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Question

Edit URL of networked printer Mac OSX Snow Leopard

Aug 12, 2011 8:52PM PDT

My wife has a Mac laptop (OS X Snow Leopard) attached to our home LAN. We use a printer (Brother MFC 8420) hosted on a Win 7 PC. After some trial/error I got the printer set up to work properly using the ldp protocol and the 8420 CUPS driver, but I was never able to set up the URL using the Windows PC's name. I had to use the IP address, eg: ldp://10.0.0.6/printername, NOT ldp://computername/printername
When I changed my router to a Time Capsule so I could easily back up the Mac I forgot to preserve the printer host's URL, so the Mac's printing broke.
Because of the address assignments it was not convenient to put the Windows box back on the same URL it had before.
It was not hard to delete the old printer on the Mac and set it up again with the same driver and the new URL, but something puzzles me. Is there not a way to open the configuration for the printer on the Mac and change the printer's URL instead of deleting the printer and then adding it back?
I remember being frustrated by the process when I first set up the Mac because every time I tried (and failed) to choose a workable combination of address/driver the add printer wizard went through a process of trying to discover the 'new' printer on its own, which significantly slowed down the process. It would have been much easier if I had been able to edit the configuration instead of starting from scratch each time. Or at least I think it would have been easier.

So, is it not possible to edit the configuration (eg: print protocol, URL) for a printer once it is set up?
Thanks.

Discussion is locked

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Clarification Request
Networked printer
Aug 18, 2011 8:38AM PDT

Do you have the printer connected to the Win 7 PC still or is it connected to the Time Capsule?

<div>If connected to the Time Capsule you can see the IP address from the Airport Utility.app (or use the printer controls to print a configuration page which should show the same data) but it is quick and easy to delete and add a new printer.

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The printer is connected to the Win 7 computer
Aug 18, 2011 11:46AM PDT

I'm told that using the scanner functions of this printer over a network can be an exercise in futility so I have kept the multifunction printer attached to the Windows 7 computer. Hence the preferred way to print would have been to address the printer at ldp://computername/printername but using computername won't work. I have to specify the IP address instead.