Finding the Mobility Print logs for Troubleshooting

If you’re experiencing issues with Mobility Print, collecting the logs is an important step in troubleshooting.

This article explains how where to find logs for the server and various clients. The exact steps and location of log files on the client depends on the OS and the printer discovery method in use (mDNS, DNS, Known Host, or Cloud Print). Mobility Print logs are in debug mode by default, to there’s no need to enable debug logging.

Keep in mind there are no logs for iOS clients because Mobility Print leverages the way that Apple devices discover printers on the network using the Bonjour/AirPrint protocol.

Before you collect logs

Make sure to gather the following information:

• The date and time when the problem happened

• The username

• The name of the printer or print job with the issue

• Ideally a screenshot of any error message or a quick video of the problem

   

Mobility Print Server logs

1. In the Mobility Print Admin web interface, click on the three vertical dots (⋮) upper right corner.
2. Select Download Logs.
3. Save the new log file to your Downloads folder.

If you can’t log in to the Mobility Print server, you can manually download the log files from these locations:

• Windows: C:\Program Files (x86)\PaperCut Mobility Print\data\logs\pc-mobility-print.log
• Mac: Applications > PaperCut Mobility Print > data > logs
• Linux: /home/papercut/pc-mobility-print/data/logs

Windows Client Logs

mDNS and DNS Client

1. Run the Mobility Print Printer installer as you normally would.
2. Open Windows Explorer and go to the %TEMP% directory (usually C:\Users\<username>\AppData\Local\Temp).
3. Look for a log file created on the same day, such as setup log 2024-12-03.

Known Host Client

1. Open a Command Prompt window.
2. Run the installer with the /LOG flag and specify the log file name (and path).
   Example: mobility-print-printer-setup-235[mobility-server.lan] /LOG="install.log"
3. Find the log file in the same directory as the installer, or in the custom directory if a path was specified.

Cloud Print Client

The Cloud Print installer will generate two log files at the following locations:

• Cloud Print Client log: C:\Program Files\PaperCut Mobility Print Client\data\logs\mobility-print-client.log
• User Context Service logs; compress this folder to send its entire contents: C:\Users\<username>\AppData\Local\PaperCutMobilityPrintClient

macOS Client Logs

When mDNS or DNS are selected as the discovery method, Apple devices use native protocols (Bonjour and AirPrint) for printer discovery - no log is generated. However, a log file is generated when you run the Known Host client or Cloud Print client.

Known Host Client

1. On your Mac open Finder and navigate to Applications > PaperCut Mobility Print Client.
2. Find the installer.log file inside the folder.

Cloud Print Client

1. On your Mac open Finder and navigate to /Applications/PaperCut Mobility Print Client/data/logs/.
2. Find the file named pc-mobility-print-client.log.

Android Client Logs

1. Make sure you are running the latest version of the Android app, which you can download here .
2. Click on the Settings icon in the app.
3. Move the slider to Enable error reporting and take a screenshot of the Log ID.
4. Try to discover the printers as you would normally to reproduce the issue. Logs will be generated and sent to our cloud service.
5. Send the screenshot of the Log ID to your PaperCut support contact.

Chrome Client Logs

When troubleshooting a issues with the Chrome extension there are two types of logs to collect.

• For most issues, the service worker log will be needed.
• For authentication issues specifically, the login.html log might be required.

Printer Discovery Logs

1. Open the Extensions menu in Chrome by going to chrome://extensions in the address bar.

2. In the Mobility Print extension, toggle the blue slider for Developer Mode.

3. Next to Inspect views, click service worker. A new DevTools window opens.

4. On the Console, click on the Ø symbol to clear any unrelated log files before beginning.

5. Now try to reproduce the problem:

   • Click the ⋮ symbol
   • Select Print.
   • Select a new printer to force printer discovery.

6. Back in the DevTools service worker window, right-click on any white space and choose Save as. The new log file will save to your Downloads folder.

7. Send the log file to your PaperCut support contact.

Authentication Logs

1. Open the Extensions menu in Chrome by going to chrome://extensions in the address bar.
2. In the Mobility Print extension, toggle the blue slider for Developer Mode.
3. Try printing something. When the Mobility Print authentication box appears, look under Inspect views and click the newly-appeared login.html page.
4. Now try to reproduce the problem by attempting to log in.
5. In the DevTools login.html window, right-click on any white space and choose Save as. The new log file will save to your Downloads folder.
6. Send the log file to your PaperCut support contact.