"Printer properties cannot be displayed" error message with PaperCut Pocket & Hive

“Printer properties cannot be displayed” Error Message with PaperCut Pocket & Hive

“Help! Why is my PaperCut Printer not displaying properties. My jobs are not showing up!”

A Brief Description of the PaperCut Printer is a good place to Start

With Windows devices, the PaperCut Printer is created during the Hive Client installation process. More specifically, the PaperCut Printer is created during the initial Edge Node installation routine and before the Print Client processes are created and executed. This installation sequence is important, thereby knowing this sequence of events during installation can help you determine the best troubleshooting route to take, if for example, the installation fails or if the PaperCut Printer shows “unavailable” as a status.

**Note** Windows Hosts names greater than 15 characters can have an adverse affect on IPP printing from Windows platforms. Refer to this kb for more information: https://www.papercut.com/kb/Main/DisappearingPrintQueues

The PaperCut Printer has 3 distinct differences when compared to a “traditional” Windows Print Queue

• Driver - Windows Platforms use the PaperCut Global Postscript Driver

• Port - Windows devices will use an “Internet Port” (IPP) “http://locahost:9265/printers/papercutpocket”

• User Token - Used to validate the print job submitted is a valid “linked” user

So then we can ask…

• “What is the host we are trying to reach at http://localhost:9265/printer/papercutpocket”
• “How does this IPP Port affect the status of the PaperCut Printer?”

When a user has logged on after successful installation, we execute 2 process for the PaperCut Pocket/Hive Print Client:
1. “pc-print-client-service.exe”

• Location: “c:\%localappdata%\programs\PaperCut Hive\"

• Description: A process that starts invokes “pc-print-client.exe” and provides restart services if, for some reason, it has stopped.

• Execution: Runs at time after successful installation and at time of user login

2. “pc-print-client.exe”

• Location: “c:\%localappdata%\programs\PaperCut Hive\%datestamp%\"

• Description: Is the endpoint for the PaperCut Print port “http://locahost:9265/printers/papercutpocket” and provides comms between the PaperCut Printer and the Edge Mesh as well as the Cloud

• Execution: Is invoked when pc-print-client-service.exe has started.

If, for any reason, the communications with this Web Service is lost, either by port blockage, policy or the pc-print-client.exe stops and cannot be restarted by pc-print-client-service.exe, the PaperCut Printer will then become unavailable.

For example on a Windows device, a common issue is seeing the PaperCut Printer status as “unavailable” or the user is unable to open the queue or even “Properties” or the Printer

PaperCut Printer Unavailable Potential Causes

On the Windows device begin troubleshooting by examining the following:
1. Print Client Process Running? - Open TaskManager and validate pc-print-client.exe” is a running process

If the process is not shown in Task Manager, we then need to investigate the potential causes. These may include:

• Print Client - “pc-print-client-.exe” file is missing - Check for its existence in the “c:\%localappdata%\programs\PaperCut Hive\%date_stamp%” directory. If the file is not there, then look for the “setup Log %date% 001.log” file in the c:\“%localappdata%\programs\PaperCut Hive\data\logs” directory and examine for errors during the install process.

• Print Client - Not Running after Login - If pc-print-client.exe exists but is not running, then there may be an issue with pc-print-client-service.exe running at user logon.

  • Linking Process Incomplete- Validate the logged in user trying to use the PaperCut Printer has completed the linking process.

  • Windows Registry Run Key Missing - Validate that the Windows Registry contains the following under the following location HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Run contains the following entry:
    Name: Default
    Type: REG_SZ
    Data: “C:\Users\%username%\AppData\Local\Programs\PaperCut Hive\pc-print-client-service.exe”

• Print Client - “pc-print-client-service.exe” startup was disabled - Check in the Windows Task Manager Startup tab and look for pc-print-client-service.exe. Ensure startup for this task is set to Enabled.

**Note** For Windows PC’s with multiple users, the setup must be run so that the Print Client is installed for each Hive user in %localappdata%

2. Print Client Process is Running but Error Remains- if “pc-print-client.exe” is running in Task Manager, then the issue may be related to an unlinked user.

• User Token Not Linked - PaperCut Pocket/Hive relies on a token to validate the user who is logged on.

  • The location for the user token is in the Windows User Context directories.“c:\%localappdata%\Programs\PaperCut Hive\data\conf\userclient.ident”. Validate its existence

  • When the installation process is complete via the Email Invite Process, the user’s token is automatically linked.

• Shared PC (Linked User not logged in) - If multiple users share a Windows PC, then they each will need to download and run the installer and allow the linking process to complete.

**Note** If a Bulk Deployment method is used, then the user will need to link their token via the Email Invite and select Get Started. The linking process will automatically complete. The PaperCut Printer will not be ready until this user step has completed. Please refer to the Bulk Deployment KB located here: https://www.papercut.com/kb/PaperCutPocketHive/BulkDeployBestPractices

For more information about PaperCut Pocket and Hive, check out the PaperCut Pocket and Hive Help Center.