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Astronomy Windows F.A.Q.

1. How do I map Astronomy server disks to my PC?

2. How do I add a departmental printer from my Windows computer?

3. Why is printing via Samba so slow from my XP machine?

The server "irk" supports remote mounting of disks using a service called Samba. 

To use this service, you will have to contact central@astro for an account and password.

Once you have an account for the Samba service, you can mount a disk from irk in a number of ways.  Here are three:

i) From the Start menu, select "Run..."

   

A dialog box will appear.  In the "Open" field, type "\\irk.berkeley.edu\{disk_name}" where {disk_name} is the disk you wish to mount.  For example, this can be "a" or another disk mounted by irk, such as "celestial1".  Then click on "OK".

You will be prompted to authenticate using your Samba username and password:

ii) Open any Windows Explorer window, e.g. "My Computer".  In the address bar at the top, enter "\\irk.berkeley.edu\{disk_name}":

You will be prompted to authenticate using your Samba username and password (see above).

iii) Map a network drive.  Right-click on "My Computer" and select "Map Network Drive".  In the dialog box that appears, select an unused drive letter (usually E through Z).  In the "Folder" field, enter "\\irk.berkeley.edu\{disk_name}" where {disk_name} is the name of the disk on irk that you wish to mount.  Click "Finish" and you will be prompted to authenticate using your Samba username and password.

The samba server on irk also provides access to printers.  To use this method, you will need a samba account (contact central@astro to get one).

In Windows XP [and Windows 2000*]:

*W2K users must be logged into an account with the same username and password as their samba username and password

• Start>Printers and Faxes [Start>Settings>Printers]
• Add a Printer (left hand menu) [double-click "Add Printer"]
• Select "A network printer..."
• check "Connect to this printer"

    Name: \\irk.berkeley.edu\queue_name

    where queue_name is selected from the table below

Queue	Printer Model	Location
color	HP Color LaserJet 4600	Room 501B
color2	HP Color LaserJet 3000dn	Room 501B
p433	HP LaserJet 2300	Near room 433, recessed into wall
p544	HP LaserJet 8150	Room 501B
p665	HP LaserJet 8150	Room 665, Copier/Office supplies Room
p709	HP LaserJet 2300	Room 709
poster	HP DesignJet 5500 PS	Room 501B
photo	HP Business InkJet 2800	Room 501B

• At the prompt, enter your samba username and password [see * above]
• click "Continue"  (Dialog box saying that the server will install a printer driver) [missing in W2K]
• click "OK" (no driver found)
• Install a driver from the list that corresponds to the printer model in the table above.  If given a choice, choose the "PS" type driver.

To enable duplex printing:

• Start>Printers and Faxes [Start>Settings>Printers]
• Right-click on the icon for the printer and select "Properties"
• Select the "Device Settings" tab
• Scroll down to "Installable Options" and click on the link next to "Duplex Unit" and select "Installed"

3. Why is printing via Samba so slow from my XP machine?
(04/24/07)

You may be experiencing a bug in the XP samba client software.  Here is a workaround (thanks to Joeri for finding it):

Procedure:
1. Edit the registry observing usual caution.  (Run regedit.exe -- see this article for more details)
2. Locate the key HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Printers\DevModePerUser
3. Remove all VALUES for Network printers of the form:
    \<print_server_name ><printer_queue_name>
4. Locate the key HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Printers\DevModes2
5. Remove all VALUES for Network printers of the form:
    \print_server_name><printer_queue_name>