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Troubleshooting print jobs

This page applies to:

The troubleshooting information below is only relevant if the users can at least send a job to a Mobility Print queue.

Printing

Even though cmd-P or ctrl-P is so easy, sometimes there are snags. Here are some tips for troubleshooting what can go wrong when someone can’t print. If you’re able to print successfully, but the job is going missing / not printing, scroll down to the missing print jobs section.

‘Hold for authentication’ message

Why do my macOS users see a ‘Hold for Authentication’ message in the job status window?

This error can appear if:

  • the user enters the wrong credentials when printing from macOS to Mobility Print. Ask them to click the refresh button and enter the correct credentials.
  • Check Authentication per job is enabled and the user has tried to save their printing credentials in the KeyChain. For solutions, look at Hold for Authentication .

Users can’t print

My users can find printers, but can’t print. What do I check?

  • Verify that the printer works. Try printing a test page directly from the Mobility Print server using the operating system’s test print page.
  • Verify that PaperCut’s filters or quota policies are not preventing printing. All print jobs through Mobility Print are enforced in PaperCut NG/MF. Check the Logs section in the PaperCut NG/MF Admin Interface to see if a job is being denied for a reason.
  • On Mac systems, sometimes a failed authentication (for example invalid username or password) might result in jobs not printing. See this Knowledge Base article for detail.

…oh, don’t forget “turning it off and turning it on again”.

Printing works for all computers except Windows computers

We’ve heard of print jobs disappearing for Windows clients when the SysAdmin has configured Group Policy to block IPP Printing. Have a look at Test pages failing to print for information.

Missing print jobs

Missing print jobs generally happen when the user hits print, but for some reason, the print job never comes out. Here’s some things to check to figure out why jobs might go missing:

Is the Print Provider running?

Check if the Print Provider service on the Mobility Print server running

It should be. A zealous admin may restart the Print Spooler service while troubleshooting, and forget to resume the Print Provider service afterwards. Open services.msc and make sure that both the Windows Print Spooler and PaperCut Print Provider services are running.

Check print driver settings

Check if the print driver is configured to require a PIN

Mobility Print does not require a PIN.

Some print drivers can be configured to show an authentication prompt for a user or department PIN. Confirm whether this is the case by printing a test page from the Windows print server. Is there an authentication prompt from the driver? If so, disable this setting (usually found in the on the Windows print queue, Printer Properties, Device Settings tab.

If a PIN is needed, a workaround is to set up an identical print queue with this setting disabled, expressly to publish through Mobility Print.

Check PaperCut NG/MF settings

Is the user or print queue configured in PaperCut NG/MF in a way that requires the user to run the User Client? Any settings configured for the user or printer in PaperCut NG/MF still apply to the print job when it leaves Mobility Print and passes through the print server. Go through the checks below.

Is account selection enabled?

Disable account selection to see if the job will print using the user’s personal account. This determines if there is a problem with account selection.

  1. In PaperCut NG/MF, go to Users > Username > Details.
  2. Change Account Selection to Automatically charge to personal account, or have the user log into the Mobile web client to select any shared account.

Alternatively:

  • Set up an identical print queue to publish with Mobility Print where Override user-level settings is enabled, and Do not show account popups and allocate jobs to: ‘user’s personal account is checked.
  • Follow the steps on Print Scripting with Mobility Print to set up a Print Script with Mobility Print that can automatically charge to the user’s personal account.

Unauthenticated printing

Is the user or printer configured for Unauthenticated Printing? It shouldn’t be; printing must be authenticated in a Mobility Print environment.

Ask the user to run the User client and enter their credentials.

If you need to use unauthenticated printing, set up separate print queues for Mobility Print. Enable Override user-level settings, and check Do not show account popups and allocate jobs to: ‘user’s personal account’.

Are print scripts in use?

Is Print Scripting enabled on this printer, and is PaperCut NG/MF waiting for the user to respond to a pop-up?

  1. In the PaperCut NG/MF Admin web interface, navigate to Printers > Printer List.
  2. Select a printer; then click the Scripting tab.
  3. Check if the Enable print script checkbox is checked.
  4. If yes, choose one of these solutions:
    • Clear the Enable print script checkbox.
    • Edit the script so that it times out without a response.
    • Set up an identical print queue to publish with Mobility Print with print scripting disabled.
    • Have the user log into the Mobile Web Client to acknowledge the popup message.

You can also follow the steps in Print Scripting with Mobility Print to ignore Mobility Print jobs in your script.

Are filters or restrictions in use?

Is the printer in PaperCut NG/MF configured to deny any jobs based on Filters & Restrictions?

If the PaperCut NG/MF server has canceled a Mobility Print job, the user will not see a notification but an event will appear in the Job Log.

  1. Go to PaperCut NG/MF Admin console, Printers > Printer List.
  2. Select a printer; then click the Filters & Restrictions tab.
    • Are certain groups denied from printing?
    • Are any types of jobs being denied?

These restrictions will still apply to jobs sent via Mobility Print. Disable or adjust the restrictions as necessary.

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