Setting up printing for ARM64 Windows computers

This article is for existing PaperGut NG/MF customers. It guides you through setting up your print environment for ARM-based Windows PCs, taking into account your current printer fleet and setup.

Scenario 1 — No ARM64 driver available available for your printer

If you have a printer fleet with no available ARM64 drivers, the following procedures describe how to enable printing for your ARM64 end users.

Setting up ARM64 computers to print to Direct print queues

Direct print queues allow computers to print directly to printers without a print server being involved. You can set up Direct print queues in an x64 manufacturer driver environment in a way that enables printing for both ARM64 and x64 end-users.

Current manual setup

1. Set up an ARM64 computer on the same network as the printers. This acts as the “reference computer” from which you clone the print queues.

2. On the ARM64 reference computer, set up a print queue configured to use the PaperCut Global Print Driver. This print queue needs to have a different name to your existing x64 print queue otherwise existing end user print queues will be overwriten.

   Note: Your printer must support PostScript as PDL when using the PaperCut Global Print Driver for printing. If it does not support PDL, then use Mobility Print or have a discussion with your hardware vendor to compile your existing driver for ARM64.

3. Configure Windows printing defaults as needed (for example, simplex vs duplex or mono vs color).
   Note: Ensure your defaults are set correctly, as changing them later requires repeating this manual setup procedure. You won’t be able to change the defaults via the admin interface.

4. Run the Print Deploy cloner . This clones and imports the print queues to the Print Deploy server.

Future setup, available in Percolator

Use PaperCut Print Deploy to add the built-in PaperCut Global Print Driver to your Direct print queue. However, this feature is already available through the Percolator program, so if you want to sign up, head over to the ARM64 support in PaperCut MF Print Deploy page.

Setting up ARM64 computers to print to Windows server-hosted shared print queues

There are two options to achieve this:

• Set up using Mobility Print and Print Deploy for a single queue, regardless of architecture; or
• Set up manually by duplicating your server-hosted shared print queues and using Print Deploy to deploy them.

Option 1: Set up using Mobility Print and Print Deploy

Available in the ARM64 Percolator release. Sign up on the ARM64 support in PaperCut MF Print Deploy page.

If you use Mobility Print, you can use a single queue to target both x64 and ARM64 end-user computers, because Mobility Print uses the PaperCut Global Print Driver for everyday printing.

Mobility Print uses the PaperCut Global Print Driver to print to the server queue. End users running the Mobility Print client receive any published Mobility Print queues, which they can then print to, regardless of the architecture.

To set this up:

1. Import your Mobility Print queues into Print Deploy.
2. Delete the x64 “profile” for each of the Mobility Print queues.
3. Add the Mobility Print queue(s) to your configured zone(s) and deploy.

Option 2: Set up by manually duplicating your server-hosted shared print queues with Print Deploy

If Mobility Print is not an option for you, you’ll need to create additional server-hosted shared print queues that are compatible with your ARM64 end-user computers.

1. Create a new server-hosted shared print queue.
2. Install the PaperCut Global Print Driver.
3. Set up an ARM64 reference machine.
4. Add a print queue pointing to the shared server queue.
5. Run the Print Deploy cloner.
6. Add the shared print queue(s) to your configured zone(s) and deploy.

Scenario 2 — Using an ARM64 driver

Even if you have an ARM64 manufacturer driver available, it may not provide a consistent or successful experience, and you might encounter problems along the way.

Setting up ARM64 computers to print to Direct print queues

If you use Direct print queues in your environment, Print Deploy is required.

1. On an ARM64 reference machine, create your Direct print queue(s) and install the ARM64 manufacturer driver.
2. Run the Print Deploy cloner.
3. Assign the Direct print queue(s) to your configured zone(s) and deploy.

Setting up ARM64 computers to print to Windows server-hosted shared print queues

Using Mobility Print and Print Deploy

1. Publish the server-hosted shared print queue via Mobility Print and install it on an ARM64 reference machine. For more information, see Import Mobility Print queues .
2. Replace the Global Print Driver on the Mobility Print queue with the ARM64 manufacturer driver.
3. Run the Print Deploy cloner.
4. With the Print Deploy admin interface, delete the x64 “profile” for the Mobility Print queues if applicable.
5. Add the print queue(s) to your configured zone(s) and deploy.

Installing an ARM64 driver without Mobility Print

If you are not using Mobility Print, you can install your ARM64 driver on a Windows server-hosted shared print queue by following the steps in Share ARM64 drivers from Windows print servers . Note that installing an ARM64 manufacturer driver is not always a consistent or successful experience, and you might encounter problems along the way.

1. On an ARM64 reference machine:
   1. Add a print queue pointing to the shared server queue.
   2. Install the ARM64 manufacturer driver on the print queue.
2. Run the Print Deploy cloner.
3. Add the shared print queue(s) to your configured zone(s) and deploy.