Clone the Printers to PaperCut

IT Managers

Clone prepared printer queues from a reference computer into PaperCut Print Deploy, then assign the cloned queues to the required zones.

Source-derived reference

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Download the Papercut Print Clone Tool.

In the PaperCut MF Admin console select Enable Printing
On the Print Deploy tab select Print Queues button
Click the Add print queues button.
On the popup select "Import print queues by cloning printer drivers"
Click the "Download cloner tool for Windows" (or use the MacOS or Linux Debian tool if required).
Copy the tool to your reference computer.

Run the Clone Tool On Your Reference Computer.

Run the Clone Tool on the reference computer.
Follow the instructions in the command line interface.
All your printers are packaged, along with drivers and configuration, and uploads to the Print Deploy interface.

Add Cloned Printers to Required Zones

If your school has purchased the Advanced Print Enablement Pack license, you can create Zones, which allow targeting of queues to different groups of users. (Advanced Print Enablement is not required, however without it there is a single zone to deploy printers, which means all users get the same printers. This is suitable for smaller schools but larger schools will benefit from a better user experience with the pack).

Logon to the Papercut MF Admin Portal.
Select Enable Printing on the left.
Select Print Deploy tab
Add a Zone
Give the Zone a Name and a Friendly Name
Add Filters (IP Address Range or User Group) to target the printers to specific users, e.g. Dunsborough printers to the Dunsborough IP Address Range.
Select the Zone and on the right select the printers to be included in the Zone and click the Connect to zone button.
Save and Deploy. The printers will install within 15 minutes to each client that has the print deploy client installed and is targeted by the zone.

Updating Printer Drivers and/or Configuration

Updating Printer Drivers and/or Configuration is as simple as updating the drivers or changing printer configuration on the reference computer and re-cloning the printers.

As long as the printer names are the same on the reference computer, the cloning process simply updates the existing printers in papercut and these changes are deployed to clients via the Print Deploy Client on the next synchronisation.

HINT: Using a virtual machine as the reference computer, and keeping the VM after first configuration, enables easy updates to drivers and/or configuration when required. The VM does NOT need to remain running though.