Installing your CUPS shared printer on Windows

This is one of those things that really isn’t that complicated, but it doesn’t work as intuitively as it should and I find myself looking it up every time I have to do it again, so I’m going to go ahead and document the process here in a clear and easy to follow fashion. I’m not showing how to set up the printer with CUPS on Linux, I’m assuming that is already done and just showing how to add that printer on Windows (Windows 7 is shown here).

First, you need to know the name of your printer. If you have forgotten, you can easily find this by using your web browser to pull up localhost:631, this is an administrative interface for your CUPS server. Click the Printers tab and you will see your printer’s name under Queue Name in the first column.

Now that you know the name (and the IP address or domain name for the computer), we are ready to add the printer in Windows. Pull up Devices and Printers from the Start menu. Click the Add Printer button to pull up the Add Printer dialog. Of course, we will be selecting Add network, wireless, or Bluetooth printer. It won’t find the printer, but don’t worry, just select The printer I want isn't listed. Now use Select a shared printer by name. Ignore the examples, the correct format to enter is:

http://ipaddress:631/printers/Printer_Name

or:

http://domainname:631/printers/Printer_Name

Now, you will have to select the manufacturer and model (or series) of your printer. Now you’ve installed the printer and you will presented with an option to print a test page to make sure it works.

As I said, it was pretty easy, just not exactly intuitive. And now you should be able to print from Windows to the printer attached to your Linux machine (or other Unix system, including Mac).