Enabling ARM64 support in PaperCut NG/MF Print Deploy

This article explains how to enable and configure ARM64 support in PaperCut Print Deploy v1.10.3935, to provide a native printing experience for Windows on ARM64 devices. It covers:

• a summary of how ARM64 support works in Print Deploy
• how to set the config key for ARM64 logic
• the workflows for deploying server-hosted and Direct print queues
• how to utilize the PaperCut Global Print Driver (a PostScript printer driver) to ensure cross-platform compatibility across your entire fleet.

How ARM64 support works in Print Deploy

The PaperCut Global Print Driver is compatible with both x64 and ARM64 architectures. It meets the needs of everyday printing for your end-users. When there is no manufacturer ARM64 driver available for a modern ARM64 laptop fleet, Print Deploy allows administrators to use the Global Print Driver.

After a print queue has been set up with printer drivers that work for the both architectures, there’s no more administration overhead! Your end-user clients automatically contact the Print Deploy server, which determines what architecture the client is running, and deploys the compatible driver for that architecture.

It means that end-users don’t need to know what type of laptop they are running. They just get the print queue for their computer so that they can effortlessly print from day one.

PaperCut Global Print Driver defaults

When adding the PaperCut Global Print Driver within the Print Deploy Admin interface, the following defaults are set:

• Portrait
• Single-sided
• Color
• Auto tray selection

Note: It doesn’t support advanced finishing options.

ARM64 Beta in Print Deploy v1.10.3935

Print Deploy version v1.10.3935 introduces enhanced support for ARM64 printing with PaperCut NG/MF under a ‘Beta’ tag.

The ARM64 Print Deploy logic is OFF by default to protect sites with existing workarounds in place, while giving early adopters an opportunity to test the functionality before rolling it out to their ARM64 end user computers.

Before turning on the config key for ARM64 logic, read the sections below to understand what this might mean for your current setup.

Known limitation: Page size is currently not detected based on locale. This will be fixed in our public release.

If you’re new to deploying print queues to ARM64 end-users’ computers

This section is for organizations getting printing working for the first time on ARM64 computers. It covers how to deploy:

• server-hosted shared queues to Print Deploy clients running on ARM64 computers
• Direct print queues to Print Deploy clients running on ARM64 computers
• Mobility Print queues with a manufacturer driver to Print Deploy clients running on ARM64 computers
• Mobility Print queues that were imported into the Print Deploy Admin interface to Print Deploy clients running on ARM64 computers

Prerequisite — turn on the ARM64 logic in Print Deploy

Note that after you upgrade Print Deploy to Print Deploy v1.10 3935, (either automatically or manually), you won’t see any immediate changes; Print Deploy behavior remains as it always has.

To deploy a print queue to your x64 and ARM64 end-user computers, first you need to turn on the ARM64 logic in Print Deploy:

1. Locate the Print Deploy config file at: C:\Program Files\PaperCut MF\providers\print-deploy\win\data\config\client.conf.toml
2. Add the config key ClientArchitectureMatchingEnabled to this file and set it to true.
3. Restart the Print Deploy Server service .

How to deploy server-hosted shared queues to Print Deploy clients running on ARM64 computers

After turning on the ARM64 logic, set up a server queue and deploy it to the ARM64 clients.

1. Ensure you have turned on the ARM64 logic in Print Deploy .
2. Create a new server-hosted shared print queue with a different name from your x64 server print queue. For example, server1\queue-BW-ARM
3. Install the PaperCut Global Print Driver on this new queue
4. Set up an ARM64 reference machine with a print queue pointing to the shared server queue. Then run the Print Deploy cloner.
5. In the Print Deploy Admin interface, find the server queue that was just cloned that will be deployed to ARM64 queues, and select the trash icon to delete the x64 profile.
   
6. Add the newly imported server print queue(s) to your configured zone(s) and deploy.

How to deploy Direct print queues to Print Deploy clients running on ARM64 computers

A Direct Print queue sends print jobs from a user’s device (computer) directly to the printer for immediate printing.

Before you can deploy the Direct print queue to any ARM64 computers, you need to add the PaperCut Global Print Driver as an ARM64 profile to it.

1. Ensure you have turned on the ARM64 logic in Print Deploy .
2. In the Print Deploy Admin interface, navigate to the Direct print queue.
3. Find the ARM64 profile and click Add generic driver. This results in:
   • x64 end-users printing via the manufacturer driver (or whatever driver is assigned to the x64 profile)
   • ARM64 end-users printing via the PaperCut Global Print Driver.

To learn more about what defaults are set when adding the generic driver from the Print Deploy Admin interface, take a look at PaperCut Global Print Driver defaults .

How to deploy Mobility Print queues with a manufacturer driver to Print Deploy clients running on ARM64 computers

If you have set up Mobility Print with an x64-based manufacturer driver, printing won’t work on ARM64 computers. This setup is not compatible with ARM64 computers and end-users will see an error in the Print Deploy client.

To enable printing on the ARM64 computers, you need to add the Global Print Driver as an ARM64 profile in the Print Deploy Admin interface.

1. Ensure you have turned on the ARM64 logic in Print Deploy .
2. Clone the Mobility Print queues that have the manufacturer driver following these advanced steps .
3. In the Print Deploy Admin interface, add the generic Global Print Driver to the ARM64 profile. The same Mobility Print queue will be deployed to both your x64 end-users and your ARM64 end-users:
   • x64 end-users will print using the manufacturer driver
   • ARM64 end-users will print via the Global Print Driver.

How to deploy Mobility Print queues that were imported into the Print Deploy Admin interface to Print Deploy clients running on ARM64 computers

There’s nothing you need to do! If you have already imported Mobility Print queues via the Print Deploy import wizard , the queues automatically use the PaperCut Global Print Driver and can be deployed immediately to your ARM64 computers.

After you’ve decided which option is best in your environment, turn on the ARM64 logic.

If you have already deployed ARM64-related drivers to Print Deploy clients

If you have already deployed print queues to ARM64 end-user computers before v1.10.3935, you might have found that some of them failed to install due to incompatibility issues.

The table below explains when these errors occur, depending on the queue type you deployed. If you’ve experienced any of these errors, the upgrade and a few extra steps will fix them!

Benefits of turning on the ARM64 logic

If you already have ARM64 clients printing and you’re not having any problems, you might be wondering why you need to turn on the config key. Some benefits include the ability to:

• deploy a single queue to your clients (rather than 2 different ones) within the same zone
• ensure that your end-users don’t see failures of printers that haven’t installed due to incompatible printer drivers.

After upgrading to Print Deploy v1.10.3935

After you upgrade, the current state is preserved; you won’t see any immediate changes and Print Deploy printing behavior remains as it always has. To utilize the upgrade, you need to turn on the ARM64 logic in Print Deploy and then deploy new print queues. Read on to learn how.

Reinstalling any missing print queues after turning on the ARM64 logic

After you turn on the config key, any Mobility Print queues or printer drivers that support both x64 and ARM64 architectures (such as PaperCut Global Print Driver print queues that were cloned using Print Deploy version 10.0+924), will remain visible in the Print Deploy client running on the end-users’ ARM64 computers. All other print queues are uninstalled. You will need to reinstall the print queues using one of the following options.

Option 1 — Modify an existing print queue in the Print Deploy Admin interface

1. In the Print Deploy Admin interface, add the PaperCut Global Print Driver to the print queue for the ARM64 architecture. This allows the print queue to be deployed to both x64 and ARM64 computers.
2. If you want to use a single print queue to deploy to both your x64 and ARM64 end users, delete any other print queues and ensure that your single print queue has a driver assigned to your x64 and AR64 architecture.

Option 2 — Clone a new print queue

1. On an x64 reference computer, set up and clone a new print queue . The steps depend on what type of print queue your organization uses.
2. On an ARM64 reference computer, set up and clone a new print queue. It must have the same name as the x64 print queue.
   This creates a single queue with 2 profiles, one for each architecture, that you can then deploy within a single zone to an end-user fleet that uses old and new laptops.

More information

• Setting up printing for ARM64 Windows computers
• Windows ARM64 Support across the PaperCut portfolio
• Share ARM64 Drivers from Windows Print Servers
• How PaperCut solves the ARM64 printing problem