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Troubleshooting Web Print problems

This page applies to:

Why are some file formats not available?

First, check Supported Applications and File Formats to see that the file format is supported in the mode that the Web Print server is running in. Some file formats are only supported in sandbox mode.

Next, ensure that the associated application is installed and working. If running in sandbox mode, log in as the webprint user, then open and print a document with the application to ensure the user has the correct permissions.

The next step is to check the Web Print log files. The Web Print server has a handler for each supported application. Each handler has a log file, which can provide more information about why the file format is not available. The handler log files are named web-print-handler-*.log, where * is the name of the application. See below for the location of the Web Print logs folder.

Open the log file that matches the application of interest in a text editor (e.g. web-print-handler-mso-word.log for Microsoft Office Word documents). Check the log file for any obvious errors, such as not being able to find the application or problems launching it.

For further assistance, contact support.

The status in the Admin web interface or on the Web Print dialog is indicating an error. What can I do?

The Web Print server is not running or could not be contacted

When running in Default mode:

  • The service PaperCut Web Print Server should be running.

When running in Sandbox mode:

  • The Web Print dialog should be visible on the Web Print server, and the Status should not indicate any error.

  • While logged onto the Web Print server as the webprint user, ensure that the mapped hot folder is accessible, has write permissions, and maps to:

    \\[app-server]\[app-path]\server\data\web-print-hot-folder\.

  • While logged onto the Web Print server, open the following file in a text editor:

    [app-path]\providers\web-print\[platform]\web-print.conf

    Ensure the hotfolder= option is set to the path to which you mapped the web-print-hot-folder.

For further assistance, contact support.

The Web Print service is running as the SYSTEM account, and does not have access to render print jobs.

Default mode

If running Web Print in Default Mode, check if the printer being printed to is running on the local computer. The SYSTEM account does not have privileges for printing to remote printers.

If the printer is remote, then check the steps listed in Default Mode Setup to ensure that the service is correctly configured to run as the webprint user account.

If the printer is local, check that the printer’s privileges allow the SYSTEM account to print to it.

If the above steps do not fix the problem, then the failure is logged in [app-path]/providers/web-print/[platform]/logs/web-print-handler-pdf.log. Tech support will analyze this file, and help you find out the cause of the failure.

Sandbox mode

If running Web Print in Sandbox Mode, this error can indicate that the service PaperCut Web Print Server is running. This service is not required in sandbox mode, and should be disabled.

No valid handler programs installed/defined

See Why are some file formats not available? (Supported file formats listed in the section called “Supported Applications and File Formats” are not listed under Options → Mobile & Print → Web Print → Status page, or not accepted when uploading a file.)

The configured hot folder location is not writable.

  • Check that the location indicated by Hot folder on the Web Print dialog is correct.

  • As the webprint user, navigate to the configured web-print-hot-folder. Try creating an empty text file. If this action fails, there is a problem with permissions. Check the Sharing and Security (NTFS/file) permissions for web-print-hot-folder share on the PaperCut primary server. Allow the webprint user read and write access.

Other error messages

Check the Web Print server log file web-print.log. See Where is the Web Print logs folder? for the location of the logs directory.

For further assistance, contact PaperCut Software Support.

Where is the Web Print logs folder?

A separate logs folder is located on each system running the Web Print server software. If you are running in Default mode, log files are collected from the PaperCut NG/MF Application Server. If running in Sandbox mode, the relevant log files are found on the Web Print server that is in error.

On Windows, the location of the logs folder depends on configuration and the Windows edition. Logs can be written to

[app-path]\providers\web-print\win\logs\, or to

%USERPROFILE%\web-print-logs\

(e.g. C:\Users\[username]\web-print-logs\ on Windows Vista/2008.

For a definitive answer, open the following file on the PaperCut NG/MF Application Server in a text editor, and check the line beginning with server.log-file=:

[app-path]\server\data\web-print-hot-folder\[server name].web-print-server.status

Why is my print queue 'currently not available'?

When using the Web Print interface, some print queues might display the following error message:

Errored: Printer ‘\\servername\queuename’ is currently not available.

This can be caused by trying to use Web Print on a print queue that has been deleted, or by trying to print to a print queue that is not installed on the Web Print Sandbox. Confirm this by logging into the Web Print Sandbox as the Web Print user, and attempting to print to the above print queue.

I've added multiple Web Print servers in Sandbox Mode, but Web Print jobs are taking the same amount of time to print?

First, check that your new Web Print servers are not in error. The status of your Web Print servers, along with information about any issues, is displayed in the Admin web interface under Options > Mobile & BYOD. The version of each Web Print server is also displayed here. Web Print servers running version 16.1 or earlier interacted with the Web Print hot folder in a different way, and are incompatible with Web Print version 16.2 or later. If a Web Print server running version 16.1 or older is detected, all other Web Print servers will stop accepting jobs until this older Web Print server is updated to version 16.2 or later.

Adding more Web Print servers does not improve the time taken to render each individual Web Print job, but it does allow multiple jobs to be rendered at the same time.

Can I improve Web Print job speed by increasing the resources allocated to my Web Print servers?
To an extent, yes. To ensure stable performance, we recommend that each Web Print server has two cores and a minimum of 2GB of memory. Adding more cores beyond this will not further improve performance. Instead, improving the priority/performance of each core will potentially improve job rendering times. Also, adding more Web Print servers allows multiple jobs to be rendered at the same time.

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