Printing from your own laptop

It is now possible to print to the printers in the open access labs from your own laptop.

PLEASE NOTE - The instructions below are designed for laptops running Windows XP and Windows 7. For computers running Mac OS X please go to the following link:

http://www.ed.ac.uk/is/mac-printing

Printing from a Windows laptop

To print, your laptop must be connected to the university wireless network (either central or eduroam) or LapLAN2.

If you need help connecting to the network:

Connecting from my own computer

Check your print credit

When printing from your laptop, money will be deducted from your print credit account, just as if you were printing from the open access computers. However, if you don't have enough credit in your account, the print job will fail without warning, so you should check your credit before you try to print:

Check print credit

If you receive a 'Security Certificate Error', select 'Continue to this website'.
Log in with your University Username (UUN) and the password you use to log in to the open access computers.

Your print balance will be displayed.

Methods of payment

Choose a printer name

If you are using the current HP open-access printers, please select the required print spooler as your print server from the main section of lab printers in the list, adding .is.ed.ac.uk to the end of its name, e.g. fm-ps-gs1.is.ed.ac.uk

The HP laptop printer queues have an -M after their name, which stands for mobile printing. You should not attempt to use any other printer from your laptop.

If you are using the University's new "Cloud" printing service, which prints exclusively to Xerox printers in the open-access areas, please select the appropriate cloud printer queue from the list at the top of the page.

List of laptop printers

For more information on the new Cloud printing service, available from summer 2012 in various open-access computing labs around the University, please see:

Open-Access Cloud Printing

Set up your computer for printing

Right click on your Desktop, and select 'New' and 'Shortcut'.
Enter the following address in the Location box, prefixed with two backslashes. Replace SPOOLER with the print spooler name you noted down:

\\SPOOLER.is.ed.ac.uk

For example: \\fm-ps-gs1.is.ed.ac.uk

Desktop shortcut with name 'pcsp1 uni print spooler'

Follow the instructions on screen to create the shortcut, and give it a name.
Double-click on the shortcut you have just created.
You will be asked for a username and password.

In the User name box, enter "ed\" followed by your UUN - for example, ed\s0654321 (students) or ed\jsmith (staff).

In the Password box, enter the password you use to logon in the open access computers.

You must put "ed\" before your username or you will not be able to connect.

Click 'OK'.

A window with a list of printers will appear. Go to the View menu and click Details. You should now be able to sort the printers by name, or by comments. If you click on the Comments column heading, the printers whose names end in -M will be sorted to the top of the list, making it easier to find them. (Remember to only use printers with names ending in -M.)

Right click on the printer and choose 'Connect'.
Click 'Yes' to continue. (You may be asked for your computer's administrator password at this point.)

Print your files

Once you have connected to the spooler and installed the printer driver (as above), you can print.

Open the file you wish to print, click on the 'File' menu, and select 'Print'.
Select your chosen printer from the Name: box, and click 'OK'.

$The 'Print' dialogue window. Within the 'Printer' section, the printer '\\pcsp2.ucs.ed.ac.uk\LIB2A-M' is selected in the 'Name:' box.$

If you are using the current HP open-access printers, when you click OK, your file will be sent straight to the printer. You will not be asked for confirmation. If you do not have enough print credit in your account, your document will not print. (see above for checking your balance)

If you are using the University's "Cloud" printing service, which uses a print job release method rather than direct printing, please follow the instructions at the following page:

Cloud Printing

The next time you want to print

If you wish to use the same printer again after rebooting your computer, follow the instructions below to reconnect to the spooler. (Note that if you wish to use a different printer, you will have to start again from the Choosing a printer name section.)

Double-click on the desktop shortcut which you previously created.
Enter your username and login password, and click 'OK'. (Remember to put "ed\" before your UUN.)

You can now print. Just make sure that you select the correct printer in the Print window.

This article was published on Jul 17, 2012