Passthrough printers

When you want to create a Passthrough printer, you first use the Management Console to create a port that the Passthrough printer will use. When you create this port, you must select a port monitor that supports the attachment type for your printer. For example, if your printer is local or parallel-attached, select the Local Port; if your printer is TCP/IP attached, use a TCP/IP port monitor designed for that printer.

Note: For most TCP/IP attached printers, you can use the InfoPrint TCP/IP Network Port Monitor. However, to send PDF jobs to a printer that accepts the PDF data stream, you will have to use a different port monitor.

Then you use the InfoPrint Manager Administration GUI to create the Passthrough printer, specifying the port you just created.

To see a list of ports that are available on your system, complete these:

  1. Click the Windows Start button and select Settings → Printers.
  2. In the Printers window, select File → Server Properties, and in the Print Server Properties window, click Ports.

InfoPrint Manager automatically creates a Windows printer (named IPM-<actual destination name>) that uses the port you named, along with the Generic / Text Only printer driver. The Generic / Text Only driver is considered a passthrough driver because it does not change the data stream it receives. If you send PostScript to it, it sends the same PostScript to the printer.

Important: InfoPrint Manager manages this Windows printer for you; you should never modify it directly by opening it from the Start → Settings → Printers window.

Parent topic: Understanding printer drivers, port monitors, windows gateway printers, and passthrough printers