With VMware Integrated Printing, Horizon Client for Windows, Mac, Linux, Chrome, and HTML Access users can print from a remote desktop to any local or network printer available on their client computer.
VMware Integrated Printing supports client printer redirection, location-based printing, and persistent print settings.
Client Printer Redirection
Client Printer Redirection enables users to print from a remote desktop to any local or network printer available on their client computer.
- Native Printer Driver (NPD). On the remote desktop, you must install the same printer driver as the driver for the client printer. NPD supports only v3 printers.
- Universal Printer Driver (UPD). You do not need to install any driver on the remote desktop.
By default, if you install the native driver on the Horizon Agent computer, NPD is used. Otherwise, UPD is used. You can select the printer driver type to use on a remote desktop by configuring a group policy setting.
To determine which printer driver type is used in a remote desktop, go to , right-click the virtual printer, and select Printer Properties from the context menu. On the General tab, if Model is VMware Universal EMF driver, UPD is used. Otherwise, NPD is used.
Location-Based Printing
- Remote desktops that are deployed on single-user machines, including Windows desktop and Windows Server machines.
- Published desktops and published applications that are deployed on RDS hosts, where the RDS hosts are virtual machines or physical machines.
To use location-based printing, you must install the correct printer drivers on the remote desktop, and define translation rules for each location-based printer in a LBP.xml file. These rules determine whether the printer is mapped to the remote desktop for a particular client system. When a user connects to a remote desktop, Horizon 7 compares the client system to the translation rules. If the client system meets all the translation rules, Horizon 7 maps the printer to the remote desktop during the user's session.
You can define translation rules based on the name of the user logged in to the remote desktop and the client system's IP address, host name, and MAC address. You can specify one translation rule, or a combination of several translation rules, for a specific printer. If you set any location-based printer to default in LBP.xml, it becomes the default printer on the remote desktop over the default printer on the client system.
For the rules to take effect, save LBP.xml to %ProgramData%\VMware on the remote desktop, and reconnect to the remote desktop or published application.
You can find a template of LBP.xml in VMware-Horizon-Extras-Bundle-x.x.x-yyyyyy.zip. See Horizon 7 ADMX Template Files.
You can disable location-based printing by configuring a group policy setting.
Nested Mode Redirection
In a nested mode setup, you can redirect local printers installed on the first and second layers to the remote desktop or published application on the third layer. Depending on the group policy setting and whether native print drivers are installed, redirected printers on the third layer might use UPD or NPD.
Static Printer Names
Redirected printers retain their names across sessions with the suffix vdi so that users do not need to remap the printer manually when they connect to another session. The static printer name is supported only on single-user machines, and is not supported on Windows Server with VDI mode.
Persistent Print Settings
Printer settings for redirected client printers, including NPD and UPD, or location-based printers, are retained after a user logs out or disconnects from the remote desktop. For example, a user might set a redirected client printer or location-based printer to use black and white mode. After the user logs out and logs in to the remote desktop again, the previous print setting is persistent.
Persistent print setting can be disabled by configuring a group policy setting.
Universal Printer Driver Print Settings
- Orientation: select portrait or landscape orientation of the paper. The staple and punch finishing options depend on the orientation of the paper.
- Print on Both Sides: select duplex (double-sided) printing for duplex-capable printers.
- Multiple Pages per Sheet: to print multiple document pages onto one physical page, select the number of pages to print onto one physical page, and select the layout of the pages.
- Paper source: select the tray that includes the type of paper size, such as letter or legal.
- Color: specify whether a color printer prints color or monochrome.
- DPI: specify the printer resolution.
- Print and Preview: select print directly or print preview:
- With print directly, you can select with opening preference dialog, which opens the client printer preferences before printing, so that you can change print settings.
- With print preview, the with opening preference dialog option is not available.
- Number of copies: specify the number of copies.
- Print as Image: print each page as an image.
- Compression: specify how the images in the printed document are to be compressed.
- Finishing: specify staple and punch options for specified printers.
By default, you cannot set the media type on a UPD printer. To change the media type on a UPD printer, enable the Disable Printer Property Persistence group policy setting and change the media type setting of the client printer to the desired setting. For information about the Disable Printer Property Persistence group policy setting, see VMware Integrated Printing Policy Settings.
Native Printer Driver Finishing Options
These redirected native printers support a finishing option when the specific hardware is connected to the printers.
| Printer | Finishing option | Requirements on the client-side local printer |
|---|---|---|
| FX ApeosPort-IV C5575 PCL 6 | staple, booklet | Verify that the finishing hardware device is connected to the printer. Update printer information with bi-directional communication in printer properties. Enable the finishing options in printer preferences. |
| Ricoh MP C5003 | staple, punch | Manually add the finisher according to its device setting to enable the finishing option, which is then available in printer preferences. |
Installing VMware Integrated Printing Redirection
VMware Integrated Printing is a custom setup option in the Horizon Agent installer. It is not selected by default. You must select VMware Integrated Printing to install it.
To install this feature on a virtual machine, see the Setting Up Virtual Desktops in Horizon 7 document. To install this feature on an RDS host, see the Setting Up Published Desktops and Applications in Horizon 7 document.
To set printing preferences on a Windows client, see the VMware Horizon Client for Windows Installation and Setup Guide document.
Configuring VMware Integrated Printing Group Policy Settings
To customize VMware Integrated Printing, including disabling location-based printing, disabling print setting persistence, selecting the printer driver for a redirected client printer, and disabling printing to non-desktop clients, use the group policy settings in the VMware Integrated Printing ADMX template file (printerRedirection.admx). See VMware Integrated Printing Policy Settings.
