Mac OS X 10.4: Can't print to a printer shared by Microsoft Windows

  • Last Modified: August 05, 2008
  • Article: HT2398
  • Old Article: 301768

Summary

When you try to print from Mac OS X 10.4 Tiger to a printer being shared by Windows, the document might not print, and the print queue window may display one of the following messages after a minute or more:

  • Connection failed with error NT_STATUS_BAD_NETWORK_NAME
  • Connection failed with error NT_STATUS_LOGON_TYPE_NOT_GRANTED
  • Connection failed with error NT_STATUS_LOGON_FAILURE
  • Connection failed with error NT_STATUS_UNSUCCESSFUL

The message may also be preceded by an "Unable to connect to SAMBA host, will retry in 60 seconds...ERROR" message. You can increase the size of the printer queue window to see the full message, if desired.

Products Affected

Printers, Mac OS X 10.4, Microsoft Windows

This can happen if:

  • The printer's shared name contains a space or special character (see below).
  • The name of the computer sharing the printer contains a space or special character.
  • The Windows user's name or user's password contains a space or special character.

What's a "special character?" It's a typed character other than A-Z, 0-9, !, $, *, (, ), _, +, -, ' . .

The following are not special characters and are OK to use in the printer name, Windows computer name, Windows user name, and Windows user password:

A a B b C c D d E e F f G g H h I i J j K k L l M m N n O o P p Q q R r S s T t U u V v W w X x Y y Z z 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 0 . ! $ * ( ) _ + - '

As a workaround, remove all spaces or special characters from the computer's name, printer's name, Windows user's name, and password, then add the printer again in Mac OS X. You can consult the Help documentation built into Windows to learn how to change any of these names or a password.

Another workaround you can try is to manually add the shared printer. See this document's "How to manually add a Windows shared printer" section.

This document will be updated as more information becomes available.

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