Universal Print - Konica Minolta Limited Printing Preferences

[JoshEberly]

In the testing phase of setting up universal print at my organization I noticed a lot of the printing preferences features are missing. When using Universal Print Class Driver I am limited to Layout settings and Paper/Quality. Some of my users need access to more than these preferences. The main thing missing that is needed is the Secure Print feature. If I change the driver to the Konica driver, the feature show up but, the Universal Print Driver errors out. Has anyone run into this on the Konica printers? I will list the printer models we have below as well as attach pictures of what I am talking about. 

Bizhub C308, C458, 458e, 224e

[#2]

@JoshEberly 

Hi,

in my organization we use Universal Drivers from Konica for a long time and we have access to the options you need.  We still use a version which is slightly outdated (3.2 or 3.3) but still functioning perfectly.

Are you talking about Microsoft Universal Driver or Konica ?

We use Bizhub C554 and C558.

[#3]

@Serge Malchair Hey, I'm talking about Microsoft Universal Driver. When adding the printers to the connector I used the basic Konica drivers. Are you saying I need to use Konica Universal Print drivers for Microsoft Universal print or are we talking about two different things?

[#4]

@JoshEberly ,

We are talking about different things, you're right.  I still have to try Microsoft Universal Driver.

[#5]

This question almost is exactly the same as mine - and you posted this less than a month ago. I'm new to the Universal Print Connector service. My users have M365 BP licenses - which includes Universal Print. Our endpoints have all been migrated to Azure AD. No hybrid. So I installed the connector on our legacy AD print server - since it had all of the printers on it anyway with the appropriate drivers - including a legacy Konica C654e with double sided printing, hole punching, stapling - the works. It's old - but it works fine. I shared out the printer via Azure to just IT - and installed the printer on my laptop. What I see is a driver that's little more than an HP LJ4. So what is the baked in solution? Is there one? The UPD would be fine for small printers connected to the network - but the "big iron" needs a full featured driver. What's the vision or best practice for that? It's very confusing and unclear.

[#6]

@AdamK_DC / @JoshEberly - For best experience, printers need to work directly with Universal Print using the IPP standard protocol. Konica Minolta has announces firmware updates and printers that do so - https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/universal-print/fundamentals/universal-print-partner-integrations#k....

If you use a Konica Minolta Universal Print ready printer, then you DO NOT need a connector.

If you are using a connector, then what options show-up really depends on the quality of print driver being used on connector. Universal Print uses the Windows Print schema to identify attributes - however, some drivers use their own schema which can be very hard to interpret. For more details on how this is done, refer to the documentation. You may want to your printer OEM on whether they recommend a particular driver to be used on connector.

There might be some customizations possible - however, you will have to work with Microsoft Support.

Regarding Secure printing - are you using PIN? For printers that work on protocols (instead of drivers), Windows added support for PIN printing in Windows 11. Universal Print printers work on protocols as well and PIN printing is supported provided the printer OEM has enabled the PIN option for their Universal Print ready printers.

[#7]

Thanks for your reply. In my case, the printer is many years old - and thus is not Universal Print Ready and must be accessed via a connector. The Konica print drivers on our print server has bidirectional communications with the printer - and is automatically configured. The Microsoft UPD doesn't pick up any of the features of the printer - and thus is not a practical solution at this time.

It would appear that this is a rather young solution that hasn't matured yet. Old printers continue to work for years and years. Companies aren't likely to replace them just to get models that speak with Azure. IMHO.

[#8]

Hi
I have the exactly same issue with Konica Printers (759e), the stappling feature is missing and this is really annoying. Did you find a solution ? I installed latest konica drivers but no changes.

[#9]

@bouyaka The solution was to abandon the technology and use Printix instead.  

https://printix.net/

[#10]

OK thanks

[#11 · Accepted solution]

It actually works fine now, Konica just released some new drivers last week.

[#12]

Thanks @bouyaka. We appreciate your persistence with the solution and making it work.

Universal Print is trying to shift industry to "driverless" printing and use PWG's IPP standard. We understand there are printers that are not yet ready. We are trying our best to support them via connector. Sometimes drivers provide information in a very customized way that may not be understood by connector. Our partners are working hard to make it work with their drivers :).

Hopefully you can help others in the community as you get experienced with using Universal Print :)

[#13]

@bouyaka - Konica Minolta recently launched an app that can be installed on the printer and this will altogether remove the need for connector (and issues with driver on the connector). You may want to give it a try if your printer supports it.

Konica Minolta Launches MarketPlace Universal Print App

[#14]

Spoiler

Spoiler

What driver and version now works?

[#15]

If you are using the Konica Minolta app on the printer then you do not need Microsoft's connector and there is no need for the driver!

[#16]

Hello Saurabh, Based on your experience: Konica Minolta app used on the Printer > onboarded to tenant Universal Print do you have working experience with stapler unit? I know that basic printing functions, like mono / color or resolution can be configured, but extras, like stapler / punching unit is still not confirmed in Universal Print.
Prior thanks, if you can share some.

[#17]

@apali1976 - its up to the OEM to implement those specific options. From a platform standpoint, Universal Print supports it. I recommend reaching out to Konica Minolta and checking with them if they have a more recent version of app to support all options.

[#18]

@Saurabh_Bansal I did it already, where they only can confirm the basic function, as the extras may work - they point to the Microsoft Universal Print service capabilities.

I really like the "standard soultion" and - if the OEM implement.

I asked them to demonstrate this feature to me before ordering; the only issue is that they do not have the extras installed in the demo unit in their lab :(

Anyway, I'll wait till others may report similar experience.

Thank you for your comment.