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How to add an Engineering printer on Linux

Instructions for connecting to an Engineering College department printer. These instructions do not apply to Engineering Workstation (EWS) labs.

For an overview of printing at the Engineering College or instructions for non-Windows operating systems, see Engineering College Printing.

Web Printing Alternative

Printing to Engineering printers from Linux computers can be more complicated than printing from other operating systems. Engineering IT can't necessarily provide support for printing from any given flavor of Linux.

If you have any trouble with the instructions provided below (based around Ubuntu), we recommend using web printing instead. Please see the "Web printing" section on the Engineering College Printing page.

Video Tutorial

These instructions work for Ubuntu 18.04, 20.04, and 22.04. If you are using Ubuntu 24.04, please follow the written instructions below.

Step-by-step, with screenshots

Installing an Engineering printer on Ubuntu 24.04:

Install the "smbclient" package, which can connect to the Engineering Samba print server. Run the following command:
```
sudo apt update && sudo apt upgrade && sudo apt install smbclient
```
Open the "Settings" application, then navigate to the "Printers" menu and select "Add Printer..."
In the search field, type "smb://engr-print-01.ad.uillinois.edu". A search result should appear.
Click on the search result, which will open a sign-in dialog. Sign in with your UIUC credentials. Your username should be "UOFI\[your netid]", and your password should be your current NetID password.
From the list of printers, select the printer you'd like to add.
If possible, check the printer in-person to find its make and model, and select the appropriate driver.

If the right driver isn't listed, or if you don't know the make and model of the printer, the "Generic PCL", "Generic PostScript Printer", and "Generic PDF Printer" options will work for basic functionality.
Click "Select", and the printer will be added to your computer. It will appear in the "Printers" list.
On the printer's list entry, select the three vertical dots, then open the Printer Options menu. From here, you can customize the print settings and print a test page.

Printing to an Engineering printer:

You will have to authenticate to the print server each time you print a document. A notification will pop up that a print job requires authentication. Click on the notification, which will bring you to the printer's "Active Jobs" menu.
Click the Authenticate button in the red banner, and authenticate with your UIUC credentials: "UOFI\[your netid]" and your NetID password.

Troubleshooting

Issue: When adding the printer, you might get a CUPS error:

There was an error during the CUPS operation: client-error-not-possible

Resolution: You will need to install a Samba client to access the Engineering print server. On Ubuntu, the "smbclient" package works.

Try running the following command in the terminal, and then add the printer again:

sudo apt install smbclient

If that doesn't work, you might also need to install the "samba" package.

Issue: The system never prompts for authentication when printing; jobs just stay paused forever.

Resolution: This seems to be a common problem in Ubuntu 22.04 and 24.04. You may need to delete and recreate the job, or manually press "play" on the job, to get the "Job Requires Authentication" menu to pop up.

Issue: The print server isn't accepting your credentials.

Resolution: Make sure you're signing in as "UOFI\[your netid]". If you are not an Engineering affiliate (student, faculty, staff), or if you're a visiting scholar, or if your NetID is very new, you may not have access to the printer at this time. If in doubt, contact Engineering IT and we can check your access.