I cannot see a particular USB printer from AirPort Extreme

airportprintingusb

I have an older AirPort Extreme (UFO, Version 5.7).

I can connect an Epson MX330 printer to the USB port of the AirPort Extreme and it appears on the AirPort Utility "Printers" tab, and I can print to it.

I can connect a Ricoh Aficio MP C4500 directly to a MacBook Pro (10.6.8) USB port, and it automagically downloaded and installed the driver and will print to the Ricoh.

But when I plug the Ricoh into the AirPort Extreme USB port, it does not show up on the AirPort Utility "Printers" tab, and of course, won't show up on any AirPort connected device, either.

I have tried re-starting both the Ricoh and the AirPort Extreme while they were connected.

Any clues on how I can get this $20,000 printer to work with AirPort Extreme like the Epson that came free with my MacBook Pro does?

Best Answer

Plug it in via Ethernet, not USB.

Any printer with built-in networking support (Ethernet or Wi-Fi) is best connected to the network via its network port. That's the most natural, best-supported, most reliable, most fully-featured way for your devices to discover and print to it.

When base stations first supported USB printer sharing in 2003, it was kind of a hacky workaround for the printers of that time, which were often USB-only. It's still a hacky workaround today, but luckily most people don't need to use it anymore as most printers (even the free-after-rebate consumer models) added networking by about 2005.