Network Printer Sharing – OEM Black Ice ColorPlus Server – Black Ice Software

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EM Printer Drivers, Licensed “End-User” Printer Drivers and Agent Printers also can be shared over the network. Agent Printers are not available in OEM Printer Drivers.

To share the Black Ice printer driver on the network, follow the instructions below to set up the printer correctly.

Throughout this section the following terminology is used:

• Host Printer: The Black Ice printer driver installed and shared on a system is the “host” machine. The term “host” does not necessarily mean a Windows Server operating system.
• Client Printer: The “Client” system’s printer, prints on the “host” printer. The shared Black Ice “host” printer driver adds a network printer to the “client” system. This “client” printer will generate an output on the “host” printer driver.

How to share out the printer driver

• 1. Install the Black Ice Virtual printer driver on the Host.
• 2. Configure the Black Ice printer driver on the Host as an Administrator. The Most important configuration is the Output directory for the Client.
  Configure printer driver for sharing please click here.
  When printing on the client the document conversion and output will be generated on the Host.
• 3. If the output directory is on the Host Server please click here.
• 4. If the output directory is on the Network driver please click here.
• 5. Once the printer driver configured is tested the printer driver can be shared out manually or though group policy.

Sharing the Printer Drivers

For sharing Agent Printer, please refer to Sharing Agent Printers.

• To Share a Black Ice Printer Driver, go to Control Panel > Devices and Printers and right click on the printer you would like to share, and click on Printer properties.

• On the Sharing tab, check the Share this printer checkbox, and enter a Share name. The printer will be displayed with this name on the network.

• When finished, click on the Apply button. The Printer Driver is shared successfully.

• To add the shared printer on the client computer, go to Control Panel > Devices and Printers and click on the Add a printer option.

• Follow the instructions of the Add Printer wizard, and add the network printer.

• Click on the Next button, and install the required drivers for the printer driver if needed.

• If the printer driver is added successfully, the following window appears.

• The shared printer is successfully added on the client computer.

When a shared Black Ice printer driver is installed as a network printer on a Client machine on the network, it is possible to change some of the Black Ice printer driver settings from the Client side. For the limitations please refer to the Printer Sharing Limitations section. However, the following points must be verified before printing:

NOTE: The output file is generated on the host, not on the client.

Output Directory (Filename Generation tab): The output directory can be selected on the Client side, but this directory must exist on the Host machine as well. If this directory does not exist on the Host machine, the file is generated in the Host’s TEMP directory.

On the Client every user can create and set different output directories. On the Host side the administrator must only configure the shared printer driver. On the Host side, the administrator must make sure that every Client directory exists and the user has write permissions. If the Client directory does not exist on the Host machine, the file is generated in the Host’s TEMP directory.

Since the port monitor has no read/write permission to generate the image into a network directory, and the user specifies a network directory (for example, \\aaa\ccc) as an output directory, the printed file is generated into the Host’s TEMP directory.

One must not use environment variables. If one uses the <<test>> environment variable on the Client and uses <<test>> as an output directory on the Client, and a folder named test exists at c:\ root directory on the Host side, the output files are placed in the test folder. If the test folder does not exist on the Host, the file is placed in the C:\Windows\Temp folder on the Host.

Printer Sharing Limitations

When sharing Black Ice printers over a network, there are some restrictions that must be taken into consideration. For the complete list of limitations, refer to the Printer Sharing Limitations section.