This section describes the configuration of a distinct local user-account for the PrintShop Server service.
This description focuses on procedures on Windows XP; on other platforms this procedure may be slightly different.
PrintShop Server (PSS) is a Windows Service that runs in the background. Windows Services mostly run under a different Windows User Account than the one any end-user has used to log on to their system called Local System. Because the Local System-account has some limitations the PrintShop Server service will run by default under the administrator end-user account that was logged on to the system during the installation of PrintShop Web.
The PrintShop Server is not a multi-threading service, though it can run multiple instances of the PrintShop Mail engine. If a large job is sent to the server for processing, only one instance on a single CPU is used. However, if multiple jobs are sent, each will take its own instance in individual CPUs.
In order to properly serve PrintShop Web, it is vital that the account that PrintShop Server runs under has enough security privileges on the local machine, and perhaps on the network, to access (network-)printers or other resources it needs.
First and foremost, as the name Local System implies, the account is only valid for the local machine. Network printers will therefore not available for use in PrintShop Server. The second limitation is printer management. PrintShop server will only have access to printers installed for the user account under which PrintShop Server runs. This means that if Administrator has logged on and manages his printers, this might not propagate to the Local System account’s printers, which PrintShop Server would use!
To avoid these issues with Printer Management, we strongly advise to make sure that the PrintShop Server service runs under a user-account with administrative privileges. It is necessary to install and configure your printer(s) explicitly for this user-account, - for the PrintShop Server service.
What follows is a description of how to create a new (local) user-account with sufficient administrative privileges on the system where the PrintShop Server service is running.
In case your network-configuration requires this user-account to be a Domain User to be able to access network resources, like network-printers, please contact your Domain Administrator to set up a proper configuration.