When trying to link to a Windows Vista, 7 or 8 shared printer from Mac OS 10.6 or newer, you may find that the printer gives this error message. Essentially, SMB printing from CUPS (the Mac OS printing system) seems broken - it does not pass along the correct user name and password (even when entered manually).

The solution is quite long winded...

Firstly, ensure that the printer is shared on the Windows machine, with a share name with no spaces. (i.e. not "Canon IP 6700D", but "CanonIP6")

Then:

On the Windows PC

1. Click Start
2. Click Control Panel
3. Select Programs and Features
4. Click Turn Windows Features on or off
5. Under Print and Document Services, tick the LPD Print Service
6. Click OK

Ensure you have assigned a static IP to the print server (or have noted this down) as you will need this later.

On the Mac

1. Click into System Preferences
2. Click Print & Fax
3. Click + in the bottom left of the window to add a printer
4. Right click the tool bar (next to the Windows icon) and click customize
5. Add the Advanced button to the toolbar
6. Select Advanced
7. In the Type field select LPD/LPR Host or Printer
8. In the URL field enter lpd://x.x.x.x/PrinterShare (for example lpd://192.168.1.120/CanonIP6)
9. We found that using lpd://ServeName/PrinterShareName does not work - you must use the the IP address of the print server. Use the IP address you noted earlier.
10. Click the Add button