How to update a Queue Deployment from an existing Windows queue

By /
Skip to main content

How to update a Queue Deployment from an existing Windows queue

How to update a Queue Deployment from an existing Windows queue

Most Queue Deployment settings can be changed directly in the deployment, and the change reaches every linked queue: for example the queue name, share name, location, comment, driver and ports.

Driver-specific settings, such as the default printing preferences (colour or black and white, single or double-sided, paper tray), are different. They can only be set by copying them from a print queue that is already installed on a PC. Once copied into the deployment, they reach every linked queue.

So the usual way to change the defaults for everyone is:

  1. On one PC, change the printing preferences on the installed queue until they are right.
  2. Copy them into the Queue Deployment, using one of the two methods below.
  3. With Auto update queues ticked on the deployment, every linked queue is updated to match.

Before you start

  • The PDAgent on the PC you copy from must be online, because Resource Manager connects to it to read the settings.
  • For linked queues to receive the change, Auto update queues must be ticked on the Queue Deployment. Queues set to Do not link to deployment are not updated. See How to link a print queue to a Queue Deployment.

Method 1: From the linked queue (Update deployment)

Use this when the queue you have set up is linked to the deployment, for example because the deployment installed it.

  1. Open Resource Manager.

  2. In the tree on the left, expand Print Management > Print Queue Management and click Installed Queues.

  3. Double-click the queue you want to copy from, and open the Deployment tab.

  4. Check that Linked deployment shows the deployment’s name. If the queue is not linked, or the name is followed by [deleted], it cannot update a deployment this way; use Method 2 instead.

  5. Click Update deployment. The Update deployment window opens, showing the deployment’s name in its title and the queue and PC under Copy from queue.

  6. Driver settings, printer properties and printing preferences are always copied. Choose which Windows queue settings to copy as well; all are ticked to start with:

    • Copy share name (not shown when a manufacturer’s driver is used with an IPP port, because those queues cannot be shared)
    • Copy location
    • Copy comment
    • Copy ports: replace the deployment’s ports with this queue’s ports. Untick it if this queue has a port you do not want on every PC.

    Copy ports is only offered for Manual port configuration deployments. Deployments that send jobs over IPP (Capture on local PDAgent (IPP) and Sends to chosen PD queue (IPP)) have their port set up by Print Director, so there are no ports to copy.

  7. Click OK. Resource Manager connects to the PDAgent, shows its progress on the Deployment tab, and saves the settings straight into the deployment.

The settings are saved into the deployment’s configuration for this PC’s platform, for example Windows x64. If the deployment has no configuration for that platform yet, one is created.

Method 2: From the deployment (Copy settings now from queue)

Use this when you are already editing the deployment, or the queue you want to copy from is not linked to it.

  1. Under Print Management > Print Queue Management > Queue Deployments, double-click the Queue Deployment.

  2. Click the Platform configs tab, select the platform (for example Windows x64) and click Edit. The Platform configuration window opens.

  3. Under Clone driver settings and printing preferences from existing queue, click Copy settings now from queue.

  4. The Queues available on Windows x64 hosts to update settings window opens (the platform in the title matches the configuration you are editing). It lists the installed queues on PCs of that platform, with their Queue name, PDAgent alias, Matched device, Jobs wait at and Status. Use the search box to find the queue, select it and click OK.

    When the copy succeeds, Last copy settings shows when it was made, and the window reports that the driver data and printing preferences were copied. This also works for a driverless configuration: copy from a queue that uses the Microsoft IPP Class Driver to take its printing preferences.

  5. Click OK to close the Platform configuration window, then OK to save the Queue Deployment.

If you choose a different Driver, or tick or untick Driverless (Microsoft IPP Class Driver), after copying, the copied settings are discarded, because they belong to the driver they were copied from. Copy again after changing the driver.

 

Document revision date: 2026/10/23
Software version: 2.5.15.3

How to update a Queue Deployment from an existing Windows queue