USB Printers

The USB ports on the back of the MSS perform the same basic function as the USB ports on your local computer. We supply connection over your network and we allow data to pass through to your printer. The MSS does NOT buffer any of the data you send to your printer.
Always go to your printer manufacturer’s web site and download the latest drivers and software first before installing on the MSS.
If your printer was installed previously to your local computer you need to uninstall the driver first, and then delete the printer from the list before trying to connect it to the MSS on the network.
Most USB printers, drivers, and their software, are built, and configured for connection to the local PC you are currently working on.
In most cases certain software features included with your USB printer won’t be available after connecting the printer to a network.
Connecting an all in one Fax, Scanner, Printer, to the MSS is not recommended. (The printer function will probably work, but the FAX, and Scanner won’t.)
If you are connecting an all in one USB printer to your network with a USB print server the Fax and Scanner functions probably will not work either. If the work load warrants it, your best solution in this case would be an all in one network printer.
When adding a printer to the USB ports on the back of the MSS, the MSS must be configured with a static IP address first.
If you choose to connect your printer with your MSS configured as DHCP it is very likely your printer will loose connection with its driver any time the MSS, your router, or your local PC, is restarted on the network.
To install your USB printer on the MSS you must have the latest drivers downloaded and unzipped into a folder on your system before continuing.

1. Click on Start>Settings>Printers and Faxes.
2. When the Printers and Faxes page opens click Add a Printer.
3. When the Add Printer Wizard opens, click Next.

4. Select the Network Printer option and click Next.

5. When the Specify a Network Printer box displays, click on Connect to this printer. Enter the name of your MSS and your printer in the field then, click Next.
Do not use the name in the example, add the name of your server, and printer in the name field.

6.Click OK to search for a printer driver.

7. If your printer is in the list provided by Windows, find your model and click OK. If your model is not listed click on Have Disk and then click OK.

8. When the Install From Disk screen displays click Browse....

9. When the Locate File screen displays, go to the folder where you unzipped your printer drivers and look for a file with a .inf extension. (This is the information file that Windows needs to authenticate and identify your printer.) Click Open after you have located the file.

10. The install From Disk field should display the name of your printer.
If it is correct click OK.

11. If the printer and driver are recognized properly, the name of your printer will display in the following field.
Click on OK to continue.

12. Once the driver is installed, Windows will ask if you want to use this as the default printer. Select Yes and then click Next.

13. When the Completion screen displays, click on Finish and print a test page to make sure your printer and drivers are connected properly.
14. The driver installation procedure will have to be completed on every computer on your network.

More Gotcha’s Regarding Printer Drivers.

If your printer was previously installed and working on your local PC, Windows may have trouble recognizing your printer out on the network when the local printer driver remains in the Windows registry. You can run through the Windows un-install process for your printer, but it doesn’t always remove the local USB printer driver. So you run through the network printer install procedure mentioned above and everything seems to be OK until Windows says that it can’t find your printer. That’s because the old driver is still loaded and Windows is looking for your printer to be connected to the USB port on your computer. Or, Windows completes the install and everything seems to be OK, you printed a test page, and after rebooting your computer Windows no longer recognizes your printer on the network. Windows probably re-loaded the local USB printer driver and it expects the printer to be available on the last USB port it was connected to locally.

So what are my options?
1.  Contact your printer manufacturer and have them help you remove the printer driver from the local computer that is giving you      trouble.
2.  Connect the printer back to the local computer.
3.  Purchase a USB print server.
4.  Purchase a network printer and print server if you are to have a heavy print workload.
5.  If you are having problems printing after using your printer regularly on the MSS and nothing has changed on your network.      remove the printer from the MSS, and diagnose it on your PC first before re-connecting it to the MSS.

This concludes the USB Printer Installation tutorial. Select another topic by clicking on the appropriate Command Panel Tab at the top of the page.