NPrinter for Windows NT (Beta) now available for free download

This document consists of five parts:

1.0 is an overview of the product and how it is obtained.
2.0 provides installation instructions for the product.
3.0 provides configuration instructions for the product.
4.0 provides instructions for using the product.
5.0 provides troubleshooting guidelines for known problems with the product.

1.0 Overview

On Windows NT 4.x workstations, Novell offers a Beta-level NPrinter for Windows NT solution for Windows NT users. This product will be available for downloading from the Novell web site in late September 1998.

This TID summarizes some of the key features and availability details.

1.1 Why NPrinter for Windows NT?

The Windows NT platform is gaining increasingly widespread acceptance, and customers upgrading from older systems have a valid demand for their existing equipment to work properly with this new operating system.

1.2 What does it do?

- NPrinter for Windows NT provides Network connectivity to printers attached to machines running the Windows NT 4 operating system by using the Novell Remote Printer (RP) protocol.
- NPrinter for Windows NT supports multiple printers attached to the local machine.
- NPrinter for Windows NT can service print jobs originating from multiple NetWare trees at the same time.
- NPrinter for Windows NT is implemented as a native NT service that will run whether or not a user is currently logged in to the local NT workstation or to NetWare/intraNetWare.
- NPrinter for Windows NT is language enabled in English and German.
- NPrinter for Windows NT is easily installed.

1.3 Is NPrinter for Windows NT an official Novell product?

Yes. It is currently officially in Beta status until is included as part of a future (undetermined) NetWare release.
1.4 Who supports NPrinter for Windows NT?

Support for NPrinter for Windows NT is provided through any existing general technical support contract with Novell. If you have a support contract with Novell, support for NPrinterNT is covered by that. If you do not have a support contract with Novell, you may receive support according to our general support conditions (see http://support.novell.com/).

1.5 Where do I get NPrinter for Windows NT?

You can download it free of charge by going to the following URL:

http://support.novell.com/download, with the file finder search for the file NTPRINT.EXE.

2.0 Installation Instructions

2.1 Installation requirements

- NPrinter for Windows NT is an add-on product to the Novell Client for Windows NT. It will not run on the Microsoft Client Services for NetWare.
- The Novell Client for NT must be version 4.11 or later.
- The NT installation should have Service Pack 1 or higher.
          
NOTE:
In order for the installation to function properly, you must have administrative rights to the workstation.
          
2.2 Installation from the Control Panel

To install NPrinter for NT from the Control Panel, do the following:
A. Double click the Network icon.
B. Select the "Services" tab.
C. Click the "Add" button.
D. Click the "Have Disk" button.
E. When prompted, either accept the location if you are installing from a diskette, or provide the correct path to the NPrinter installation oemsetup.inf file.
F. Select OK.
G. Select the "NPrinter Service for NT" choice from the following dialog, and choose "OK".
At this point the installation script will determine the system default language and prompt you with the full path to the localized installation.
          
NOTE:
You can either accept or specify a different subdirectory. Be sure you are specifying a valid subdirectory. If the desired language is not provided with the installation, contact your local Novell representative.
          
H. Select "Continue".
The installation script will now copy the necessary files to your local system and make the necessary changes to your computer's registry.
          
If the installation completed successfully, you will see the NPrinter service appear in the list of installed network services.

3.0 Configuring Nprinter for Windows NT
     
The NPrinter for Windows NT installation provides a Control Panel applet through which you can control the operation of the service.

To access the service, double click the "NPrinter" icon in Control Panel.
         
The dialog that appears contains a list of your configured local printers that are available to be used for NPrinter. The left column in the list view has the name of the printer as it is known to your NT system. You configure a local printer to be used by NPrinter by connecting it to an NDS Printer object or a bindery (NetWare 3.1x) printer. To connect the local printer to an NDS object or bindery printer, select the name of the printer, and click "Connect". This will bring up a dialog box with all NDS trees and all bindery servers you are currently connected to.
         
You can browse the trees and servers and select a printer to associate with the local printer. Then select OK.

In the list view, the "Tree/Server" and "Object" columns will have been updated to show the association made. The association will be carried out by NPrinter when you press the "Restart" button, when you exit the applet and confirm the restart query dialog, the next time you start the service from the "Services" icon in Control Panel or by restarting your computer.
         
NOTE:
Your workstation may service different printer objects from different trees or on different servers, but any one local printer can service only one NDS or bindery printer at the same time. If you are currently not connected to any NDS trees or bindery servers, the browser dialog will not display and error message will come up instead.
         
Selecting the "Options" button will bring up another dialog that lets you configure other parameters for the NPrinter service. These parameters should not be changed unless you are advised to do so by Novell Technical Services.

4.0 Operating NPrinter

Users can print to NPrinter by simply printing to the NetWare printer serviced by Nprinter. Refer to your NetWare documentation for more information how to operate NetWare Print Services.

5.0 Troubleshooting and known problems

5.1. Known problems
     
5.1.1. Receive Buffers limited
The number of receive buffers is currently limited to one. This is caused by a problem in the underlying protocol layers. However, testing did not indicate any severe performance impact caused by this fact.
        
5.1.2. NetWare print queues appear as local devices

The implementation of the Novell Client causes NetWare print queues to appear as local printers in the registry. Although theoretically possible, NPrinter cannot currently associate NetWare queues with one another.

We hope to have this fixed in a future release of the Novell Client.
        
5.1.3. Status communication incomplete

NPrinter currently does not notify the PServer about "Offline" or "Out of paper" situations on the local printer. This should not cause any data loss as the local NT spooler will take care of the documents.
        
5.2. Troubleshooting
    
5.2.1. Registry

Nprinter relies on the system registry to store any relevant configuration data under the following key:
        
        HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE
            \System
                \CurrentControlSet
                    \Control
                        \Print
                            \Printers
                                \<printer name>
                                        \Nprinter
                                    
The values required for an NDS association are "TreeName" with a REG_SZ representing the name of the NDS tree and "PrinterObject" with a REG_SZ representing the fully distinguished name of the printer object to service. The values required for a bindery association are "ServerName" with a REG_SZ representing the name of the NetWare server, "PrintServer" with a REG_SZ representing the print server that the printer to service is defined on, and "Printer" with a REG_DWORD holding the number of the printer on the defining print server.
        
The values required for connection to an advertising print server are "PrintServer" with a REG_SZ representing the advertising print server, "Printer" with a REG_DWORD holding the number of the printer on the defining print server, and “PrinterName” with a REG_SZ representing the name of the printer. (In addition to the added text, It seemed to need paragraphs to separate the different kind of connections ACW)

        
 5.2.2. Rights assignments

NPrinter does not require any user to be logged on to either NT, NDS, or a bindery server. As a consequence, the relevant attributes must be readable by [Public] or EVERYONE respectively. This differs from the default layout only for the "Print Server" attribute of an associated NDS Printer object. Generally, the Control Panel applet performs the necessary modifications to NDS. In case of a problem, you should use NWAdmin to check for the required rights assignments.

NPrinter also relies on [Public] being able to read the "Network Address" attribute of the Print Server being used. This is in tune with the default rights assignments of NDS. There is no check being performed for bindery printers as all attributes used by NPrinter are dynamic attributes that may not be available at the time NPrinter is configured.
        
5.2.3. Event Log

NPrinter uses the System Event Log to inform the operator of any events that require attention.
             

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