Printing to Windows NT from UNIX Clients

The Lpdsvc service is the server side of TCP/IP printing for UNIX clients. If any UNIX clients on the network want to print to a printer connected to a Windows NT computer, this service needs to be running on the Windows NT computer so it can accept requests from the UNIX clients. The Lpdsvc service supports any print format, including plain-text. It does not perform any additional processing.

The Lpdsvc service cannot send print jobs to network shares on a Microsoft OS/2 LAN Manager server.

To start or stop the Lpdsvc service

– Or –

Double-click the Services option in Control Panel, select Lpdsvc, and then choose the Start button.

On the UNIX computer, you can use the lpr utility to send jobs to Windows NT print queues. For details on the UNIX lpr utility, see your UNIX documentation.

The Lpdsvc service is independent of the Lprmon service. The Lprmon service runs automatically to allow a Windows NT computer (and all clients who can access this computer) to print to a printer connected to a UNIX system, as described in the previous section.

For the Lpdsvc service to support print jobs sent to a Windows NT shared printer specified by its universal naming convention (UNC) name, such as \\MYSERVER\MYPRINTER, the shared printer must be designated in the Registry as a null share. You must change the setting of the NullSessionShares parameter under the Registry key HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Services\LanmanServer\Parameters. For detailed information about this parameter, see Chapter 14, "Registry Value Entries," in the Windows NT Resource Guide.

Note When you use the lpr utility to submit a print job, check Print Manager to be sure the target printer does not have the Job Prints While Spooling option set in the Printer Details dialog box. When this option is not set, the lpr utility processes the print job much more efficiently.