How to configure virtual printers on Windows hosts
Article ID: 324900
Updated On:
Products
Issue/Introduction
This article provides steps to configure Workstation Pro to support virtual printing on Windows hosts.
The Workstation Pro printer feature uses Thin Print technology to replicate the host system printer mapping in the virtual machine. When you enable the virtual machine printer, Workstation Pro configures a virtual serial port to communicate with the host printers.
Environment
- VMware Workstation Pro 14.x (Windows)
- VMware Workstation Pro 15.x (Windows)
- VMware Workstation Pro 16.x (Windows)
Resolution
On Windows hosts, you can configure Workstation Pro to support virtual printing on all printers configured on the host.
Prerequisites:
- You must have administrator privileges to enable or disable virtual printers.
- VMware Tools must be installed on the virtual machine to enable printing.
To enable virtual printing on a Windows host system:
- Click Edit > Preferences > Devices.
- Select Enable virtual printers.
To disable virtual printing on a Windows host system:
- Click Edit > Preferences > Devices.
- Deselect the Enable virtual printers.
Notes:
- Virtual printing is disabled by default on Windows hosts.
- For any setting to take effect, if any virtual printers are powered on when the Enable virtual printers option is selected, reboot or suspend the virtual machines and then resume it.
- Please be aware that this feature is only available for Workstation versions up until 17.0.2 and was removed with Workstation 17.5, see https://docs.vmware.com/en/VMware-Workstation-Pro/17.5/rn/vmware-workstation-175-pro-release-notes/index.html
Additional Information
For more information, please refer to the section Enabling a Virtual Machine to Print to Host Printers in the VMware Workstation Pro documentation.
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