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Sharing TCP/IP(Network) Printers Using Windows Causes Printer Duplication on the BarTender Licensing System

Caleb Riston

BarTender Content Team

  • Updated

Symptoms

Multiple PC's are printing to the same TCP/IP printer, also called a network printer, but it appears as multiple printers in BarTender's licensing system. This means that BarTender's printer count is higher than the actual number of printers.   

This can potentially cause Error 1401: You have exceeded your maximum number of licensed printers, despite the actual printer count being within the license.

While the solution presented in this article will show you how to configure a network capable printer to be addressed via its IP address, another recommended solution would be to setup a print server from which to share the printers.

Environment

BarTender 2016 or later

Using a network printer

Printer-based licensing

Diagnosis

Open Administration Console and click Printer Usage on the left-hand sidebar menu.

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If the network printer shows up twice in the Printers Used in Last 7 Days list, check whether one of the entries shows a computer name under Printer Location and a Universal Naming Convention (UNC) path under Printer Port, as seen in the top entry of the below screenshot.

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If this is the case, then it means that you have printer sharing turned on for that network printer on at least one of your computers.

Solution

After installing a printer on Windows, an option to share the printer with other computers on the network is available. This is useful when working with locally connected printers without networking. A simple, directly connected USB or Serial printer can be shared with many computers. This option should only be used for network-capable printers if they are shared via a print server.

When drivers are installed on the local machine and connected to the printer via IP address, sharing becomes redundant and unnecessary. The printer is already visible to all computers on the network.

Unnecessarily sharing printers connected to the network can cause conflicts. 

  1. For network printers used with BarTender, ensure this setting is turned off.

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  1. Deselect Share this printer in the printer driver properties for network printers.
  2. After doing so, the licensing system will see the printer with the correct network location and port. For network printers, this should simply be the printer's IP address, and the network port 9100 (unless otherwise configured).
  3. Shared printers are also identified by the people icon on the bottom left of their printer icon in the control panel. There is no quick way to identify shared printers in Windows Settings menus (the newer Windows 10 UI). See below the people icon for printers in Control Panel > Devices & Printers.

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Additional Resources

For more information on how printer based licensing works have a look at the below document:

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