Mass deployment of the OL Connect Send Printer Driver

The OL Connect Send Printer Driver is intended to be installed on computers from which print jobs shall be sent to the respective Workflow server. Often such computers are part of specific domains on which end users are not allowed to install software on their own. Such users may not have the knowledge to install printers, and often dedicated restrictions and policies have to be taken into account.

By installing the OL Connect Send Printer Driver in a silent, preconfigured mode it is possible to distribute the setup to multiple end user machines without the need to visit these machines in person or via remote desktop. This topic explains how to do that.

Silent setup

To enable a mass deployment of OL Connect Send Printers to client machines, or whenever a non-GUI installation is required, run the installer in silent mode.

For unattended deployment, two files are required side by side in a dedicated folder:

  • The Setup msi file (e.g. OLCS_Printer_Driver_Certified_2.1.3_Setup.msi)

  • An OLCSClient.ini file with the desired settings; see Configuration file content.

Note: Do not run the installer from the Windows TEMP folder.

As this folder is known as a location from which malicious applications might try to install themselves, it is under intense surveillance of the Windows' protection systems, including SmartScreen. This might prevent the installation.

Nevertheless, OL Connect Send Printer Driver is secure and it is Microsoft Certified, so it is guaranteed to be non-intrusive.

The deployment tool of your choice then only needs to run the Silent Setup tool and check its exit code.

The command to run the tool manually is:

msiexec.exe /i OLCS_Printer_Driver_Certified_2.1.3_Setup.msi /qn

Note: The user account used to run the Silent Setup tool needs to have administrator rights for the installation of a printer, a printer port, a printer driver etc. Otherwise the installation will fail silently, but the respective log entries will be created (see Installation errors).

Configuration file content

The silent installation mode will only work with a valid configuration file. The name of the file must be OLCSClient.ini and it must be located in the same folder as the installer, or downloaded during the Installation process. The content of the file must follow the rules for standard Windows .ini files (see: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/INI_file). If the .ini file is malformed, the installation will be terminated with an error.

Any omitted setting will be replaced by the respective built-in default value (see the table below), except for the printer name. Without a printer name setting, the silent installation will fail with an error.

Note: As of OLCS version 1.6.6 (released in conjunction with OL Connect 2020.1), this configuration file can also be used as presets file in an interactive installation (see Starting the installation).

As of OLCS version 1.7.0 (released in conjunction with OL Connect 2020.2) the settings in the configuration file can be locked (using the new LockSettings option), so that they cannot be updated in an interactive installation.

The configuration file can contain the following values:

Note: Some default values were changed in OLCS version 1.7.0, and new LockSettings option added.

Section

Description

Default

[Setup]

Start with this section identifier. It must be the first entry and it is mandatory.

 

AcceptAllCertificates

Defines if the printer will accept any (1) or only valid officially signed certificates (0).

0

APIKey

The API key, if provided by your company or organization.

 

HostName

The address for print job submission.

localhost

HostNameInteraction

The address for browser interaction.

value of HostName

Interaction

Defines if the printer shall communicate with the Workflow server in interactive (setting = 1) or non-interactive (0) mode. Please be aware that interaction also relies on the presence of a license.

1

JobInteraction

Name of the HTTP action in Workflow for the browser interaction process.

olcs_interaction

JobSubmission

Name of the HTTP action in Workflow for the initial print job submission process.

olcs_transfer

LockSettings

Choices are LockSettings 1 (for "on") or 0 (for "off")

If LockSettings=0

  • The user will be allowed to adjust the settings in the interactive installation Wizard pages.

If LockSettings=1

  • The installer will skip the Communication settings page.

  • If there is an API key in the preset file, the installer will skip the Authorization page.

  • A Summary page with a Test connection button will be displayed.

    If the preset file contains the flag LockSettings=1, but doesn't contain all the settings required for the Communication page, any absent settings will be set to their defaults.

 

LogLevel

Log level. Valid values are DEBUG, INFO, WARN and ERROR. For additional information about the log level, see Logging.

WARN

Port

The port number for print job submission.

Note: The port for communications with Workflow can be changed in the Workflow preferences under Plugin > HTTP Server Input 1 > Protocol options > Port.

443

PortInteraction

The port number for browser interaction.

value of Port

PrinterName

Name for the printer to create and configure.
If a printer with that name already exists, the installer will add an additional numbered printer of that name.
For example: "OL Connect Send Printer #n"

Note: Default PrinterName value "OL Connect Send" added in OLCS 1.7.0 along with introduction of numbering for duplicates.

OL Connect Send

Secure

Defines if the communication shall use secure HTTPS (1) or not (0).

Note: Default value changed in OLCS version 1.7.0

1

SecureInteraction

Defines if the interaction shall use secure HTTPS (1) or not (0).

value of Secure

StartTBN

Defines if the Windows Taskbar notifier (OLCS Notifier) is started during the setup process (1) or not (0). When set to 0, the OLCS Notifier will not be started until the user logs in.

Set StartTBN to 0 for mass deployment of the Printer Driver. Starting the OLCS Notifier during setup in a silent installation will lead to issues when the user logs in.

This setting is only valid with the very first installation of OL Connect Send. If the OLCS Notifier is not running and the setup is started again on a machine where at least one OL Connect Send printer is already installed, the OLCS Notifier will not be touched by the setup.

1

Reboot requirement

Depending on what applications and Visual C++ runtimes already installed, a reboot may be required after the successful installation of the OL Connect Send Printer Driver.

In this case the silent installer will: Return the exit value 3010 (= "Reboot required". See Windows installer error codes for example). Log a respective message in the log file.

The administrator needs to make sure, that the respective machine is rebooted so that OL Connect Send can work as expected.

Installation errors

When the installation fails, the error level value can be evaluated to check for success (errorlevel = 0) or failure (errorlevel <> 0). It is up to the installing person to react upon this error level.

To confirm that a silent installation was successful, it is also possible to check the installation log file. The log file contains information about the installation and all possible issues. The file path and name are:

%ProgramData%\Objectif Lune\CPD\log\Installation Logs\ClientInstaller-<YYYY-MM-DD>.log

Silent update

To update the driver silently, follow the same process as for a Silent setup.

The command to run the installer manually is:

msiexec.exe /i OLCS_Printer_Driver_Certified_2.1.3_Setup.msi /qn

Some driver settings may need to be updated in order for existing printers to be compatible with the new driver; see Printer driver properties and advanced settings.

The installer will fail when trying to install an older version than the one that is already installed.

Silent uninstall

The following command will silently uninstall the printer driver:

msiexec.exe /x OLCS_Printer_Driver_Certified_2.1.3_Setup.msi /qn

This is standard functionality of the msiexec tool, as documented by Microsoft on this webpage: https://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/?LinkId=94329.