Printers Folder
The Control Panel’s Printers Folder is a standalone applet that lets you manage your printers, and it can be accessed independently of the Windows NT 4.0 Control Panel via either the My Computer desktop icon or the Start Menu’s Settings submenu. However, it is also included as a Control Panel icon to maintain consistency with the Control Panel’s role as Windows NT’s “configuration central” location.
Previous versions of Windows, including Windows 3.x and Windows for Workgroups, placed printer management in two separate areas: the Control Panel Printers applet, which controlled printer definitions, setup, port connections, and so on; and the Print Manager utility, which controlled the print queue and network printer connectivity functions (in Windows for Workgroups). However, in keeping with the theme of consolidation in the Explorer interface, Windows NT 4.0 and Windows 95 combine the functions of these two utilities into one location: the Printers Folder. The Printers Folder is shown in Figure 5.41.
The Printers Folder always contains at least one icon, the Add Printer icon. Double-clicking this icon launches the Add Printer Wizard, which takes you through the process of configuring a new printer. Once a printer has been added, an icon representing it appears in the Printers Folder.
You have two main options when you add a printer in Windows NT 4.0: adding a locally connected printer (printer connected to a physical port on this computer) or connecting over a network to a shared printer. This section deals with connecting printers locally to your Windows NT system. See “Sharing and Connecting Drives and Printers,” Chapter 9, for information about connecting a network shared printer.
To add a printer that will be connected to your Windows NT computer, take the following steps:
In the Printers Folder, double-click the Add Printer icon. This starts the Add Printer Wizard.
Windows NT will ask whether you are adding a printer that will be connected to your computer (My Computer) or connecting to a shared printer on a network printer server. Click the button next to My Computer and click Next.
Windows NT will ask you which port(s) you wish to have this printer configuration print to (shown in Figure 5.42). Click the box next to the name of the port(s) to which the printer is connected and click Next.
Special Note: The reason for allowing multiple port selection is related to a Windows NT 4.0 feature known as print pooling. Print pooling lets you use one print driver to represent two or more identical printers connected to different ports on the same computer. You create a “pool” of printers accessible through a single printer configuration, maximizing printer efficiency. In this configuration, Windows NT will always print to the first available printer.
Windows NT 4.0 displays a list of manufacturers and printers (shown in Figure 5.43). Click a manufacturer name in the left box to display a list of all printers from the manufacturer supported by Windows NT. If your printer is not an available choice but you have a vendor-supplied disk containing a Windows NT 4.0 printer driver, insert the disk and choose the Have Disk button. When done, click Next.
Tip: If there is no Windows NT 4.0 driver available for your printer but the printer is compatible with another printer that is supported by Windows NT 4.0, select the compatible printer’s name from the list.
Windows NT 4.0 will now ask what name you will assign to this printer. The name you assign will be displayed below the printer’s icon inside the Printers Folder. You may accept the default name offered or type in a new name. You are also asked to choose whether you want to make this printer the default printer in Windows NT. The default is “no” only if this isn’t the first printer being installed. (Note that this option applies only to Windows-based applications). When done, click Next.
Windows NT 4.0 asks whether you wish to print a test page to the printer once the driver has been installed. Printing the test page lets you diagnose both the printer’s connection and the compatibility of the chosen printer driver. When done, click Finish, or to review or modify choices, click Back.
If necessary, Windows NT 4.0 will prompt you for the Windows NT 4.0 CD-ROM or a network shared driver containing the Windows NT installation files.
After you have installed your printers using the Add Printer Wizard, you can use the Printers Folder to manage them. Most of the options you’ll commonly use are accessible by either double-clicking or right-clicking the icon for the printer you want to control. Right-clicking produces a context-sensitive menu related to the currently selected printer (shown in Figure 5.44).
These print-related options are described below.
Open: Performs the same function as double-clicking the printer’s icon; that is, it opens a window for the printer showing the current print queue and statistics about each queued job.
Pause Printing: Pauses printing on the selected printer. When the printer is paused, a checkmark appears next to this menu option. To resume printing, choose the option again (the checkmark then disappears).
Purge Print Documents: Purges the print queue on the selected printer. Note that this will only cancel print jobs not yet sent to the printer; any information already received by the printer will continue to print.
Set As Default: Sets the printer as the default Windows NT printer. A checkmark appears next to this menu option when the printer is set as the default.
Sharing: Opens the Sharing tab of the printer’s Properties dialog box (described in detail in Table 5.5), which lets you configure this printer as a shared network printer.
Document Defaults: This option opens the Document Defaults dialog box, which controls the defaults for documents printed with this printer. It contains two tabbed sections: Page Setup, which lets you configure the paper size, source (tray), orientation (portrait vs. landscape), and number of copies; and Advanced, which offers a more sophisticated option of configuring the printer’s default document settings, including the options found in Page Setup. The Advanced section is specific to the particular printer being configured and lets you configure document options such as printer resolution and other printer-specific features.
Create Shortcut: Lets you create a shortcut to the printer. A shortcut can be placed on the desktop or inside any folder. Double-clicking a printer shortcut will open the printer’s window, displaying the print queue.
Delete: Deletes the printer. You are asked to confirm the deletion when performing this operation.
Rename: Lets you rename the printer (i.e., the label under the printer’s icon). A name change can also be made by selecting the printer’s icon and clicking the letters in the printer’s name.
Properties: Opens the printer’s properties dialog box. This is a tabbed dialog box that contains various configuration options related to this printer. The dialog box has five tabbed sections, which are described in Table 5.5.
Tip: To configure your printer for maximum speed and efficiency in Windows NT, set your Scheduling tab options as follows: Spool print documents, Start printing immediately, and Print spooled documents first. This will ensure that documents print as quickly as possible.
For More Information: For more information about sharing printers in Windows NT, see “Sharing and Connecting Drives and Printers,” Chapter 9.
Many of the options in the printer’s context-sensitive menu are also available inside the menus in the Printer’s window, which appears when you double-click the icon representing the printer (this window is shown in Figure 5.45).
Problems and Answers:All of a sudden, I can no longer print in Windows NT 4.0. I have verified that the printer is online and connected properly, but still nothing prints. How can I fix this?
Occasionally, the Spooler service (which controls print spooling) may become unstable and cease functioning. To fix this problem, run the Control Panel’s Services applet, and then stop and restart the Spooler service. This action often solves the problem and lets you print (see the description of the Services applet, for more information about stopping and starting services).
In addition, the printer window lets you view the current print queue for that printing device and manage the documents within it. To do so, simply highlight the document you want to control and choose the appropriate option from the Document menu. These options include
Pause: Pauses printing of the selected document.
Resume: Resumes printing of a previously paused document.
Restart: Restarts printing of the selected document from the beginning.
Cancel: Cancels printing of the selected document.
Properties: Displays a dialog box with three tabs (General, Page Setup, and Advanced) that collectively show all properties of the selected document, including the name of the application and the user printing the document, document size, priority, and so on. Some options, such as the document’s priority and the user to notify regarding document messages, can also be changed if you possess sufficient permissions to do so.
Another important printer configuration option is Server Properties, which lets you configure general printer information about your Windows NT 4.0 system. Server Properties appears in the Printer Folders File menu and is also accessible by right-clicking an empty area of the Printers Folder window. The Server Properties dialog box is shown in Figure 5.46.
This dialog box contains three tabbed sections:
Forms: Lets you view the form types (paper sizes) currently available and add new form types using the Create a New Form check box and the Measurements section of the dialog box.
Ports: Similar to the Printer Properties Dialog Ports tab; lists the currently available printer ports in your Windows NT system and lets you add and configure ports. Configuring a COM port brings up the Settings portion of the Control Panel’s Ports applet, and configuring LPT ports lets you change the Transmission Retry timeout period for the port (the amount of time to wait before notifying you that a printer connected to the port is not responding).
Advanced: Lets you configure various settings, including the Spool Folder location (this should generally not be changed, however), what type of spooler events should be logged in the Windows NT Event log (viewable with Event Viewer), and what types of notification should be given for documents printed to remote printers.
Special Note: Remote document notification requires that the Windows NT 4.0 Messenger service be started in order to function (this is configurable via the Control Panel’s Services applet).
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