{"id":193,"date":"2020-09-26T13:19:45","date_gmt":"2020-09-26T13:19:45","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/dft.wiki\/?p=193"},"modified":"2026-06-09T14:58:38","modified_gmt":"2026-06-09T18:58:38","slug":"raspbian-print-server-with-cups","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/dft.wiki\/?p=193","title":{"rendered":"Raspbian Print Server with CUPS"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"\"<\/figure>\n

Give new life to old printers and keep your Raspberry Pi listening for print jobs while idle.<\/p>\n

Modern printers come with integrated Wi-Fi and\/or Ethernet adapters. Instead of buying a new one, you can turn any USB printer into a standalone network printer using a Raspberry Pi.<\/p>\n

Installing CUPS<\/strong><\/p>\n

sudo apt-get update
sudo apt-get upgrade
sudo apt-get install cups
sudo usermod -a -G lpadmin pi
sudo cupsctl \u2010\u2010remote-any
sudo service cups restart<\/pre>\n
Open a browser on the Pi and go to:<\/p>\n
http:\/\/127.0.0.1:631 OR http:\/\/localhost:631<\/pre>\n
Or from any other computer on the same network:<\/p>\n
http:\/\/192.168.2.40:631 (remember to use your Pi's IP)<\/pre>\n
To find your Raspberry Pi’s IP address, run:<\/p>\n
hostname -I<\/pre>\n
\"\"<\/figure>\n
Click on ‘Administration<\/strong>‘ in the top menu:<\/p>\n
\"\"<\/figure>\n
Click on ‘Add Printer<\/strong>‘:<\/p>\n
\"\"<\/figure>\n
You will be prompted to switch to an encrypted connection:<\/p>\n
\"\"<\/figure>\n
If your browser asks for confirmation (as Chrome does), click ‘Advanced<\/strong>‘ and then ‘Proceed to …<\/strong>‘ at the bottom.<\/p>\n
\"\"<\/figure>\n
Click ‘Add Printer<\/strong>‘ again and authenticate with the username ‘pi<\/strong>‘:<\/p>\n
\"\"<\/figure>\n
All printers connected to your Pi and already recognized will appear under ‘Local Printers<\/strong>‘. Select the one you want to install (in this example, the ‘Samsung SCX-3200 Series<\/strong>‘) and click ‘Continue<\/strong>‘:<\/p>\n
\"\"<\/figure>\n
Set the location to ‘pi<\/strong>‘, check ‘Share This Printer<\/strong>‘, and click ‘Continue<\/strong>‘:<\/p>\n
\"\"<\/figure>\n
If you find a driver for your printer model or series, great! If not, look online for a compatible generic driver (one exists for the vast majority of printers). Select ‘Another Make\/Manufacturer<\/strong>‘:<\/p>\n
\"\"<\/figure>\n
Select ‘Generic<\/strong>‘ and click ‘Continue<\/strong>‘:<\/p>\n
\"\"<\/figure>\n
For the Samsung SCX-3200, the compatible driver is ‘Generic PCL 5e Printer<\/strong>‘. Select it and click ‘Add Printer<\/strong>‘:<\/p>\n
\"\"<\/figure>\n
There are several configuration options, but for now just click ‘Set Default Options<\/strong>‘:<\/p>\n
\"\"<\/figure>\n
Printer added!<\/p>\n
\"\"<\/figure>\n
On your Pi, open a text editor and try printing something.<\/p>\n
\"\"<\/figure>\n
Installing Samba on Raspbian:<\/strong><\/p>\n
sudo apt-get install samba
sudo nano \/etc\/samba\/samba.conf<\/pre>\n
Look for the configuration block below. This makes all CUPS printers available on the Windows network:<\/p>\n
# CUPS printing. 
[printers]
comment = All Printers
browseable = yes
path = \/var\/spool\/samba
printable = yes
guest ok = yes
read only = yes
create mask = 0700<\/pre>\n
Make sure all values match and that no lines are commented out (remove any leading #<\/code> characters).<\/p>\n
Restart the Samba service:<\/p>\n
sudo systemctl restart smbd
sudo systemctl status smbd

OR

sudo service smbd restart
sudo service smbd status<\/pre>\n
How to print from other computers on the network<\/strong><\/h2>\n
    \n
  • From another Linux desktop\n
      \n
    • The network printer will be automatically detected and added. Nothing else needs to be done, just print!<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n
    • From Windows\n
        \n
      • Samba allows the Pi to join the Windows network.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n
          \n
        • You can also add the printer using IPP (Internet Printing Protocol).<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n
          Adding the printer via Samba in Windows 10:<\/strong><\/p>\n
          Click ‘Start Menu<\/strong>‘ > ‘Settings<\/strong>‘ > ‘Devices<\/strong>‘ > ‘Printers & Scanners<\/strong>‘ > ‘Add Printer or Scanner<\/strong>‘.<\/p>\n
          \"\"<\/figure>\n
          Adding the printer via IPP in Windows 10:<\/strong><\/p>\n
          Click ‘Start Menu<\/strong>‘ > ‘Settings<\/strong>‘ > ‘Devices<\/strong>‘ > ‘Printers & Scanners<\/strong>‘ > ‘Add Printer or Scanner<\/strong>‘.<\/p>\n
          \"\"<\/figure>\n
          Click ‘The printer that I want isn’t listed<\/strong>‘ > ‘Select a shared printer by name<\/strong>‘.<\/p>\n
          Type ‘http:\/\/192.168.2.40\/printers\/Samsung_SCX-3200_Series<\/strong>‘, replacing ‘192.168.2.40<\/strong>‘ with your Pi’s IP address and ‘Samsung_SCX-3200_Series<\/strong>‘ with the name of your added printer:<\/p>\n
          \"\"<\/figure>\n
          \"\"<\/figure>\n
          In both cases (Samba or IPP), Windows will ask you to select the printer driver.<\/p>\n
          How many printers can I share through the Pi?<\/h2>\n
          You can connect multiple printers using USB hubs and all of them will be available simultaneously, including multifunction printers.<\/p>\n
          If my printer has a scanner, how can I scan?<\/h2>\n
          The scanner cannot be shared over the network directly, but it can be used via VNC, with scanned documents saved to a shared folder.<\/p>\n
          Enable VNC in ‘Raspberry Pi Configuration<\/strong>‘:<\/p>\n
          \"\"<\/figure>\n
          Install ‘Simple Scan<\/strong>‘:<\/p>\n
          sudo apt install simple-scan<\/pre>\n
          Connect to your Pi via VNC:<\/p>\n
          \"\"<\/figure>\n
          \"\"<\/figure>\n
          Click ‘Scan<\/strong>‘ for each page you want to include in the PDF, then click ‘Save<\/strong>‘ to a shared folder.<\/p>\n
          That simple!<\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
          Give new life to old printers and keep your Raspberry Pi listening for print jobs […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-193","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-raspberry-pi"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/dft.wiki\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/193","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/dft.wiki\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/dft.wiki\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dft.wiki\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dft.wiki\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=193"}],"version-history":[{"count":14,"href":"https:\/\/dft.wiki\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/193\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":5848,"href":"https:\/\/dft.wiki\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/193\/revisions\/5848"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/dft.wiki\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=193"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dft.wiki\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=193"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dft.wiki\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=193"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}