Server for printers in a BYOD setup Environment where personal devices are used alongside company equipment
Server for printers in a BYOD setup Environment where personal devices are used alongside company equipment
Hello, my role involves supplying printers to various temporary clients such as production offices and press centers. This means most users bring their own devices. Traditionally, we’ve delivered just the printer along with a USB flash drive containing the drivers for Windows and MacOS. This approach has added some complexity because not everyone is comfortable installing printers on their own devices, and driver installation isn’t always straightforward. For larger shipments, we’ve had to assign staff to assist users, which consumes a lot of time—especially given the potential range of 100 to 1,000 users. Recently, we’re exploring printer servers as a solution. Ideally, a user would arrive, receive a simple instruction to install a printer, and then connect to a print server that runs the actual driver for the printer. This server would handle the printing process directly. I’m uncertain if this is feasible, but it seems like the ultimate goal. We’ve tried CUPS a bit, but I’m not sure it can act as a “printer relay” for both Windows and MacOS. What are your thoughts? Is there another method that could be more effective or easier to implement? (We’ve discussed this with our printer supplier, who uses a Windows+Linux server setup, but I haven’t received the detailed specifications yet.)
I rely on a basic RPi print server in my office (using CUPS). It functions smoothly on MacOS and Linux, though Windows users require separate drivers. There appear to be methods to automatically install Windows drivers via Samba, but I haven’t tried it before. If you manage the printer setup on the server, this could be a viable option.
As long as not every device is in the same domain, full control isn't achievable. What I'd do is ensure all machines can print on the local network. I'd set up a HP-wide interface with EWS, and Windows would recognize it locally to install drivers and apps automatically.