Printer Installation

PTS prints to label printers to produce prescription barcodes and tickets and other documents. As PTS is web based software there are additional steps and considerations when connecting the application to a label printer.

Network Printing

Network printing is by far the most popular way of setting up label printing in PTS.

Pros of network printing

• Less interaction is required by the pharmacist for each print (compared to Browser Printing) as there is no mandatory print preview via the web browser.
• Can print to any printer from any PC.

Cons of network printing

• Network printing is setup per PC/printer, so has to be repeated for each printer, and has to be redone if the printer is replaced.
• Requires remote admin access to the PTS application server to setup and maintain.
• Vulnerable to server and network congestion.
• Any problems or interruptions usually occur on the server, meaning the printer can go down without warning and can't be fixed without tracking down a server admin.

Installation instructions

Installing the printer on the PC and sharing it

This is unnecessary if using a TCP/IP printer.

1. Download the “Seagull Drivers for Zebra Printers” file from the Downloads & Updates section at tmsinsight.com. Run it on the PC you will connect your printer to but don’t connect the printer just yet.
2. During installation leave the install path as C:\Seagull\ and untick the “run driver wizard” and the “read installation instructions” options then click finish.
3. Connect your printer via USB. When Windows detects the printer it will begin the installation wizard which will work differently depending on your version of Windows. You should have the opportunity to specify a source directory for your drivers, set this to C:\Seagull\ and complete the installation.
4. Find the printer in Control Panel > Devices and Printers, right click it and go to Printer Properties. Verify that it can print a test page.
5. Under the General tab, click Preferences and then create a new label size for PTS (normally 76mm by 38mm). Make sure you select the new label size and click OK.
6. Go to the Advanced tab, click Printing Defaults and then choose the new label size again if it appears in the list. If not, create it anew.
7. Go to the Ports tab and untick Bidirectional Support.
8. Next go to the Sharing tab and share the printer.

Mapping the printer onto the PTS server

1. Remote Desktop into the PTS web server and then run the Seagull Drivers on there. Again, untick the “run driver wizard” and the “read installation instructions” options then click finish.
2. 1. Windows Server 2016 and newer
      Open Print Management, expand Print Servers, then expand the server menu, right-click Printers and then choose Add a Printer. Choose Add a Local Printer, then choose Create a New Port and select Local Port. When it asks you to give the port a name, enter the path to the shared printer e.g. \\ComputerName\ShareName.
   2. Windows Server 2012 and older
      Open Devices and Printers and then choose Add a Printer. Choose Add a Local Printer, then choose Create a New Port and select Local Port. When it asks you to give the port a name, enter the path to the shared printer e.g. \\ComputerName\ShareName.
   3. TCP/IP Printers
      Open Devices and Printers and then choose Add a Printer. Choose Add a Printer using TCP/IP address or hostname, then fill in the details for the remote printer.
3. Click OK and then Next and then select the correct printer model if prompted. If your model doesn’t appear in the list, choose Have Disk and then select the drivers you unpacked to C:\Seagull. Select your printer and click Next. You will be asked to enter a name for the printer, give it a short but descriptive name with no spaces, e.g. BookingIn. Do not set it as your default printer and do not share this instance of the printer. Click Next and then click Finish. Verify you can print a test page.
4. Repeat the page and label size settings on this printer (see previous section).
5. Log in to PTS as an administrator. Go to Setup > Printers > [open Actions Menu] > New Printer. Choose the relevant dispensary. In the Name on Server field enter the name you gave the printer in step 3. See the Printers page for more details.
6. Test the printer with a PTS label. Reprinting an Activity barcode is an easy way of doing this.
7. Only once the printer is confirmed working, consider installing the "Print Queue Monitor Service" from the Downloads & Updates section at tmsinsight.com. This automatically deletes errored documents from the spooler and prevents the printer from randomly stopping, but isn't designed to address any actual printer issues.

Troubleshooting

1. I cannot print a test page from the client PC.
   The printer is not correctly installed. Delete the printer and try again, making sure to select the correct printer model when given the choice. If you cannot get this to work please consult with your IT department; general printer issues are outside the scope of this document.
2. During installation on the server I get a “bad username/password” or similar "access denied" error.
   The user account you’re currently logged into the server with does not have permission to install a printer on the server. Note that if you are logged in as a local admin you may need to switch to a domain admin account to activate the appropriate group policy.
3. The server cannot find the shared printer even though I’m certain I’ve typed it correctly.
   Check that Windows Explorer can find the PC via "\\PCName\" and that the shared printer is listed in there. If not, you have fundamental networking issues that need to be resolved first. You may have more success using the client PC’s IP address instead of its name, e.g. \\192.168.2.7\Name, but this won’t work with dynamic IP addresses.
4. I can print test pages from both the client and server PCs but nothing happens when I print from PTS.
   Verify that you entered the Name on Server value correctly in Setup > Printers.
5. Test pages are hitting the print spooler but get stuck in an "Error - Printing" state.
   When this starts happening always bear in mind that an errored document in the spooler will prevent any further documents from printing until it is deleted. You'll need to get into the routine of deleting the document at every step while troubleshooting this problem. If this is happening with test pages this indicates a networking issue of some kind. Ensure the printer is still online, is still shared, the PC is turned on and that the server and the PC can see each other. Searching for the client PC in an Explorer window on the server is a good way to test the network and that the printer is accessible.
6. The print spooler receives the PTS label but they get stuck in an "Error - Printing" state.
   When the problem is affecting PTS documents exclusively this is usually a permissions issue. Make sure that “Everyone” has permission to print, manage the printer and manage documents on the printer on both the server and the client (you can do this under the Security tab). Again note that you must delete the previous errored document from the spooler before trying again. We're also finding that in response to recent printer based malware (e.g. Print Nightmare), Trusts sometimes disable printing except for specific domain accounts. To remedy this the PTS service account should either be added to the "RDP users" group, or the "access this computer from the network" policy for the printer PC. A TCP/IP printer setup would sidestep a lot of permissions issues like this.
7. We haven't updated PTS for a while and are not using a service account.
   IT should be able to create a domain service account for PTS. If they could do this, please next raise a support ticket at tmsinsight.com and we will reconfigure PTS to use the new service account.
8. The document prints but it prints off-centre or prints over several labels.
   Ensure that you input the page and label size settings on both the client and the server, in both places in the printer driver. Note that makes a total of four places where you specify the label sizes for each printer – please understand that we don’t have any control over this odd procedure.
9. During testing the Print button doesn’t seem to respond or takes a very long time to react.
   Check that Bidirectional Support is turned off on both the server and client PCs. You do not lose anything noteworthy by disabling this setting.
10. Since installing the printer, booking in prescriptions takes a lot longer.
    Again, check that Bidirectional Support is turned off on both the server and client PCs.
11. 

    The "Disable network features" dialog. Simply click Disable.
    I’ve turned off Bidirectional Support on both the client and the server yet it still seems to print rather slowly.
    Make sure you have used the Seagull Drivers for Zebra Printers from the Downloads & Updates section at tmsinsight.com on both the client and the server, as any sort of mismatch between two drivers can result in slow printing. We do not generally recommend the first-party Zebra drivers for any reason. You could also try connecting to the shared printer by the host’s IP address as opposed to its name (see troubleshooting point 3). If you cannot resolve this to your satisfaction, consider Browser Printing.
12. While configuring the printer on the server I’m getting an extremely slow response from the property pages and then I’m eventually prompted to disable network features. What is this?
    This is an extremely common error that can have weird consequences if not dealt with properly, including being unable to access the printer properties page to finish configuring the printer. Simply click Disable, and then ensure that Bidirectional Support is turned off in Printer Properties > Ports. This is an essential step. This error is actually a good indicator that the server has found and is connected to the printer.

Browser Printing

Browser printing uses the web browser to produce the document, in a similar way to how a "normal" web page is printed such as via File > Print.

Pros of browser printing

• Immune to performance, permissions, and myriad other configuration issues that can affect networked printing.
• Doesn't stop working if the printer is moved or replaced. As long as a printer is connected to the PC, this will be able to print to it.
• Less maintenance.

Cons of browser printing

• Requires more user interaction with each print. The web browser will, by design, display a print preview that the user has to confirm. This means a minimum of one extra keystroke or mouse click with each print and that assumes the printer is set as the Windows default. It's impossible to change this behaviour as far as we know; it's a fundamental security feature of every web browser.
• Older web browsers may not render the document properly, but support is fairly high amongst newer web browsers.
• The web browser will probably try to add inappropriate margins, headers and footers to the label. This can be reconfigured (described below) but is a consideration.

Installation instructions

1. If the label printer you intend to use is already connected to the PC and working, skip to step 5. Otherwise, download the “Seagull Drivers for Zebra Printers” file from the Downloads & Updates section at tmsinsight.com. Run it on the PC you will connect your printer to but don’t connect the printer just yet.
2. During installation leave the install path as C:\Seagull\ and untick the “run driver wizard” and the “read installation instructions” options then click finish.
3. Connect your printer via USB. When Windows detects the printer it will begin the installation wizard which will work differently depending on your version of Windows. You should have the opportunity to specify a source directory for your drivers, set this to C:\Seagull\ and complete the installation.
4. 

   How to find page setup in Internet Explorer.
   Find the printer in Control Panel > Devices and Printers, right click it and go to Printer Properties. Verify that it can print a test page.
5. Under the General tab, click Preferences and then create a new label size for PTS (normally 76mm by 38mm). Make sure you select the new label size and click OK.
6. Go to the Advanced tab, click Printing Defaults and then choose the new label size again if it appears in the list. If not, create it anew.
7. Later versions of PTS have this step implemented out-of-the-box. Log in to PTS as an administrator. Go to Setup > Printers > [open Actions Menu] > New Printer. Choose the relevant dispensaries (selecting all of them may be appropriate). In the Name on Server field enter "LOCAL" and then click Save. In the next popup, enter "Browser Printing" as the Printer's name. See the Printers page for more details.
8. Test the printer with a PTS label. Reprinting an Activity barcode is an easy way of doing this.
9. If you are accustomed to Network Printing, notice that you now see an additional print preview dialog where you have to select the physical printer and click OK. This will happen with every print job and is a characteristic of browser printing. You could optionally speed this process up by designating the label printer as the default printer in Windows, and from then on use the enter key instead of the OK button.
10. If the label is printed with unwanted information (e.g. the URL, or “Page 1/1” in the footer), or an excessive margin, you should be able to modify your web browser settings so that it doesn’t do that.
    • In Internet Explorer you can find these options in Settings > Print > Page Setup. Consider setting all of the header and footer options to “empty”, and adjust the margin sizes as appropriate.
    • In Chrome, they're in File > Print. Expand "More Settings". Set margins to "None", and untick "Headers and Footers".

Frequently Asked Questions

Why does Network Printing involve so much troubleshooting?

Ultimately all you are doing is sharing a printer on one PC and then mapping to the shared printer from another PC (the PTS server). The associated troubleshooting is simply typical of printer sharing in a complicated Windows network. TCP/IP printers are generally more stable, and browser printing avoids printing over the network altogether. If network printing causes you too much grief, switch to browser printing to have PTS operate the printer locally like any other software.

Can I use "Printers and Scanners" instead of Control Panel in Windows 10 and up?

You can, but it's often a chore to find the various necessary settings and options, plus it tries to get you to use the automatic tools first, which don't work. You will ultimately end up using the classic Control Panel controls anyway.

What’s the difference between Browser Printing and Network Printing?

Browser Printing uses the client’s web browser to send a print job to a connected printer via a print dialog box, like printing any other document from the web or other locally installed software. Network Printing sends a print document over the network from the PTS web server to the printer eliminating the need for the print dialog. Browser Printing is easy to setup and needs less maintenance, but requires at the very least one additional keystroke to confirm the print job in the dialog box, and may not work in all web browsers. Network Printing doesn’t require a print dialog box, but can sometimes be difficult to setup and maintain and is occasionally slower depending on network and server conditions.

If network printing is causing you ongoing issues, don't lose sight of the fact that it only saves users one or two keystrokes.

With Network Printing, shouldn’t it be enough to simply provide the fully qualified path to the printer in PTS?

Strictly speaking this is true, and PTS will indeed try to operate the printer this way if you just add the path to the Name on Server field so you are well within reason to try this out. That being said we see a very low success rate when the printer is not mapped first, and even if it works, it will more than likely print very slowly. Most importantly if printing does fail you will have little or no feedback as to why, making troubleshooting difficult.

Despite following the advice above our printer still prints very slowly, but it works fine from other applications.

The reason it seems only PTS may be affected by slow printing is that it’s a good bet that PTS is the only software in use that prints across your network from a web server to a label printer. If the printer will not print satisfactorily over the network, you should switch to Browser Printing.

Why must I use Print Management on Windows Server 2016 and newer?

There seems to be an issue in the new Windows 10-based Windows Server operating systems (2016+) where mapping printers in Control Panel never completes correctly and the printer remains in the Unspecified section, where it cannot be configured nor used. The Print Management app does not seem to have the same issue. You can find the Print Management app by searching for it, in administrative tools, or by running “printmanagement.msc” from a command window.

UPDATE: This issue seems to have been addressed in a Windows Update at some point, and Control Panel appears to be working again. The information on this page will remain the same for now to ensure the instructions have the broadest compatibility.

What is bi-directional support and why does it cause so many problems?

It cannot be overstated how many reported issues boil down to this part of the setup being skipped.

Bi-directional support refers to two computers communicating with each other about the various properties of a shared printer, such as ink and paper stock levels, so a remote user can be informed about what's going on with the printer. It's completely unnecessary for our purposes as the remote computer is the PTS server, which nobody will be monitoring for this sort of thing, and crucially there seems to be a huge performance penalty with the setting turned on.

We do not yet know why our setup is so vulnerable to this setting. It may be related to latency due to the client/server nature of PTS, but the effects are perhaps too consistent and extreme for this to be the only explanation. It's possible that Zebra label printers are simply not well designed in this regard.

The impact can be so massive that it's sometimes not even obviously related to printers. The entire server is affected, so to other users who happen to be logged in at the time there is no obvious correlation between the poor performance and the printing of a label. It's unfortunate that the default Windows behaviour is to turn the setting on even on a server OS, but again it can be overcome by turning it off manually under the Ports tab.