How to self-install a print queue from a Queue Deployment

Queue Deployments can be made available for users to install themselves. Users do not need administrator rights on their PCs, because the installation is carried out by the PDAgent. This suits printers that only some people need, where installing the queue on every PC automatically would clutter everyone’s printer list.

Step 1: Allow self-install on the Queue Deployment

1. Open Resource Manager.
2. In the tree on the left, expand Print Management > Print Queue Management and click Queue Deployments.
3. On the right, double-click the Queue Deployment. If it does not exist yet, create it first: see How to manually create a Queue Deployment or How to copy an existing Windows print queue to a new Queue Deployment.
4. In the Deployment scope section, set Self install:
   • Allowed for all PDAgents: users on any PC running PDAgent can install the queue.
   • Allowed for selected deployment zones: only users on PCs in the zones you tick on the Deployment zones tab can install it. See How to auto-deploy a print queue to IP ranges and the other auto-deploy articles for how zones match PCs.
5. Check Auto deploy. For a queue that users choose for themselves, set it to Do not auto deploy. If it is set to Selected deployment zones, PCs in those zones get the queue automatically and users elsewhere can still install it themselves. With Deploy to all PDAgents, every PC gets the queue anyway.
6. Click OK.

PDAgents pick up the change the next time they refresh their settings. To make it available straight away, click PD Agents in Resource Manager, right-click the user’s PDAgent and choose Refresh, or refresh every PC from PD Servers with Send command > Refresh all connected PDAgents.

Step 2: Install the queue on the user’s PC

1. On the user’s PC, right-click the Print Director icon in the notification area (the system tray, at the bottom right of the screen) and choose Install print queue.

   This option only appears when there is at least one queue the user can install or update.

2. The Choose the print queues to install window lists the Queue Deployments available on this PC, with details such as the Installed queue name, Matched device, Jobs wait at, Driver name and Port type (scroll sideways to see them all). Use the search box at the top to find a queue. Tick each queue to install; the bar at the bottom shows how many are listed, selected and ticked. To install just one, you can also select it and click OK, or double-click it.

3. Click OK. The Install print queues window opens and installs the chosen queues one at a time. For each queue it shows the Queue, Deployment, Action and Status; select a row to see its Messages below.

   You can close the window while it works: the installation carries on, and choosing Install print queue again brings the window back. When everything has finished, the window closes by itself after a few seconds, unless there is something to read.

What the columns tell you

Before you click OK, the list shows what installing each queue would do on this PC:

• Conflict: blank when nothing is in the way. Otherwise:
  • Links to the installed queue ‘…’: a queue with the same name is already installed. It is kept and linked to the deployment, then updated to match it.
  • Replaces the installed queue ‘…’: a queue with the same name is already installed and is replaced by the deployment’s queue.
  • Queues that cannot be installed because a queue with the same name is already linked to a different deployment are hidden. Tick Show conflicting deployments to see them.
• Reachable: for queues that send jobs over IPP to a server or device, whether this PC can reach it: Checking…, then Reachable, Reachable, requires sign-in, or Not reachable with the reason. This is a guide only; the install checks again.

Update a queue that is already installed

Queues already installed on the PC are hidden from the list. To update one, for example after the deployment’s printing preferences have changed:

1. Choose Install print queue and tick Show deployed queues.
2. Installed queues appear greyed out, with Installed in the Conflict column. Tick the queue and click OK. Its Action in the Install print queues window is Update.

A queue shown as Installed, linking disabled has been set to Do not link to deployment, so it cannot be updated from here. See How to link a print queue to a Queue Deployment.

Queues that need a user name and password

If a queue sends jobs to a Print Director queue that requires IPP sign-in, and uses a manufacturer’s driver, its status reads Installed, credentials needed. When the installation finishes, the Windows Configure Internet Port dialog opens so the user can enter the user name and password. Windows keeps these for the port on the whole PC, so every user of that PC shares them.

A queue that uses a manufacturer’s driver over IPP is an Internet Port queue, and Windows can only create one when its optional Internet Printing Client feature is installed (in Windows Features, under Print and Document Services). Without it, the install stops and the Messages say so.

Good to know

• A self-installed queue is linked to its Queue Deployment, so it is updated when the deployment changes if Auto update queues is ticked.
• Self-installed queues are never removed automatically, even when Auto remove queues if not in zones or the Deployment is deleted is ticked.

Related articles

• How to manually create a Queue Deployment
• How to link a print queue to a Queue Deployment
• How to auto-deploy a print queue to IP ranges (and the other auto-deploy articles)
• For every setting on the Queue deployment window, see Queue Deployment Configuration.

How to self-install a print queue from a Queue Deployment