How to print to a shared printer, or archive to a shared folder

History

Since the days of Windows NT, people have been asking us how to get our Windows service product to print to shared printers. We would usually say, "change the user the service runs as to a domain user". That worked for printing but caused problems with updating the registry.

With RPM version 5.0 we switched out the registry for a database, which eliminates one class of problems, and incorporated the Microsoft recommended security model of using credentials. The Wikipedia says that Windows credentials "refers to the conventional username and password process when trying to access the Windows operating system."

RPM provides a way to enter credentials for any action that uses a resource (typically printer or folder) that might be shared in a Windows network. If you have valid credentials, RPM uses them. If you don't provide credentials, RPM attempts to use the printer or folder without credentials.

Typically, any local resources (on your actual computer) are available to the LocalSystem account that RPM uses (again, on Microsoft's recommendation). Any shared resources will need credentials. That's the convention, and we plan for it but we can't enforce it.

Shared printer

Add a text print action, or modify an existing text print action. (The same steps apply to raw print actions though the dialog name is different).

Notice the first field is labelled "Credentials" Click the Update button at the far right.

For convenience, RPM fills in your login name and the domain name. However, you can easily change those values. Also note that we provide a link to an article on our web site regarding the 'logon as batch job' privilege.

This action is now ready to print to any printer that the Windows credentials has permission to use. For the typical domain user, this would be any shared printer.

Shared folder

Add an archive action, or modify an existing archive action.

Notice the first field is labelled "Credentials" Click the Update button at the far right, and enter the credentials you want to use for this action, as with the text print example above.

Troubleshooting

1. If you print or archive, and nothing happens, the Jobs panel may show "Access denied" for the job. There's a good chance that adding credentials may solve the problem.
2. If you have credentials, and still get an error, the most likely reason is that the password is out of date.