Functional redirection of network printers

With NoTouch OS running on NComputing RX-HDX devices not only local USB printers can be redirected to Citrix session, but also network printers. Network printers supporting the HP JetDirect (sometimes referred to as ‘RAW print servers’, ‘TCP 9100 print servers’, or print servers supporting the AppSocket protocol) can be redirected in similar way as local USB printers.

To enable functional redirection of network printers, configure following system-wide NoTouch settings:

Note: RX-HDX device must be rebooted for the above changes to take effect.

Besides enabling the CUPS daemon the network printer must be added to device configuration. This must be accomplished under ‘Drives/Printers > Printers’. After adding a new printer, the following printer-specific NoTouch settings must be configured:

The functional redirection of local printers (network printers are considered to be local too) is enabled by default. It can be explicitly enabled in NoTouch OS or NoTouch Center under connection’s Citrix Workspace App settings:

Citrix Policy settings for functional redirection of network printers:

As Citrix Universal Print Driver cannot be used with the RX-HDX devices the printer model specific drivers must be installed on all Citrix servers (VDA machines) where the RX-HDX devices will start the sessions. The list of Windows printer drivers installed on Citrix server (VDA machine) can be obtained with following command:

wmic /NameSpace:\\Root\CIMV2 path Win32_PrinterDriver GET Name

The command output will be a list of installed printer drivers with comma-separated driver properties in form of:

Driver_name,driver_class,driver_architecture

For functional redirection of client printers, the class 3 drivers for Windows x64 architecture (assuming the VDA OS is 64-bit) should be selected. Class 4 drivers are known to cause issues with functional redirection of client printers.

Example

The ‘wmic’ command provided following output:

C:\>wmic /NameSpace:\\Root\CIMV2 path Win32_PrinterDriver GET Name

Name

HP Color LaserJet CM1312 MFP PCL6 Class Driver,4,Windows x64

Canon Inkjet iP100 series,4,Windows x64

Microsoft XPS Document Writer v4,4,Windows x64

HP Deskjet 5520 series,3,Windows x64

Generic / Text Only,3,Windows x64

Canon D400-450 UFRII LT XPS,3,Windows x64

One of the listed printer drivers is ‘HP Deskjet 5520 series’, which is a class 3, 64-bit Windows printer driver. If a network printer using this driver should be redirected from the RX-HDX client device to Citrix session, then this driver name should be used literally as the value of the ‘Windows printer driver name’ NoTouch Setting:

With the above configuration Citrix Workspace App will report to Citrix session the presence of the local ‘HP_DJ5520_network’ printer and request the Citrix server (the VDA machine) to use the ‘HP Deskjet 5520 series’ Windows printer driver for the printer created in the session. The RX-HDX client device will also create a local printer with the name ‘HP_DJ5520_network’ and communicate with it using the JetDirect protocol over the specified IP address and TCP port 9100. This will result with the printer being redirected to the Citrix session: