After a year, I still can't get my printer to work with VMWare Fusion - Any help?

[jvswan]

So, I really hate to start a discussion on this forum like this, but I hate this software. I bought it specifically so that I can print certain documents at home, using my Mac. I have never been able to print using it. I've had to go through extremely complicated gyrations just to get the rotten thing to show up on the printer list. Then, when I print to it, it spools and sends, but nothing ever comes out of the printer. No error messages. No problems. Just no print. I followed the tutorial for all three methods of hooking up a printer with no success. I've worked with network settings. I've worked with printer sharing. I've worked with Bonjour.

Recently, I bought a new computer and put a fresh OS on it. I haven't created any additional user accounts and I haven't imported any settings or files yet. My Mac is as fresh as it can be made. I installed Fusion again and updated to version 2.0.4. My Mac is running 10.5.7. I have now enabled printer passthrough using the VMWare Fusion Settings panel. Much to my disappointment, my printer didn't show up like it is supposed to. So, I downloaded the Windows drivers and installed them manually. I've added the printer, and I can now select it, but nothing prints. Same worn out story.

BTW, I have a Canon MP830 multi-function printer. My Mac is an Intel Core 2 Duo Mini. Plenty of RAM. Need any other information?

Unfortunately, I didn't call VMWare in time to get the free support and I would rather throw this rotten software out and buy Parallels than pay to get the company to help me make the software work the way it is supposed to work. I have nothing fancy or uncommon in my system. I cannot find any reason for it not to work. This is my last attempt/hope. If anyone has any suggestions, I would really appreciate the help. Sorry again for the negativity... I'm sure y'all have paid good money for something that didn't do what you needed it to do. It is frustrating.

[RiteshK]

I will suggest you to delete the existing printer in the control panel of

the guest OS and reconfigure the printer.

Please follow the below steps to configure the printer in Virtual

Machine.

A. Steps to configure the Virtual Machine to "NAT" network mode.

a) Go to VMware Fusion settings

b) Click on "Network"

c) Enable "NAT" Mode

d) Click on "OK"

e) Reboot the VM (Don't suspend)

B. Steps to configure the Printer.

1. Share the printer in Host Mac OS X by going to System Preference >

Sharing

2. Select the printer to Share the printer (ensure that you are able to

print in Host Mac OS)

3. Also enable (Windows Sharing) SMB sharing in System Preferences

a. Click on System Preference > Sharing

b. Click on the "File Sharing" and then click on "Options"

c. Enable "Share files and folder using SMB" and select your "User

Name"

d. Check mark on the "User Name" and click on "Done"

4. Launch VMware Fusion and Power on Windows VM

5. In Windows Guest OS, Click Windows Start > Run

6. Key In
IPaddress of Host Mac (for e.g.
10.0.0.17)

7. Now you can access your Host shared printer in Windows OS

8. Right click on printer and select open/Connect

9. It will ask you to install printer drivers

10. Install Latest Printer driver available for Windows OS and check if

you can print from Windows Virtual Machine

If the problem still persists, please go through the below steps.

A. Please go through the below steps to configure the network

a) Go to Fusion setting

b) Go to "Network"

c) Enable "Bridge" Mode

d) Click on "OK"

e) Reboot the VM (Don't suspend)

B. Go through the below steps to configure the network printer

a) Go to guest OS and click on "Start"

b) Then click on "Settings" and then "Printers and faxes"

c) Click on "File" and select "Add Printer"

d) Follow the Printer Wizard

e) Click on "A network printer" and then "Next"

f) Click "Connect to this (or to browse for printer, select this option

and click next) the first option.

g) Key in the IP address of the printer followed by "
"

h) Click on "Next"

i) Install the latest printer driver

j) Now test the printer by printing the documents"

[gbullman]

Take a look at this thread on Host Printer Troubleshooting.

I had some issues getting the ThinPrint Host Printer Sharing to work with one of my Virtual Machines, but received very good help in the reference thread and ultimately got it working. Every so often the ThinPrint printer does not get created when the Virtual Machine starts up, but that is very rare (like twice since September 2008).

There are various logs you can enable as pointed out in this thread to get an understanding of what is going on. I believe there is a good chance it will come down to something in your guest OS that is tripping things up. Fusion cannot keep Windows from being Windows.

Good Luck, once working, it works quite well, even making new printers added to the Mac available to the Guest without any action on the user's part.

Fusion 2.0.x has really worked out well for me, and this ability to print via passthrough to the host is very useful with the typical configuration I run with each day (2 VMs each connected to separate VPNs and no network access).