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Installing Custom Printers and Profiles

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In some environments you may need to install a customized version of the Image Printers (TIFF Image Printer, Raster Image Printer and PDF Image Printer) for all of your users, or to install one or more custom-named printers, each with their own settings. This approach is commonly used when distributing software remotely and/or silently to multiple users on a network using Microsoft SCCM or a similar product with software push capability.

To do this, a custom profile is created, and converted into a shared profile. This profile is then locked to the Image Printer, or if needed, a copy of the Image Printer with the desired custom name.

With the printer configured with the profile settings we want, the Export Printer Settings feature is used to create an export file containing the printer, the custom profile and all of the information needed to update or create this printer as part of the installation. This export file is then passed to the setup program to import the printer during installation.

Creating the Custom Printer and Export File

Step by Step Instructions

  1. Launch the Dashboard.
LaunchDashboard
  1. Select “Edit & Create Profiles” to open Profile Manager.
OpenProfileManager
  1. Create a copy of a system profile, if it has similar settings to what you require, by selecting “Create a copy of this profile”, or create a new profile by selecting “Add a profile”.
AddNewProfile
  1. Name the profile, add a description, and click Save.
NameAndSaveSharedProfile
  1. Go through the tabs and adjust the settings as desired. Click Save-Back, and return to the tiles view of the Profile Manager.
  1. On the tile for your new profile use the share profile icon to convert this to a shared profile.
ProfileManagerCreateSharedProfile
  1. This action will convert the personal profile into a shared profile. Its position and tile color will change, and the share icon will no longer be an option on the tile.
ProfileManagerCreatedSharedProfile
  1. Close the Profile Manager and return to the Dashboard.
  2. Select “Manage Printers” to open Printer Management.
  3. Use the Profile drop box to select your new shared profile. A shared profile is designated with the user and globe icon UserGlobe_Inline in the drop down list.
ChooseSharedProfile
  1. When a shared profile is selected, the lock icon will become enabled. If it does not, you may not have the required permissions. Locking a profile to a printer is an action that requires administrative level access. See Printer Management and User Permissions for details on which actions need elevated permissions and how to run the Dashboard as an administrator to perform this task.
  2. To lock the printer to the shared profile, click the open lock icon.
LockPrinterToProfileEnabled
  1. When locked to a shared profile the icon will change to a closed lock and the Profile combo will be disabled. Clicking the closed lock will unlock the profile from the printer.
  2. Select the Save icon to save the changes for this printer.
LockPrinterSave
  1. If you want to change the name of the printer, edit it here to your desired name, and select the Save icon to save the printer name change.
RenamePrinter
  1. Select the Home icon to return to the Dashboard.
LockPrinterExit
  1. Next, the Export Printer Settings feature is used to create the export file that contains the printer and profile information you want to update or add when pushing the setup. Click the gear icon from the top right hand corner of the Dashboard window, and select “Export Printer Settings”.
ExportPrinterSettings
  1. In the Choose Printers section, disable “Export all printers” and select the printer or printers you want to export. If desired, more than one printer, each with its own custom settings can be exported.
CustomPrinterExportPrinterSettingsChoosePrinters
  1. In the Choose Profiles section, disable “Export all personal profiles”. Any profile in use by a printer being exported is automatically exported.
CustomPrinterExportPrinterSettingsChooseProfiles
  1. In the list of shared profiles, disable “Export all shared profiles”. Any shared profile in use by a printer being exported is automatically exported.
CustomPrinterExportPrinterSettingsChooseSharedProfiles
  1. Select Start Export, and save the export file. The export file will end with a different extension depending on which Image Printer you have installed. TIFF Image Printer export files end with pntifexport, Raster Image Printer uses pnrasexport and PDF Image Printer is pnpdfexport.
CustomPrinterExportPrinterSettingsStartExport
ExportPrinterSettingsExporting

Running the Setup with the Export File

To run the customized setup manually on another computer, the setup program and the export file need to be accessible from that computer. They can be on a local drive or on an UNC path. For push software, the export settings file needs to be in a location that is accessible when the push software runs the setup. Your setup file may have a different version and name from what is shown here, and the export file will have a different extension depending on which Image Printer you have installed.

Silent Install with Custom Printers

When the the silent install command line parameter, /S is provided, the entire installation will execute silently, without a user interface, or any user intervention. The CONFIGPRINTER argument is the full path to the export file with the custom printer settings.

pntifsubsetup_12.0.013.exe /S CONFIGPRINTER="C:\PEERNET\PrinterSettings.pntifexport
pnrassubsetup_12.0.013.exe /S CONFIGPRINTER="C:\PEERNET\PrinterSettings.pnrasexport
pnpdfsubsetup_12.0.013.exe /S CONFIGPRINTER="C:\PEERNET\PrinterSettings.pnpdfexport

Silent Uninstall

Running the install with the /S when it is already installed will automatically remove the product. To force the install to always run an uninstall, as is needed with some SCCM and push software tools, add the MODIFY, REMOVE and UNINSTALL flags to the command line.

pntifsubsetup_12.0.013.exe /S MODIFY=FALSE REMOVE=TRUE UNINSTALL=YES
pnrassubsetup_12.0.013.exe /S MODIFY=FALSE REMOVE=TRUE UNINSTALL=YES
pnpdfsubsetup_12.0.013.exe /S MODIFY=FALSE REMOVE=TRUE UNINSTALL=YES

Other Setup Parameters

/L=<path to log file>

To create a log file when installing, use the /L parameter and pass in a full path to the name of a log file. Two files will be created, the log file specified, and another one using the same name with PEERNET.txt appended. The one ending in PEERNET.txt is a trace of what happens during the initial install setup script, including testing for system compatibility and pre-requisites, and going through the setup wizard. The base one is created by the installer during the actual install step after the setup wizard has gathered all of its information. Both log files can be used to troubleshoot install issues, especially when using the /S silent install parameter with SCCM or other push software.

SHOWUI=TRUE|FALSE

This option determines if the desktop icon and start menu shortcut for the Image Printer Dashboard are created as part of the install. This option is only valid for Subscription installs. Passing in FALSE for the SHOWUI option will install the product but not create the desktop icons and start menu shortcuts.

Further information about other setup command parameters for each Image Printer can be found here: