How to Enable Debug (collect logs) in the Print Provider

The Print Provider is a key PaperCut service that ensures every print job is tracked and costed correctly. It interfaces with the Print Spooler on Windows or CUPS on macOS and Linux. For each print job detected, it pauses the job for analysis to count the number of grayscale and color pages, determine who printed the job, and record other details like whether the job is duplex or simplex. The Print Provider is also responsible for Watermarking , redirecting spool files to other queues for Find-Me Printing , enforcing print job restrictions configured by the admin, applying PDL transforms , and communicating with printers over SNMP to check device meters for Hardware Page Count .

This service runs on your primary PaperCut server, Secondary Servers, and Site Servers. It’s also on workstations through the Direct Print Monitor and Print Deploy Client.

If you’re troubleshooting an issue related to printing, your PaperCut Support contact might ask you to enable debug mode in the Print Provider to gather detailed logs for troubleshooting.

Where should you enable debug mode?

Enable Print Provider debug mode on the server or workstation that’s tracking the print job.

• If jobs go through a print server, enable debug mode on that server. This is usually the PaperCut Primary Application Server, but in multi-server setups, it could be a Secondary Server or Site Server.
• If users print directly to printers, enable debug mode on their workstation. This applies to setups using the Direct Print Monitor or the Print Deploy Client (which includes the Direct Print Monitor).

Not sure where to enable it? Check with your PaperCut support contact before proceeding.

Easy method: Run the debug-enable script

This is the simplest and recommended way to turn on debug logging for the Print Provider.

On the server or workstation with the issue:

1. Go to [application-directory]/providers/print/[OS]/.
   • Windows: On a 64-bit Windows server running PaperCut MF, this might be: C:\Program Files\PaperCut MF\providers\print\win
   • Mac: /Applications/PaperCut MF/providers/print/mac
2. Run the debug-enable script as an administrator. The file extension depends on your operating system:
   • Windows: debug-enable.bat
   • macOS: debug-enable.command
   • Linux: debug-enable.sh
3. Let the script restart services – It will automatically restart the necessary components (unless you’re running Microfocus iPrint, in which case you’ll need to restart the iPrint Manager manually).
4. Check the logs – Open print-provider.log and confirm the most recent lines begin with “DEBUG: “. If it doesn’t look like debug mode was enabled, try the advanced method below.

The video below demonstrates how to enable debug mode for the Print Provider on Windows.

Advanced method: edit the print-provider.conf file

This is an alternative way to turn on debug logging for the Print Provider if the above method doesn’t work for any reason.

On the server or workstation with the issue:

1. Go to [application-directory]/providers/print/[OS]/.
   • Windows: On a 64-bit Windows server running PaperCut MF, this might be: C:\Program Files\PaperCut MF\providers\print\win
   • Mac: /Applications/PaperCut MF/providers/print/mac
2. Using a plain text editor such as Notepad or TextEdit running with admin rights, open the file print-provider.conf file.
3. Find the line #debug=on and remove the # character at the beginning to uncomment it.
4. Save the file.
5. Restart the Print Provider service. See Stopping and Starting (Restarting) PaperCut Services for steps.
6. Check the print-provider.log file. If debug mode is on, the latest lines should begin with “DEBUG: “.

What to do after enabling debug mode

1. Print test documents – Print a few test documents or repeat the steps that trigger the issue. Try to reproduce the problem.
2. Record details – Note the time of the issue and the names of any printed documents. The best way to collect this information is to include a screenshot of the job details from the Job Log in PaperCut NG/MF or the See what’s printing view inWindows.
3. Zip and send logs – Collect the Print Provider logs. If users are printing through a print server that also happens to be the main PaperCut NG/MF server, this can be done by simply downloading the diagnostic file. In all other situations, you’ll need to collect the log files from the same server or workstation where you enabled debug mode.
   • When users print through the PaperCut server: Download the diagnostic bundle from the PaperCut server: Options > Advanced > Enable debug mode > Download diagnostic file
   • All other scenarios: On the server or workstation where you enabled debug mode, navigate to this directory to collect these log files:
     • [app-path]/providers/print/[OS]/print-provider.log*
     • [app-path]/providers/print/win/print-monitor.log* (Windows only)
4. Disable logging – When you’re done, run debug-disable to turn off debug mode.