confirm that the driver is
properly installed
08. Now, disconnect the printer cable from the remote PC
For your home office PC (instructions for W2K):
01. connect the printer to the parallel port of the home office PC
using a parallel printer cable
02. Go to Start>Settings>Printers, and select Add Printer
03. Follow the on-screen prompts for installing a local printer
04. When prompted to select a printer driver, use the 'Have Disk'
button to select your driver disk or CD
05. When prompted for a port, select LPT1: (unless you know that the
parallel port is a different number)
06. When prompted for the printer name, use a short, easy to remember
name such as 'LOCAL_SHIP'
07. You can try printing a test page to confirm that the driver is
properly installed
08. You can now disconnect the printer cable from the home office PC
At this point, you will have the printer driver installed on both PCs,
set up for use with the dot matrix printer as a local printer. In a
later step, we will set up the printer as a remote printer for the
home office PC.
----------------------------------------------------------------------
B. Setting up the Dial-up Networking Server on the remote PC
------------------------------------------------------------
The next step is to set up the dial-up networking server on the remote
PC so that it can automatically answer incoming calls and create a
temporary network connection for you to print over.
On the remote PC (instructions assume Windows 98 SE):
(also see: http://support.microsoft.com:80/support/kb/articles/q139/7/10.asp )
(also see: http://www.wown.info/j_helmig/dunservr.htm )
01. If Dial-up Networking has not already been installed, you will
need to have a Windows 98 installation CD or disk set available
02. Go to Start>Settings>Control Panel, and select Add/Remove Programs
03. Go to the Windows Setup Tab, and double-click on 'Communications'
04. Check the 'Dial-up Networking Server' checkbox, and click OK
After DUN Server is installed, you need to configure the necessary
network components to use with a dial-up connection.
05. Go to Start>Settings>Control Panel, and select Network
06. You will need to validate, or add (using the 'Add' button), the
following network components:
- Client for Microsoft Networks (service)
- Dial-Up Adapter (this is the modem driver)
- IPX/SPX-compatible (protocol)
- File and Printer Sharing for Microsoft Networks (service)
07. You will need to turn on File and Printer Sharing, using the
checkbox on the Network properties dialog
08. Click on the 'File and Printer Sharing' component name, and click on Properties
09. Click on Browse Master, and select 'Enable', then click OK
10. Click on the Identification tab to set up the computer name and workgroup
11. Give the remote PC a unique name, like 'REMOTE'
12. Choose a workgroup name that will be common to both PCs, such as 'WAREHOUSE'
Now, you need to turn on the Dial-up Networking Server
13. Go to the Dial-Up Networking folder (can be found in My Computer)
14. Pull down the Connections menu, and select 'Dial-Up Server'
15. Click the 'Allow Caller Access' checkbox
16. Click 'Change Password' and input a password that you will remember
17. Click OK to save your settings
----------------------------------------------------------------------
C. Setting up the Printer as a shared resource
----------------------------------------------
The next thing you need to do, is share the printer as a shared
resource of the remote PC.
On the remote PC (instructions assume Windows 98 SE):
(also see: http://support.its.ied.edu.hk/stufaq/7.3.html )
01. Re-connect the printer to the remote PC (not absolutely required,
just makes things easier)
02. Go to Start>Settings>Printers, and right click on the printer ('SHIPPING')
03. Click on the 'Sharing...' option
04. Select 'Shared As' to activate the rest of the window, and enter
the share name 'SHIPPING'
05. You can leave this password blank if you wish (since the only way
to get to this share is through the dial-up, and you already have a
password there)
06. Click OK
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D. Setting up the Dial-up Networking connection from your home PC
-----------------------------------------------------------------
Still with me? Good. Now, we need to set up the Dial-Up Networking
connection from your home office PC. For the purposes of in-home
testing, I hope that you have a second phone line available. If not,
then see if you can get a neighbor to help you out by letting you set
up the remote PC and printer at their place in the next step. First,
we will set up the connection on your home office PC.
On the home office PC (instructions assume Windows 2000 Pro):
01. If you haven't already done so, install the modem in your home office PC
02. Go to start>Settings>Network and Dialup Connections, and select
'Make New Connection'
03. Follow the on-screen prompts, you want to 'Dial-up to private network'
04. For the phone number, enter the phone number that you will be
testing the connection with, you can change this later to the actual
phone number at the warehouse
05. Name the connection something unique, and check the 'Add a
shortcut to my desktop' checkbox
06. Click 'Finish', and the dial-up dialog will appear
07. Click Properties, and go to the Networking tab
08. Ensure that the Type of dial-up server is 'PPP: Windows
95/98/NT4/2000, Internet'
09. Ensure that at least the following components are selected:
- File and Printer Sharing for Microsoft Networks
- Client for Microsoft Networks
- NWLink IPX/SPX/NetBIOS-compatible Transport Protocol
10. Click OK to close the Properties window
11. Go to Start>Settings>Control Panel>System, and select the Network
Identification tab
12. Your computer should already have a name, it may already be part
of a workgroup; since you are working in a home office, I assume that
you are not part of a domain. However, if you ARE part of a domain,
STOP HERE, and let me know via a Clarification Request!
13. If you are already part of a workgroup, and can safely change it,
then click on Properties to change it to the same workgroup name as
used for the remote PC
14. If you are already part of a workgroup, and cannot change it, then
go change the one on the remote PC to match the workgroup name of the
home office PC
15. Click OK to close the open windows
---------------------------------------------------------------------
At this point, let's review where we are. We have:
- set up the printer on the remote PC (and installed the driver on the
home office PC)
- set up the Dial-Up Networking server on the remote PC
- set up sharing of the printer on the remote PC
- set up the Dial-Up Networking connection on the home office PC
Now, it's time to test. Again, I hope you have a second phone line
available in your home, or a cooperative neighbor.
---------------------------------------------------------------------
E. Testing the remote printing connection
-----------------------------------------
01. With the printer connected to the remote PC, connect the phone
line to the remote PC's modem
02. Connect the home office phone line to the modem in the home office
PC (remember that the phone line to the modem must be filtered, since
you are using DSL... best to use a duplex jack to double-up the
connection for your home office desk phone)
03. From your home office PC, double-click on the dial-up icon on your
desktop, and enter in any username, and the password you originally
set up on the remote PC
04. After the connection has been established, open up a Windows Explorer window
05. Go to My Network Places, Entire Network, Microsoft Windows
Network, and double-click your workgroup name icon
06. If the remote PC ('REMOTE') does not appear right away, type
\\REMOTE\ in the address field
07. When it eventually appears, you should see the shared printer ('SHIPPING')
08. Right click on it, and select Connect...
09. At this point, if you had set up a password for the shared
printer, you would need to type it here (which is why I suggest to not
use a password)
10. You may be prompted to install the printer driver again; if so, do
so from the driver disk you used before
11. From any application on your computer, try printing to this new
printer to confirm that it works
Assuming that it works, you are ready to deploy this solution to the
warehouse. If it doesn't work, let me know via Clarification Request
so that we can debug it!
---------------------------------------------------------------------
F. Using the remote printing connection
---------------------------------------
You can now deploy the remote printer and PC to the warehouse. After
doing so, remember to right-click on the dial-up icon on your home
office PC, and click on Properties to change the phone number you are
dialing. At this time, you may also want to put in any special dialing
codes (like *70) to disable Call Waiting, etc.
When you need to print a shipping/order form, do the following:
01. Double-click on the dial-up icon on your desktop, and establish the connection
02. On your Start>Settings>Printers menu, Open the remote printer
'SHIPPING' on 'REMOTE'
03. From your application, select the printer and print to it
04. You should see the print job appear in the 'SHIPPING' on 'REMOTE'
window, and the job should disappear after the printing is done
05. Close the dial-up connection
---------------------------------------------------------------------
G. Final steps
--------------
This solution will only be sufficient as long as you are printing
basic text to pre-printed order forms. Once you need to start printing
graphics, the dial-up connection will be painfully slow. Hopefully by
then, you will be able to install a DSL or cable Internet connection
to the remote warehouse.
One potential area of complication is if the Windows 98 machine
crashes or hangs. You will need to train at least one person at the
warehouse to periodically check on the PC, and reboot it if necessary.
As long as the PC is only used for the purposes of being a dial-up
server and printer server, this should not be a problem. Securing the
remote PC will also be a concern for you, but I leave that up to you
to decide how best to protect the PC.
=====================================================================
I hope that this information has been helpful! Please do not hesitate
to ask for Clarification as you go through this procedure.
Regards,
aht-ga
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