9.3 Installing and Configuring a Remote Renderer

For desktop quality printing for Microsoft Office and PDF documents, you must install a remote renderer on a Microsoft Windows 7, Windows 10, Windows 11, Windows 2016, Windows 20129 or Windows 2022 64-bit system with a dual-core processor or higher.

During the remote renderer configuration process, when prompted for service configuration credentials, local users must specify the credentials of an account with Windows admin and domain users must specify the user name in [domainname]\[username] format.

9.3.1 Prerequisites

Before installing and configuring the remote renderer, ensure that you have met the requirements listed in Section 3.3, Remote Renderer Requirements and the following prerequisites:

  • At least one printer driver is uploaded to the Driver Store for the Windows platform on which you are setting up the renderer. This is required because when you add a remote renderer from the Management Console, you must designate one driver as the default driver for the renderer.

    NOTE:It is recommended that you upload a universal printer driver such as HPUPD, and set that as the default driver.

  • You must assign Log on as a service rights to the account with which you want to set up the renderer.

9.3.2 Assigning Log On as a Service Rights

Before configuring the remote renderer, you must assign the Log on as a service rights to the account with which you want to set up the renderer, on the local machine.

  1. On your Windows computer, Go to Start > Control Panel.

  2. In the upper-right corner of the Control Panel window, click the View by drop-down menu, then select Large icons.

  3. Go to Administrative Tools > Local Security Policy.

  4. In the left pane, double-click Local Policies.

  5. Click User Rights Assignment.

  6. In the right pane, under Policy, double-click Log on as a service.

  7. Click Add User or Group.

  8. Specify the user name in the Enter the object names to select box, then click Check Names.

  9. Click OK after the user is displayed.

  10. Click OK.

  11. Click OK, then close the Local Security Policy window.

9.3.3 Downloading the Remote Renderer

  1. On a web browser, use either the host name or the IP address to access the Management Console. For example, https://10.0.0.1:9443 or https://iprint.example.com:9443.

  2. Specify root or vaadmin as the user name.

  3. Specify the password that you provided for root or vaadmin.

    The Management Console page is displayed.

  4. Click iPrint Appliance Configuration.

  5. Under Configuration, click Renderers.

  6. Click the icon in the upper-right corner of the screen.

    NOTE:The remote renderer installation interface is not available in Slovak, Hungarian, Netherlands Dutch, or Catalan languages

A zip file named iPrintRendererBundle.zip is downloaded. This zip file contains a setup.exe file, iPrintRendererSetup.msi file, readme.txt, and a device.pfx certificate file.

Continue with installing and configuring the remote renderer.

9.3.4 Installing and Configuring the Remote Renderer

  1. Unzip the iPrintRendererBundle.zip file, then launch the setup.exe file. Follow the on-screen prompts to complete the installation procedure.

  2. When the installation is complete, launch the command prompt in the Run as administrator mode.

  3. Run the command iPrntRendCmd -c to configure the remote renderer.

    1. If you want to configure the remote renderer over a secure channel and if you are using a self-signed digital certificate, copy the device.pfx file into the C:\NDPS\Renderer\certificates\ folder.

    2. If you want to configure the remote renderer over a secure channel and if you are using a third-party certificate, copy the PKCS12 file of type .pfx or .p12 into the C:\NDPS\Renderer\certificates\ folder.

  4. When prompted for Do you want to configure the remote renderer over secure channel, depending on your requirement, specify Yes or No.

    1. When you specify Yes, the renderer is configured in a secure mode. You need to perform additional steps, if you need iPrint Appliance to accept only secure communications. For more information, see Section 9.3.6, Secure Communication Mode.

    2. When you specify No, the renderer is configured in a non-secure mode. You need to perform additional steps to ensure that iPrint Appliance accepts non-secure communications. For more information, see Section 9.3.7, Non-secure Communication Mode.

  5. When prompted for credentials, specify your credentials.

On successful configuration, you must register the Remote Renderer.

9.3.5 Registering the Remote Renderer

  1. On the Management Console, click iPrint Appliance Configuration.

  2. Under Configuration, click Renderers.

  3. Click New.

  4. In the Renderer Host/IP address box, specify the hostname or IP address of the renderer system, then click Connect.

  5. Under Options, specify a name for the renderer in the Renderer Name box.

  6. Select the document formats you want the remote renderer to render.

  7. Choose the Default Printer Driver, then click Register.

After you click the Register button, a success message is displayed, but the remote renderer is still configuring. The configuration time depends on the number of unique drivers associated with mobile enabled printers. During that period, the renderer is in the Configuring state. After the configuration is complete, the renderer changes to the Active state. When the status of the remote renderer displays Active, it means that the registration is successful. Refresh the page after a couple of minutes to check the status.

9.3.6 Secure Communication Mode

By default, the iPrint Appliance accepts both secure and non-secure communication.To set only secure communication mode, you must ensure that the renderer is secure and the iPrint Appliance accepts only secure communications. For more information refer to Secure Renderer Registration Fails.

On the Windows computer, run the iPrntRendCmd -c command to configure secure remote renderer. On configuring the renderer to a secure mode, you can verify the status in the Management Console, Renderers page under the Secure Mode column, the value displayed is true.

To configure iPrint Appliance to accept only secure communications, modify the secure communication settings in the Management Console as follows:

  1. On a web browser, use either the host name or the IP address to access the Management Console. For example, https://10.0.0.1:9443 or https://iprint.example.com:9443.

  2. Specify the root or vaadmin name that you provided as the user name.

  3. Specify the password that you provided for the root or vaadmin.

    The Management Console page is displayed.

  4. Click iPrint Appliance Configuration.

  5. Under Configuration, click Renderers. All the available renderers are displayed.

  6. Click the Secure settings for renderers icon.

    The Secure Communication Settings window is displayed.

  7. Select the Use Secure Mode Only check box, then click OK. The iPrint Appliance will now accept only secure communications. The non-secure renderers will fail to communicate with the iPrint Appliance and no jobs can be rendered by those renderers.

9.3.7 Non-secure Communication Mode

By default, the iPrint Appliance accepts both secure and non-secure communication but if the iPrint Appliance is modified to accept only secure communications, then you must modify the iPrint Appliance to accept both secure and non-secure communications.

On the Windows computer, run the iPrntRendCmd -c command to configure the non-secure remote renderer. On configuring the renderer to a non-secure mode, you can verify the status in the Management Console, Renderers page under the Secure Mode column, the value displayed is false.

Modify the secure communication settings in the Management Console for iPrint Appliance to accept both secure and non-secure communications:

  1. On a web browser, use either the host name or the IP address to access the Management Console. For example, https://10.0.0.1:9443 or https://iprint.example.com:9443.

  2. Specify the root or vaadmin name that you provided as the user name.

  3. Specify the password that you provided for the root or vaadmin.

    The Management Console page is displayed.

  4. Click iPrint Appliance Configuration.

  5. Under Configuration, click Renderers. All the available renderers are displayed.

  6. Click the Secure settings for renderers icon.

    The Secure Communication Settings window is displayed.

  7. Deselect the Use Secure Mode Only check box, then click OK. The iPrint Appliance will now accept both secure and non-secure communications.