Black Ice Server Printer Drivers can be shared over HTTP with IPP (Internet Printing Protocol) as any regular physical printers.
A shared network printer has many advantages in today’s office. Shared network printers are quite simple to set up and very easy to use once configured. Some of the primary benefits include:
Saving Time: Administrators only have to install the printer driver on one computer. Once installed, it can be shared with only a few clicks and can be used on the entire office network.
Less Maintenance: You only have to maintenance one installed printer, instead of troubleshooting various installed virtual printers on every office computer.
Agent Printers for Common Tasks: Administrators can preconfigure and share Agent Printers, letting employees to minimize the amount of time consumed by setting up the printers each time.
Better Administration: Every printed document will be gathered to one centralized computer, letting Administrators to easily view through and process the documents.
In order to share a Server Printer Driver over HTTP, please follow the instructions below:
Share the Server Printer Driver on the Host computer, based on the instructions on the Printer Sharing section.
Install the Internet Printing Server Role on Host Server computer and make sure that every required component is also installed for IPP Printing.
Once the Internet Printing Server Role is installed on the Host, install the Internet Printing Client feature on the Client computers, under Control Panel > Programs > Turn Windows features on or off.
To install the feature, make sure that the Print and Document Services > Internet Printing Client is checked, and click on the OK button.
Once the Internet Printing Roles are installed, and the Server Printer Driver is shared and configured on the server, you can see the list of shared printers from the server by typing the http://servername/printers into any internet browser on the client.
When experiencing problem accessing the printers, please make sure that the Printer Sharing on the server is enabled under Control Panel > Network and Sharing Center > Advanced sharing settings.
The system may prompt to enter username and password to access to the shared printers. Please enter a username which has privilege to access the shared printers on the server.
The browser displays the available printers on the server. Select the Printer to be added, and go to Properties menu. Copy the link at Network Name.
NOTE: If you receive any warning message about the Intranet setting are turned off, then please enable the Intranet settings.
On the client computer, navigate to Control Panel > Devices and Printers, and click Add a printer to add the shared printer.
Select the shared printer by name option, and paste the Network Name link from the browser. Click on the Next button to continue.
At the next step, one has to specify the driver files for the printer installation. Click on the Hard Disk to browse the driver files manually.
Since the Server Printer Driver is installed on the Server computer, one has to copy over the driver files from the server computer to the Client computer.
The driver files on the server computer can be found at:
c:\Program Files\Black Ice Software LLC\ColorPlus Printer Driver\Driver\
Copy all files and subfolders to the Client computer from the directory above. When all files were copied, click on the Browse button.
Browse the Server Printer Driver INF file which was copied over from the server, and click on the Open button.
Click on the OK button to begin the driver installation.
Select the Server Printer Driver Driver on the appearing window, and click on the OK button.
If a User Account Control appears, click on the Yes button.
Once the installation is finished, the following window appears. Click on the Next button to proceed.
On the following window, one can set the new Server printer as default. Click on the Finish button to finish adding the printer.
Once the driver installation is finished one can print to the Server Printer on the client.
The Server Printer Driver will automatically convert the received documents to the configured file format, into the specified directory on the server. For more information about how to configure the output directory of the shared Server Printer Driver, please refer to the Configuring output directory for shared printers on the Host.
If one experiencing any problem while trying to install the printer, please check the connection and privileges by trying to access the printer through the Windows Explorer, by browsing the printer through the network, for example: \\servername\