Sharing a Host Computer's Printer
You can share any printer connected to the physical computer with your Windows or Linux virtual machine. The printer will be available through the virtual machine's parallel port.
To share the physical computer's printer:
-
Launch Parallels Workstation Extreme and open the virtual machine.
-
Open the Virtual Machine Configuration dialog by choosing
Configure
from the
Virtual Machine
menu. Make sure that the configuration includes a parallel port. If necessary, add it. See
Adding a Parallel Port
.
-
In the
Parallel Port
pane, make sure that the
Enabled
option is selected. Select
Connected,
if you want the printer to be automatically connected on the virtual machine startup.
-
Select the
Printer
option. You can choose a specific printer from the printers list or use the
Default printer
option if you want to use the default printer set in the primary OS.
Click
OK
to close Virtual Machine Configuration.
-
Start the virtual machine.
-
In a Windows guest OS, if you have
Parallels Tools installed
, the HP Color LaserJet 8500 PS printer is automatically connected to your virtual machine and you can use it at once. In a Linux guest OS or if you do not have Parallels Tools installed in your Windows guest OS, no matter what type of printer you have, install the HP Color LaserJet 8500 PS printer driver and then follow the procedure of adding a printer in a guest OS described bellow.
Warning:
Do not install the driver from the installation CD, supplied with your printer, in the virtual machine.
Adding a printer in a Windows guest operating system
To add a printer in a Windows guest OS:
-
Start the Windows virtual machine and log in as administrator.
-
Open the Windows
Start
menu, select
Control Panel
.
-
In the
Control Panel
window, select the
Printers and Faxes
(or
Printers
, or
Printers and Other Hardware
) item.
-
Open the Add Printer wizard:
-
In Windows XP/Vista double-click the
Add a printer
link.
-
In the Add Printer wizard:
-
In Windows Vista:
- click
Add a local printer
,
- select
Use an existing port
and click
Next
.
-
In Windows XP:
- click
Next
in the wizard's first dialog,
- in the
Local or Network Printer
dialog, click
Local printer attached to this computer
.
-
Continue with the general installation procedure and install the HP Color LaserJet 8500 PS printer driver.
Adding a printer in a Linux guest operating system
To add a printer in a Linux guest OS:
-
Start the Linux virtual machine and log in as administrator.
-
Open the
/etc/printcap/
configuration file and click the
Add
option.
-
Select the type of printer to add:
Local printer
. Click
Ok
.
-
Printtool
will attempt to detect any printers which are attached to your parallel port and will show you the results. Click
Ok
.
-
Specify the details about your printer, such as a name of the printer and its related spool directory, the location of the printer device and other options.
-
The
Input Filter
contains information about your specific printer and its formatting requirements. To add your printer's information, click
Select
. The
Configure Filter
dialog will open.
-
Choose the printer type: choose the HP Color LaserJet 8500 PS printer driver. You can also set here other printing parameters. Click
Ok
.
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