Azure Universal Print drivers

[RickWijn]

Hi all,

I've configured the Universal Print in Azure via thise step-by-step configuration:
https://techcommunity.microsoft.com/t5/itops-talk-blog/step-by-step-configure-and-manage-microsoft-u... 

It works only with the Universal Print Class Driver instead of the RICOH PCL6 UniveralDriver V4.27. I thought it did work before with the Ricoh driver but I'm not sure now. When I manually change the driver from Universal Print Class Driver to RICOH PCL6 UniveralDriver V4.27 and try to print a document, I get an error in Windows. 

With the Universal Print Class Driver we have less options for printing.

Is anyone familiair with this and does anyone know how this could be solved?

Many thanks.

Best regards,

Rick

[#2]

Hi Rick

I've had this same issue with Ricoh devices too and couldn't work out how to get the proper drivers in use rather than the universal driver, so I contacted our account manager - we have a load of Ricoh devices in my organisation. At first I was given the advice of updating the driver on the Print Connector to the latest version of the drivers, which I'm going to be honest really didn't make sense but I humoured them. Afterwards I got another call back from them telling me that what I wanted to achieve wouldn't be possible!

The attitude that I was given was that this isn't a Ricoh problem and it's a Microsoft problem to solve, which I can kind of understand to a certain degree but of course that still leaves people like us wondering how we go about providing all the features of a printer\MFD to users if we are to carry on using universal print. Thankfully the biggest issue that my users were complaining about was hold\PIN printing which it looks like Microsoft are implementing for universal print in Windows 11 and and the 21H2 release for Windows 10. However it looks like this will be dependant on the device having firmware installed that will be able to support it too.

At this stage though I'm not sure that there's any immediate answer to being able to use the proper manufacturer drivers in conjunction with universal print, which to be honest is a little bit rubbish but fingers crossed this will be something that will be looked at and implemented, otherwise I feel there really are questions about whether or not it is a viable feature in the long run.

Kis

[#3]

Thanks for your reply. You would expect that this should work anyway right?

Rick

[#4]

@RickWijn Frankly yes but then that would just be too convenient for us as admins! ha ha

Anyway, I am playing around with a few things and if you like I can post back here if I manage to make any meaningful progress that might be of any help to you.

[#5]

@kismat Yes, that would be great! Let's stay in touch 🙂

[#6]

@RickWijn / @kismat I understand your concerns here. However, Universal Print and traditional print drivers work on different technologies. Universal Print prints using PWG's standard IPP protocol eliminating the need for drivers. Printer manufacturers are developing firmwares that work with Universal Print using the IPP protocol.

Universal Print connector is a solution that tries to fill-in the gap until all printers can support Universal Print. It does the translation of driver model to IPP and this translation may vary depending on the quality of driver. I explained this in reply to another post - https://techcommunity.microsoft.com/t5/universal-print-discussions/universal-print-konica-minolta-li....

For Ricoh specifically, we have seen options getting dropped. Please reach out to Microsoft Support as some customizations may be able to help you.

For Universal Print printers, we do not recommend changing print drivers of user devices. Our goal is to get rid of drivers on user devices completely :).

[#7]

Hi @Saurabh_Bansal 

Thank you very much for posting in to this thread. I'm very interested in this comment you made:

'For Ricoh specifically, we have seen options getting dropped.'

I, and I'm sure @RickWijn also, would really appreciate it if you wouldn't mind elaborating on this please? The reason I ask is that from what I can see the last thing that Ricoh put out officially about support for Universal Print was this post in February- Ricoh is adding support for Universal Print to MFP devices. They have been pretty silent since then!

As things stand for me I have been playing around with Windows 11 to try and see if one particular function would be added (PIN printing) but this was negative. I am about to look to getting a few devices firmware updated to see if this will resolve the issue however if there is a possibility that this won't then I don't want to waste time and would rather be looking at other alternatives. I do appreciate your advice of contacting Microsoft Support and will keep this as an option in the back pocket in case all else fails as I would rather be able to get what I see as basic features working properly without the need for custom configurations for our environment.

Thanks in advance and I await your reply.

Kismat

[#8]

@kismat - the article you included is for Ricoh adding "direct" support for Universal Print in their printers. They do not mention about their existing drivers and how it works with Universal Print connector.

As I mentioned earlier, you may reach out to Microsoft Support - they might be able to customize some configurations to help workaround the custom declarations in the print driver.

PIN printing will be available for Universal Print ready printers only - and this too after printer manufacturers have announced support :). Unfortunately, it will not be available for printers behind connector at this point of time.

We recommend customers to reach out to printer OEMs directly as well - this will help them understand the customer demand.

Thanks,
Saurabh

[#9]

Thanks for your replies Kismat and Saurabh_Bansal!

Are you also using the FollowMe utility? We have several Ricoh Printers and we can get our prints with our employee badge and it doesn't matter which printer you want to use. The employees only see 1 printer and they can get their prints on every printer.

[#10]

@RickWijn Pull Print is one of top asks. You can vote here - https://techcommunity.microsoft.com/t5/universal-print-feature-requests/secure-and-follow-me-printin...

Its already enabled via ecosystem partners and are considering how it can be more integrated within Universal Print.

[#11]

@Saurabh_Bansal 

we have the same issue here in two of our schools but the issue is that we cannot select stapling and other finishing options of the devices we have purchased as despite manufacturers issuing new drivers, they do not get presented to the clients through the Universal print cloud Share.

[#12]

@lee_collins - have you tried using one of the Ricoh's app on the printer?

• myPrint app: Ricoh myPrint | Ricoh Europe (ricoh-europe.com)
• App for Universal Print: https://download.mlp.ricoh.com/appmarket/?region=EU#/app,257000,
  • App for Universal Print documentation: https://support.ricoh.com/bb_v1oi/pub_e/oi/0001090/0001090447/VD0ER0112_02/D0ER0112A.pdf
• PrintUP app: PrintUP_Registration_and_Configuration_Guide.pdf (ricoh-usa.com)

You can also navigate through this thread for more information - Ricoh is adding support for Universal Print to MFP devices - Microsoft Community Hub