3.5 Printer Policy

The Printer policy allows you to configure Local, SMB, HTTP, TCP/IP, CUPS, and iPrint printers on a Windows device.

  1. In ZENworks Control Center, click the Policies tab.

  2. In the Policies list, click New, then click Policy.

    or

    In the Policy Tasks, click New Policy.

    The Select Platform page is displayed.

  3. Select Windows, then click Next.

    The Select Policy Category page is displayed.

  4. Select Windows Configuration Policies, then click Next.

  5. Select Printer Policy as the Policy Type, then click Next.

  6. In the Define Details page fill in the following fields:

    Policy Name: Provide a name for the policy. The policy name must be different than the name of any other item (group, folder, and so forth) that resides in the same folder. The name you provide displays in ZENworks Control Center.

    Folder: Type the name or browse to and select the ZENworks Control Center folder where you want the policy to reside. The default is /policies, but you can create additional folders to organize your policies.

    Administrator Notes: Provide a short description of the policy’s content. This description displays in ZENworks Control Center.

  7. Click Next to display the Printer Identification page, then select the type of printer to be installed on the managed device.

  8. Click Next, then skip to the appropriate step, depending on which printer type you chose in Step 7:

    • Local Printer: Continue with Step 9.

    • Network Printer: Skip to Step 10.

    • iPrint Printer: Skip to Step 11.

    NOTE:Create and assign separate policies for different platforms for a printer.

  9. (Conditional) If you are configuring a local printer, refer to the following table for more information:

    Field

    Details

    Name

    Specify the name of the local printer that you want to configure on the target device.

    Driver

    Browse to and select a suitable driver for the printer. If the driver is not contained in the browser list, type in the correct model name. The driver must either be installed on the target device or specified in the enforced policies. The driver must be digitally signed by Microsoft. However, if you choose to use a driver that is not digitally signed, see the Troubleshooting Scenario.

    Port

    Select the physical port to which the printer is added, such as LPT1, COM1 or Standard TCP/IP.

    NOTE:If you assign a TCP/IP Printer policy to a 11 SP1 or older version of the agent, the policy gets applied and then fails and sends errors to the server at every refresh, as it is not supported.

    Remove the association with the lower version of the agents from the TCP/IP printer policy, to prevent it from being applied at every refresh.

    IP Address

    Specify the IP address of the local printer. This field appears only if you select Standard TCP/IP as the port.

    Protocol

    Specify the protocol of the local printer. You can select either RAW or LPR from the drop-down options. This field appears only if you select Standard TCP/IP as the port.

    Port Number

    Specify the port number for the protocol. Typically the port number is 9100. This field appears only if you select the RAW protocol on the Standard TCP/IP settings page.

    Queue Name

    Specify the queue name to be used by this port, if a name is required by your printer. This field appears only if you select the LPR protocol on the Standard TCP/IP settings page.

    LPR Byte Counting Enabled

    Choose this option if you encounter problems such as missing or incomplete documents when printing. When LPR byte counting is enabled, the system counts the number of bytes in a document before processing the print request. Most printers do not need byte counting enabled because it can be very time consuming. This field appears only if you select the LPR protocol on the Standard TCP/IP settings page.

    SNMP Status Enabled

    Select this option if the printer attached to this port supports RFC1759. This field appears only if you select Standard TCP/IP as the port.

    Community Name: Specify a community name, for example: public.

    SNMP Device Index: Specify the device index, for example: 1.

    Install a Driver

    Select this option to install a driver on the target device. The driver installation must be non-interactive and silent. The supported driver installation type is .inf and the .inf driver files can be bundled in .zip or .tar formats. The .inf file can be specified directly if it is already available on the target device. Ensure that the .inf file supports the installation of the driver.

    NOTE:To add a new printer driver to the existing driver list:

    Edit the zenworks_installdir\novell\zenworks\share\tomcat\webapps\zenworks\WEB-INF\conf\printerDriverDetails.conf file to add the following line:

    Printer_ Manufacturername = Printer_ Model

    For example, if you want to add an HP Color LaserJet 4550 PCL printer, then add the following line: 

    HP = HP Color LaserJet 4550 PCL

    Model Name

    Browse to select the model name of the driver.

    Driver File Path

    Specify the driver files either from a particular device where the browser is running or from a path on the managed device, such as C:\temp\nipp.zip.

    NOTE:While configuring the policy, if you are using a UNC path to access the Driver file, make sure the file you access must be on an anonymous share.

    Supported Platforms

    Specify a platform for the driver. The platform information helps to select a suitable driver from the available drivers list, which is based on the installation platform.

    Language of Installation

    Select the installation language. Your choices are English (United States), French, German, Portuguese, Spanish, Italian, Chinese (Traditional), Chinese (Simplified), or Japanese.

    Install Forcefully Even if the Driver is Already Installed

    Select this option to force installation of the driver, even though it is already installed on the target device.

  10. (Conditional) If you are configuring a Network printer, refer to the following table for more information:

    Field

    Details

    Name / Location

    Specify the UNC path or URL name of the HTTP, SMB or CUPS printer.

    For example, it is \\server-name\printer-name for an SMB printer, http://server:631/printers/myprinter for a CUPS printer, or http://server/printers/.myprinter/.printer for a HTTP printer.

    NOTE:Support for network printer that prompts for user credentials is not provided.

    Driver

    Browse to add and select a suitable driver for the Windows HTTP printer. You can ignore this for SMB printers.

    The driver must be digitally signed by Microsoft. However, if you choose to use a driver that is not digitally signed, see the Troubleshooting Scenario

    Install a Driver

    Use this option to install a driver on the target device. The driver installation is non-interactive and silent. The supported driver installation types is .inf and the .inf driver files can be bundled in .zip or .tar formats. The .inf file can be specified directly if it is already available on the target device. Ensure that the .inf file supports the installation of the driver.

    NOTE:To add a new printer driver to the existing driver list:

    Edit the zenworks_installdir\novell\zenworks\share\tomcat\webapps\zenworks\WEB-INF\conf\printerDriverDetails.conf file to add the following line:

    Printer_ Manufacturername = Printer_ Model

    For example, if you want to add an HP Color LaserJet 4550 PCL printer, then add the following line: 

    HP = HP Color LaserJet 4550 PCL

    Model Name

    Browse to select the model name of the driver.

    Driver File Path

    Specify the driver files either from a particular device where the browser is running or from a path in the managed device, such as c:\temp\nip.zip.

    NOTE:While configuring the policy, if you are using a UNC path to access the Driver file, make sure the file you access must be on an anonymous share.

    Supported Platforms

    Specify a platform for the driver. The platform information helps to select a suitable driver from the available drivers list, which is based on the installation platform.

    Language of Installation

    Select the installation language. Your choices are English (United States), French, German, Portugese, Spanish, Italian, Chinese (Traditional), Chinese (Simplified), or Japanese.

    Install Forcefully Even if the Driver is Already Installed

    Select this option to force the installation of the driver on the device every time the policy is applied on the device, even if the driver is already installed on the device.

  11. (Conditional) If you are configuring an iPrint printer, refer to the following table for more information:

    On Windows Vista devices, you need to install the Novell iPrint client 5.04 or later.

    Field

    Details

    Name / Location

    Specify the URI name of the iPrint printer. For example, ipp://acme.com/ipp/servername.

    Update iPrint Printer while Installing the Driver

    Select this option to update the printer driver and to reinstall the printer driver from the iPrint server while installing the iPrint printer.

    Install iPrint Client

    Select this option to install the iPrint client on a target machine. The iPrint client is not supported on 64-bit versions of Windows Server 2003.

    The installation file can be either nipp.zip or nipp-s.exe, both of which are capable of carrying out non-interactive silent installation.These files can be uploaded from the machine where the browser is running.

    To install the iPrint client, you cannot use a .exe file that does not support a silent installation. For example, you cannot use a nipp.exe file to install iPrint client.

    iPrint Client Installer File Path

    Allows to specify the path to the iPrint Client Installer (which installs the iPrint client on the managed device).

    • On the Managed Device: Select this option to specify the path to the iPrint client installer on the managed device.

    • Select from this Device: Select this option to add the iPrint client installer as content with the policy. You can also distribute the iPrint client installer along with the policy.

    If the installer file path is a UNC path, the Novell iPrint Client dialog box is displayed until the installation process completes. This process can be perfomed only by users with administrative rights.

    Install Forcefully Even if the Driver is Already Installed

    Select this option to force installation of the driver, even though it is already installed on the target device.

    Configure iPrint Client

    Select this option to configure the iPrint proxy server.

    If the workstations are located outside the physical firewall, you can use this option to specify the proxy address followed by a (:) and the port number.

    Proxy Server

    Specify the iPrint proxy server name. For example, http://proxy.companyx.com:8080

  12. Click Next to display the Printing Preferences page, then use the options to specify the preferences. Refer to the following table for more information:

    Field

    Details

    Orientation

    Select this option to specify the paper layout for the printer, such as landscape or portrait.

    Duplex Printing

    Specify whether or not to print on both sides of the paper, if the printer has that capability.

    Collate

    Specify whether or not the printer should organize multiple copies of a document, if the printer has that capability.

    Print Quality

    Select the print quality. Select High quality, for the best possible resolution, or select Low quality for lower resolution and lower quality.

    Paper Source

    Specify the paper source for the printer. A source that is not listed in the standard available list can also be specified, but it must be supported by the printer. Information on supported paper sources is available in the printer documentation or in the registry key HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows NT\CurrentVersion\Print\Printers\printer-name\DsDriver\printBinNames on a Windows machine.

    Paper Size

    Specify the paper size for the printer. You can specify any paper size supported by the printer, in addition to the options listed in the menu. Information on supported sizes is available in the printer documentation or in the registry key HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows NT\CurrentVersion\Print\Printers\printer-name\DsDriver\printMediaSupported on a Windows machine, where a printer is locally installed.

  13. Click Next to display the Additional Printer Policy settings, then use the options to specify the settings. Refer to the following table for more information:

    Field

    Details

    Set as Default Printer

    Select this option to specify a printer as the default printer to which the print requests are sent if no other printer is specified by the user.

    On a Windows 7 managed device, the assigned printer might be set as a default printer on the device even if the Set as Default Printer option is not selected in the policy.

    Remove all Printers not Specified by ZENworks Printer Policies

    Select this option to remove all printers that are not specified through the ZENworks Printer policy.

  14. Click Next to display the Summary page. Review the information and, if necessary, use the Back button to make changes to the information on the Summary page.

    This wizard allows you to configure only one printer. If you want to configure additional printers, then configure them in the Details page after creating the policy.

  15. (Conditional) Select Create as Sandbox, if you want to create the sandbox version of the policy.

  16. Click Finish to create the policy now, or select Define Additional Properties to specify additional information, such as policy assignment, system requirements, enforcement, status, and which group the policy is a member of.

    Only the preferences that are supported by the printer are configured on that printer.

    NOTE:Upon unenforcement of a user-assigned printer, a user with administrative privileges continues to have access to the local printer on a Windows XP managed device.