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Direct Printing Configuration

Configuring Direct printing involves a well-defined sequence of steps that build on each other. You'll import drivers, discover printers, create associations between them, and assign the resulting direct printers to your users. This article walks through each configuration task in detail, showing you the complete workflow from initial setup through ongoing management.

The Configuration Workflow​

Setting up Direct printing isn't complicated, but you'll need to follow the steps in the right order. First, you'll import local print drivers from workstations or servers into the ScrewDrivers database. These drivers become the building blocks for your direct printers. Next, you'll import network printers that ScrewDrivers Printer Discovery finds on your subnets. Then you'll assign drivers to those printers, creating the actual direct printer objects. Finally, you'll assign those direct printers to owners in ScrewDrivers Administration.

You can't skip steps here. You need drivers in the database before you can assign them to printers. You need printers imported before you can assign drivers to them. And you need direct printer objects created (driver + printer) before you can assign them to users. This sequential approach ensures that everything's in place when your users need to print.

Importing Local Print Drivers​

Every direct printer needs a print driver, and those drivers come from local workstations or servers. You'll use the ScrewDrivers Printer Discovery application to import drivers from the Windows driver store into the ScrewDrivers database. Once a driver's in the database, you can assign it to any network printer you've discovered, regardless of which workstation you imported the driver from.

You'll need to repeat this import process on each workstation or server that has unique drivers you want to make available. If you've got five workstations with the same HP LaserJet driver installed, you only need to import it once. But if you've got a Canon driver on one workstation and a Brother driver on another, you'll import from both.

The most straightforward way to import drivers is to let Printer Discovery show you what's available locally and select what you want.

Log into the workstation that has the drivers you need, then open ScrewDrivers Printer Discovery. Click the Drivers tab to see all the drivers local to this workstation that have been imported into the ScrewDrivers database. The first time you open this tab it'll be blank. After you've imported some drivers, you'll see them listed here.

Click Import to open the Local Import dialog box. This dialog lists all the drivers in the local Windows driver store. You'll see a checkbox next to each driver. Drivers that haven't been imported yet have a white checkbox background. Drivers that have already been imported have a gray checkbox background—if you hover over a gray checkbox, you'll see a message confirming the driver's already in the database.

Be patient while the Local Import dialog populates. It might take a minute or two to enumerate all the locally discovered drivers, especially on servers with lots of drivers installed.

Select one or more drivers to import, or click the checkbox next to "Driver Name" at the top of the list to select all available drivers in one step. Then click Add Drivers.

You'll see an Importing Drivers progress message. After the import completes, the message closes and you'll return to the Drivers tab. The newly imported drivers now appear in the driver list.

To Import Drivers Using an INF File​

If you've got a driver INF file from a manufacturer, you can import drivers directly from that file instead of searching through the local driver store. This approach is useful when you've downloaded a driver package but haven't installed it on the workstation yet.

From the Local Import dialog box, click INF Import to open the INF Import dialog. Click Browse to select the driver INF file from your file system. Printer Discovery will parse the INF file and show you which drivers it contains.

You'll see the drivers organized by manufacturer. Select the driver or drivers you want to import, or click the checkbox next to the manufacturer name at the top of the list to select all drivers from that manufacturer. Then click Add Drivers.

The Importing Drivers progress message appears. After the import completes, you'll return to the Drivers tab with your newly imported drivers visible in the list.

Importing Network Printers​

With drivers in the database, you're ready to import network printers. By default, ScrewDrivers Printer Discovery discovers both Bonjour-compatible and IPP-compatible printers on the same subnet as your workstation. You can customize these discovery settings on the Settings tab if you need to search other subnets or limit the discovery protocols.

When you import a network printer, ScrewDrivers creates a Printer object in the database with the printer's name and IP address. This object doesn't become a usable direct printer until you assign a driver to it, but getting printers into the database is a necessary prerequisite to that driver assignment step.

To Import Network Printers​

Log into an appropriate workstation and open ScrewDrivers Printer Discovery. Click the Printers tab to see all the printers that have been imported into the ScrewDrivers database.

On the Printer Actions menu, click Import Printers to open the Import Printers dialog. This dialog lists all the network printers Printer Discovery has found based on your discovery settings. Just like with driver import, you'll see white checkboxes for printers that haven't been imported yet and gray checkboxes for printers already in the database. Hover over a gray checkbox to confirm the printer's been imported.

Be patient while the dialog populates with discovered printers. Network discovery can take a minute or two, especially on large subnets with many devices.

Select one or more printers to import, or click the checkbox next to "Printer Name" to select all available printers at once. Then click Add Printers.

An Importing Printers progress message appears. After the import completes, you'll return to the Printers tab. Your newly imported printers are now visible in the printer list.

Assigning Drivers to Printers​

At this point you've got drivers in the database and printers in the database, but they're not connected yet. Assigning a driver to a printer creates the direct printer object that you can then assign to users. You'll do all driver-to-printer assignments from the Assignments tab in Printer Discovery.

By default, the Assignments tab shows all network-discovered printers, whether they've been assigned a driver or not. Also by default, only 64-bit drivers are available for assignment. If you need to work with 32-bit drivers or change what printers are displayed, you'll adjust those settings on the Settings tab.

To Assign Drivers to Printers​

Open ScrewDrivers Printer Discovery and you'll see the Assignments tab by default. This tab shows every printer you've imported along with its currently assigned driver. If a printer doesn't have a driver assigned yet, you'll see a dropdown list where you can select one.

To assign a driver, find the printer in the list and click its driver dropdown. You'll see all the compatible drivers you've imported into the database. Select the appropriate driver for this printer.

You can assign drivers one at a time and click Save after each assignment, or you can assign drivers to multiple printers and then click Save once to commit all the assignments together. The Saving Assignments progress message shows you what's happening. After the save completes, the Assignments tab stays open with your assigned drivers visible.

Assigning Direct Printers to Owners​

Now that you've created direct printers by assigning drivers to printer objects, you're ready to assign those printers to users, groups, or workstations. You'll do this work in ScrewDrivers Administration, not in Printer Discovery. The assignment process follows the same pattern you'd use for any ScrewDrivers printer type.

You can assign direct printers in two ways: direct assignment to specific owners, or dynamic assignment based on network location.

To Directly Assign Direct Printers to Owners​

Direct assignment gives you precise control over which printers each user, group, or workstation receives. You'll specify one of three assignment types that control how the printer behaves for the owner.

Always show this printer (Admin Assigned) forces the printer to be built for every session. The owner can't remove this printer, though they can set it as their default printer. Use this assignment type for printers that users must always have available.

Show this printer by default, but allow users to remove it (User Assigned) requires the owner to use the ScrewDrivers Printers application to add this printer to their session. Once added, the owner can remove it and re-add it as needed. This gives users control over optional printers.

Don't show this printer by default, but allow users to add it (User Allowed) automatically builds the printer for every session, but lets the owner remove it if they don't want it. Once removed, the owner can't add it back—this is a one-way deletion.

In ScrewDrivers Administration, confirm the Objects pane is set to Printer objects. You might need to click the Printers icon on the Icon bar. Expand the Direct Printers folder if needed to see all available direct printers, or use the search function to find specific printers.

Select the direct printer you're assigning, then drag it to the appropriate owner in the Assignments pane. If the owner you need doesn't exist in your Active Directory, you can create it in ScrewDrivers Administration.

A message appears asking you how the printer should behave. "Always show this printer" is selected by default. Leave this selection or choose the appropriate option for your needs, then click OK.

The message closes and the printer is assigned to the selected owner. You'll see the assigned printer displayed beneath the owner entry in the Assignments pane, along with the Assignment Mode.

To Dynamically Assign Direct Printers​

Dynamic assignment lets you assign printers based on the owner's network location rather than specific user identity. You'll create Network owners that define location criteria using client hostname, IP address, or IP address range. When a user's workstation matches those criteria, they automatically receive the assigned printers.

The process for creating Network owners and assigning printers to them is covered in detail in the Managing Owners section of the Administration Console reference.

Using Printer Profiles with Direct Printers​

Before you assign direct printers to your users, you can apply printer profiles to set default printer settings. Profiles ensure that printers are always built with specific settings for paper size, duplex mode, print quality, and other options. Without profiles, users get whatever defaults the driver provides.

Printer profiles are covered in detail in the Printer Profiles and Discovery section of this guide.

Managing Drivers and Printers​

Once you've set up your Direct printing environment, you'll occasionally need to remove drivers, clear driver assignments, or delete printers from the ScrewDrivers database. These management tasks keep your environment clean and ensure you're not assigning outdated or incorrect configurations.

When you delete a print driver, clear a driver assignment, or delete a printer, any print queues that were created with that driver aren't immediately deleted. However, affected users will no longer see the printer after they start a new session by logging off and logging back on to their workstation.

To Remove Print Drivers from the Database​

Open ScrewDrivers Printer Discovery and go to the Drivers tab. You'll see all the drivers that have been imported into the ScrewDrivers database.

Select the driver or drivers you want to remove, or click the checkbox next to "Driver Name" to select all drivers at once. Then click Remove Drivers.

A confirmation message asks if you're sure you want to remove the selected drivers. Click Yes.

The message closes and a brief Removing Drivers progress message appears. After the drivers are removed from the database, the Drivers tab remains open and the removed drivers are no longer visible in the list.

To Clear a Driver from a Printer​

Clearing a driver from a printer breaks the driver-to-printer association without deleting the driver from the database. The Printer object remains in the database, but it's no longer a usable direct printer until you assign another driver to it.

Open ScrewDrivers Printer Discovery and go to the Assignments tab. Select the printer or printers whose driver assignments you want to clear. To select all printers at once, click the checkbox next to "Printer Name."

Click Clear Drivers. A confirmation message asks if you're sure you want to clear the drivers from the selected printers. Click Yes.

A brief Clearing Drivers progress message appears. After the assignments are cleared, the Assignments tab remains open. You'll see "None" displayed in the driver dropdown for each printer you cleared.

To Delete a Printer from the Database​

Deleting a printer removes the Printer object completely from the ScrewDrivers database. If the printer had a driver assigned, that assignment is also deleted, but the driver itself remains in the database.

Open ScrewDrivers Printer Discovery and go to the Printers tab. Select the printer or printers you want to delete, or click the checkbox next to "Printer Name" to select all printers at once.

On the Printer Actions menu, click Remove Printers. A confirmation message asks if you're sure you want to remove the selected printers. Click Yes.

A brief Removing Printers progress message appears. After the printers are removed from the database, the Printers tab remains open and the removed printers are no longer visible in the list.

Configuring Printer Discovery Settings​

The Settings tab in Printer Discovery controls what information you see on the other tabs and how network printer discovery operates. Your selections on this tab are "sticky"—they remain in effect after you log out and log back into Printer Discovery.

List View Options​

List View settings determine what information appears on the Assignments tab. By default, "Hide Win32 drivers" is selected and "Hide printers with drivers" is not selected.

If you clear "Hide Win32 drivers," all 32-bit drivers in the ScrewDrivers database become visible in an x86 dropdown list for each printer on the Assignments tab. This lets you assign 32-bit drivers to printers when you're supporting mixed-architecture environments.

If you select "Hide printers with drivers," any printer that already has a driver assigned (32-bit or 64-bit) won't appear on the Assignments tab. This helps you focus on printers that still need driver assignments. It's a useful filter when you're working through initial setup or cleaning up incomplete configurations.

Printer Query Type Options​

Printer Query Type controls which network discovery protocols Printer Discovery uses. By default, both Bonjour and IPP are enabled, so Discovery finds both Bonjour-compatible and IPP-compatible network printers on the same subnet as your workstation.

You can clear one or both options if you don't want to discover certain printer types. For example, if you only have IPP printers in your environment, you might clear the Bonjour option to speed up discovery.

IPP IP Addresses and Masks​

By default, ScrewDrivers Printer Discovery only searches the same subnet as your discovery workstation. If you need to discover IPP printers on other subnets, you can specify additional IP address ranges using subnet masks.

To add a subnet to the search, click "Add an Option." A blank entry appears for specifying an IP address and its mask. Enter the network address and mask using standard CIDR notation or dotted decimal format.

To delete an IPP mask, select the checkbox next to the option you're deleting. To select all masks at once, click the checkbox next to "IP Address." Then click Delete.

Each additional subnet you specify increases discovery time, so only add the subnets where you actually have printers you need to manage.