Is there any way to map a Novell printer to a Windows Terminal Server? We have a remote user who uses remote desktop to access an application called Extreme Dialogue. She needs to print the output to a Novell printer. For some reason it never printed correctly on a Windows printer, (something to do with the drivers), but we did find that when she printed to Novell printer it did print correctly (when she was on site). Now that she is a remote user she cannot map the Novell printer. Any help will be greatly appreciated.
— Nancy Balliet
Printing from a Windows Terminal Server should work right out of the box, so we’ll need to try some detective work. To answer your first question, you can map a Novell Printer from a Windows Terminal Server. Assuming you are running a version of NetWare 5.x or later, you’re probably running in Native IP mode. Check the version of the Novell client that you have installed. Check Novell’s support Web site and see if there are any updates or service packs to be installed and get those installed. If there are none to be installed, see if there is a newer Novell client to be installed. Remember to put Terminal Server into Application Install mode when updating updates or new applications. Make sure that you can ping the printer by IP address and the server that is hosting the print queue to check connectivity.
Since you mentioned a previous problem about printer drivers, check the vendor’s support Web site to see if there is a newer printer driver than what you are currently using. Depending on how the printer driver was written, you may have a choice between LPR and RAW printing modes. Try both of these options to see which the printer responds best to. Try using the test page printing option directly from the Windows Terminal Server for testing the printing. If this works, but printing from the application doesn’t, that will help direct where you should look next. Compare this to printing from a local workstation to see if you notice any differences with how the printing is handled.
Make sure that you have the latest patches/updates installed on the Windows Terminal Server. The same goes for the network card on both the Terminal Server and the Novell Server that is servicing the print queue. I have seen more than one case when an updated network card driver has fixed the problem. Check with the vendor for the application you are running to see what issues they may have had with your type of configuration that might help you resolve your situation. See if there are any updates for the application as well. If the printer has its own network card and is either running ip on its own or can be configured to do so, try configuring the printer on the Windows Terminal Server to print directly to the printer to see if there is some issue between the Microsoft and Novell servers.
If you printing using IPX, you can use most of the same troubleshooting steps I have mentioned with some slight adapting to accommodate the difference in protocols. If you still don’t have any luck, try using a protocol analyzer and look for differences in the data stream going to the printer when printing from the terminal server and a local workstation. That will also help identify where the problem may be.
