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MyHomeServer Tutorials - Printing over the Internet using your HP MediaSmart Server

Many HP MediaSmart users don’t realize that you can use the server to share a printer, and it’s actually very simple and easy to do. Sharing a printer on the local network is great, but with Internet Printing you can send print jobs to home from anywhere in the world! For example: Surfing the web at work and come across a recipe that looks good? Send the print job to the home printer so when you get in the recipe is there waiting for you! Ever work on your resume at work and try to print your updated resume on the company printer and FORGET it was there??? Send the resume to print at home instead of at work! Following our tutorial below you can setup Internet Printing quickly and easily and start sending print jobs over the Internet in no time! The best part is that no other TCP ports are needed since the Internet Printing encapsulates the IPP (Internet Printing Protocol) data into HTTP or HTTPS packets.

Important Note: You MUST have remote access enabled and working properly to print over the Internet. You must also make sure that port 80 or port 443 is open in order to print properly using this tutorial. You must also have a DOMAIN NAME selected for your Home Server such as an HP Personal or Custom Domain name powered by TZO.COM. If you do not have remote access setup and working with a domain name, please complete that part first before continuing. Please also keep in mind that some multifunction printers will not be fully functional in this scenario. They will print, but you may not be able to use scanning software, etc. Before you begin, you should first have the printer connected to the MediaSmart server and shared on the network as shown in our previous printer sharing tutorial. Please also be aware that you could screw up your server if you don’t follow this tutorial or set permissions properly. Again, we are not responsible if you screw up your server or have problems with sharing, permissions or security!

STEP 1 - Using Remote Desktop to login to your MediaSmart Server - Login to the server with Remote Desktop. In order to login, you need to start a remote desktop session. Using the same laptop/desktop you used in previous steps, click Start, Program files, Accessories, Communications and select REMOTE DESKTOP CONNECTION and you will see a screenshot similar to the one shown below:

Using the internal IP address to connect to the MediaSmart with Remote Desktop

STEP 2 - Connecting to the Server using Remote Desktop - You now need to know either the internal LAN IP address of the MediaSmart server, or the server name such as HPServer, or in our case, we called it MyMediaSmart. Using either the LAN IP or the server name, enter that into the remote desktop connection dialog as shown in one of the two screenshots below:

Using the internal IP to connect to the MediaSmart with Remote Desktop


Using the server name to connect to the MediaSmart with Remote Desktop

STEP 3 - Logging into the Server using Remote Desktop - You should be see the login for the MediaSmart server using remote desktop as shown in the screenshot below. Use the administrator account and password for the MediaSmart server and it will log you into the desktop of the MediaSmart

Logging into the HP MediaSmart server with Remote Desktop using the administrator account

STEP 4 – Using Add/Remove Programs to add IIS components - By default, the Internet printing component is not installed. In order to install the IIS Internet Printing option, you need to click on Start, Control Panel and select ADD/REMOVE Programs. Once you open the ADD/REMOVE programs dialog, click on the ADD/REMOVE Windows Components as shown circled in the screenshot shown below

Using Add-Remove Programs to add additional Windows Components

Step 5 -Adding the Internet Printing Component - Now that the Windows components dialog is showing, Select Application Server and click details in the lower right as shown in the screenshot shown below.

Adding additional Windows Components under Application server on WHS

Step 6 -Adding the Internet Printing Component - Now that the Application Server components dialog is showing, Select Internet Information Services and click details in the lower right as shown in the screenshot shown below.

Adding additional Windows Components under Internet Information Services on WHS

Step 7 -Adding the Internet Printing Component - Now that the Internet Information Services components dialog is showing, Select Internet Printing and make sure that it is checked ON as shown below. Click OK and this will install the Internet Printing module on the Windows Home Server. A dialog will pop up and tell you that you have installed installing the Windows component. Click Finish and then click OK to make sure all dialog boxes are closed.

Adding the Internet Printing component under the IIS services on WHS

Step 8 -Adding the Internet Printing Component - Now that the Internet Information Services components dialog is showing, Select Internet Printing and make sure that it is checked ON as shown below. Click OK and then the NEXT button and this will install the Internet Printing module on the Windows Home Server. Click OK to make sure all dialog boxes are closed after installing the Internet Printing component.

Adding the Internet Printing component under the IIS services on WHS

Step 9 -Enabling Internet Printing in IIS Manager - Now that the Internet printing component is installed on your MediaSmart server, you need to make sure the service is allowed and then set permissions. Click the Start button, Administrative tools, Internet Information Services Manager. You will then see the screenshot similar to the one shown below. If you do not see the folders, click the “+” to expand the services under the hostname.

Getting to the Internet Information Services Manager to setup Internet Printing on WHS

Step 10 -Enabling Internet Printing Services - Click on WEB SERVICE EXTENSIONS on the left hand menu and you will see a screen similar to the one shown below. Make sure that the INTERNET PRINTING extension exists and that the service is “allowed” under the status area for this service.

Checking that the Internet Printing service is set to “allowed” on the Windows Home Server

Step 11 -Enabling Internet Printing Services - We now want to set the permissions for access to the printer. Expand the WEB SITES folder by clicking on the “+” and you will see the DEFAULT WEB SITE. Click the “+” to expand the default web site and you will see the PRINTERS folder as shown below. Highlight this folder and then RIGHT-CLICK and select PROPERTIES.

Setting the Printer permissions when using Internet Printing on WHS

Step 12 -Setting Properties of the Internet Printing Services - Once you select properties, the properties dialog will show up. Click the Directory Security tab, and then click Edit under authentication and access control as shown in the screenshot below.

Getting to the Internet Information Services Manager to setup Internet Printing on WHS

Step 13 -Setting authentication methods for Internet Printing Services - Once you click the edit button you will see the Authentication methods dialog as shown below. Here is where you can select the type of authentication. We selected to use basic authentication as we had trouble with permissions printing using any of the other settings - including anonymous. As shown below, select BASIC AUTHENTICATION and then click OK.

Getting to the Internet Information Services Manager to setup Internet Printing on WHS

Internet Printing is now enabled and ready to be tested! In order to test the Internet Printing, you first need to add the printer settings to a laptop or remote desktop PC that you wish to print on the home printer from a remote location. We used a laptop that travels away from the home.

Step 14 - Setting up client PC’s with Internet Printing - The printer is now shared on the LOCAL network and on the Internet with the proper username(s) and passwords of registered users on the MediaSmart. On each system that you wish to print remotely over the Internet, do the following:

• Click Start, Control Panel and find Printers and Faxes

• Under Printers and Faxes, click ADD PRINTER

• Select “A Network Printer, Or a Printer attached to another Computer”

• Select “Connect to a Printer on the Internet….” as shown in the screenshot below and enter in the following URL, noting the changes below:http://DOMAINNAME/printers/PRINTERNAME/.printer(Where the DOMAINNAME and PRINTERNAME are the names of YOUR DOMAIN and YOUR PRINTER) - In this case, our domain name of our server is YourName.HPShare.net but due to the TZO forwarding, we must use the domain name of www.YourName.HPShare.net. Your Domain name will be different.

  Our printer was simply named “PRINTER”. Depending on what you named your shared printer, your URL may be slighly different. Note: You can also use HTTPS if you wish to print via SSL port 443 if your port 80 is blocked.

Using the HP MediaSmart Domain Name to install the shared printer onto the client system over the Internet

Step 15 - Finalizing the Printer install for Internet Printing from a client PC - Once you enter the URL in properly and click NEXT, a dialog box will appear asking for your authentication as shown below. Enter in a username and password of a user on the MediaSmart server. It’s best NOT to use the administrator account. Click OK and the printer should then be installed. If you get an error, try again making sure the username and password is set properly. You will then be asked if you want to make this the default printer. Click YES or NO and that’s it!

Adding the username and password to install a shared printer on the MediaSmart server

Step 16 - Check that the Internet Printer was installed properly on the client - Once you setup the printer properly, you should then be able to see the printer listed in the PRINTERS area as shown below. Once the printer appears below, this means you have properly installed the printer for Internet Printing. Do this on each system that you wish to have remote printing capabilities. When testing, some routers may not be able to print using the domain name from the SAME location as the MediaSmart server. If your router has this issue (most do), you should test AWAY from the location. You can right-click on the printer in the list below, click PROPERTIES and then click PRINT TEST PAGE. Your printer should then print a test page over the Internet to the printer attached to your MediaSmart server!

Adding the username and password to install a shared printer on the MediaSmart server