Ubuntu Version: 22.04.3 LTS → Desktop Environment: GNOME v46
I’m trying to tell my printer what file on my Ubuntu computer to store scans to over the (house) network.
Linux convention suggests I use //Laptop/home/user/Desktop/Scans however the convention the printer wants starts \\Laptop .
I can’t use \\Laptop/home/user/… so what should I use to indicate the correct directory (folder) on my laptop for the scanner to send the file to?
Thanks
Why are you using double forward slashes?I would think it should look like this /Laptop/home/user/Desktop/Scans
And are you also saying that the default save folder is \\Laptop/home/user/Desktop/Scans? That can’t work because of the backlslashes.After a scan you should be able to simply save to wherever you want as long as the path is correct.
The doubled backslash at the beginning of the path the printer expects probably means it’s an UNC path. In such a path the first element (between the double backslash an the first single backslash) is the name of the server and the second element (between the first an the second single backslash) is the name of the share; any further backslash separated elements are directories within the share. To set up a network share that the printer can store scans on you’ll need Samba – the Linux server for the Server Message Block protocol.
Norm24
As it happens, I was trying to complete the information I had previously provided to my HP printer (scanner) prior to switching to Linux (from W10).
But you are correct. Once I used the Linux scan document app it asked where I wanted to save the file and all worked fine as I could simply point to whatever Linux folder I desired.
Yet, in all my work with Linux, I’ve only been required to connect a network location TO my Linux system BUT I’ve never before tried to identify my Linux system to another computer … and I still wonder what the proper method is to do so.
For example, if I had a Windows computer, how would I access a file on my Linux Ubuntu system? How is the device identified and the folder / file location described?
As for the “\\” requirement, here is what my HP printer (scanner) asks for in setting a scan file location:
I really can’t help there as I’ve never had a reason to do that as my every day Ubuntu Mate machine and my wife’s Win11 work PC are two completely seperate entities with zero reason to know one another.But I would make the assumption that in Win it would have something to do with File and Printer Sharing within Network & internet settings?
Looks like that’s just an example of a possible Network Path and it’s assuming you’re using Win as it uses backslashes to define the path whereas forwards slashes are used in Linux or at least that’s how I understand it by looking at my PC and then my wife’s.
That’s the thing. I can use the Document Scan app in Ubuntu, scan a file and then decide where I want to save it on the Ubuntu machine.
My wife however doesn’t use keyboards, she goes to the printer, presses the scan button and then yells at me “Where does the scanner send files to?”
This is why I was trying to tell the HP printer (scanner) where to send the scanned files!
Can you give the printer’s Make (HP?) and specific Model?
scanimage -L
In addition to that, what is reported by the following command:
lpstat -t
The target directory should not be under a specific User’s HOME, but a shared directory, say
mkdir /home/network_share
chmod 777 /home/network_share
For that target directory, the path to specify on the Printer’s front panel, because they seem to use the Windows-like back-slash notation, instead of the *nix forward-slash, should be as follows:
\\{laptop_ip}\home\network_share
The following posting on Ask Ubuntu has outlined the process specifically for HP:
A different approach is offered in the following video:
Hope those help!
A small correction:
\{laptop_ip}\home\network_share
should be
\\{laptop_ip}\name_of_share\
When sharing a folder via Samba you give that share a name, so if you share
/a/very/long/path/somewhere/on/your/system/
and give it the name ‘scans’ you would tell the printer to write to
\\laptop_name_or_ip\scans\.