Having Jamf install print drivers and add printers

[jcshofner]

We have been using Jamf for the past six months, and we are still trying to figure how it all works. We are not script writers in any fashion. We are having some issues with Jamf installing drivers and adding printers. First, we have one Microsoft print server that contains all of our printer queues. We also have Paper Cut, which monitors all of the printer queues. The printing devices we have are Konica Minolta Bizhub copiers. The users print to any number of these copier from their Dell computers or Apple computers. Second, the Konica drivers and copiers are installed and added in a particular way on the Macs due to Paper Cut. We first install the Konica drivers. After that, we select the Printers & Scanners settings in System Preferences to install the copiers, the Add printer button, which brings up the Add dialog box, the Advanced tab (if it is not visible, we add it to the tab bar), and the ‘Windows printer via spools in the Type field. We type in the actual copier name (e.g.: smb://[server_name]/[printer_name]) in the URL field and the name of the copier in the Name field. We choose the ‘Select Software…’ in the Use field. Finally, we click on the Add button, which adds the printer. Lastly, we decided to have Jamf install the copier driver and add the copier to Printers & Scanners, since we have a large number of Macs. We found different suggestions from several Jamf sources. However, we only were able to add the copier but not the driver. For instance, the instructions had us use both Casper Admin and Casper Composer. The instructions directed us to create a new source for the copier in Composer by taking a snapshot, adding the copier, and closing the snapshot. We then selected the copier in the source and created a DMG file. This file contained the PPD of the copier. We then added the printer and DMG file in Casper Admin. Next, we logged into Jamf JSS and created a profile for the copier, adding it to Self Service. Self Service added the copier when selected. However, it would not print, since the driver was not present. With this knowledge what would be the best method to deploy our copiers using Jamf? How can Jamf install the copier driver to the operating system and add the copier to Printers & Scanners in System Preferences? We know about uploading packages and creating policies. However, we do not know how Jamf installs the actual printer driver.

[chris_hansen]

There are plenty of other ways to do this, but this doesn't use scripting. Scripting can be awesome for other stuff, and is worth learning. (erm, gets off soapbox.)
I haven't done the Konicas but it looks like the drivers come in installer .pkg files from Konica.
Composer shouldn't be necessary for this, just Casper Admin.

Install the pkg on a local machine, (don't move the driver pkg to the trash) and then set up the printer, as you've done.

On the same machine, open Casper Admin. Drag the driver installer pkg into Casper Admin, the one from Konica.
Use Casper Admin to capture the printer. It's the Add Printers icon at the top. It will offer to import any printer names on the machine you're at that are not already in JAMF. If you don't see the printer you're trying to add, you'll probably want to delete or rename the printer on your server and then try the capture again.
Once successful, Quit Admin. Save if prompted.

For whatever reason, the printers I capture don't seem to have the drivers when I look at them in the console. They have the Use Generic PPD box checked,
Make a shortcut in your Finder sidebar to /private/etc/cups which should have only the ppdsof the printers currently on that Mac.
in the console, go edit the new printer. Uncheck Use Generic PPD and then click the Upload driver buttonr, and open that Finder shortcut to ppd and select the .PPD that is named like the printer. Save.

Create a policy with that printer.pkg file (like bizhub_C281_109.pkg) that you got from Konica in the Packages section, AND the printer in the Printers section.

And test it, test it, test it. Different machines, different OS versions.

[jcshofner]

Thanks for the quick reply! Before I saw your response, I did each of the similar steps you posted, except for the last one. I created two separate policies, instead. One for the printer driver and one for adding the printer. Will the one policy with the printer driver package and printer installer work as well? Will it load the driver first and then add the printer? This is something I will test in the meantime!

[kowsar_ahmed]

It installs the packages first so yes. Deploy the .PKG first then map the printer via 1 policy. We use Canon printers and Apple's Combo update print driver contains all the drivers for all the printers in our estate. If you wanted to deploy printers with more custom settings such as default double sided, greyscale etc you can set the printer up via Cups before capturing.

[jcshofner]

Great! I will create the one policy with both driver and printer!
Again! Thanks for the quick response!

[rtrouton]

At my previous gig, I built a way to deploy printer drivers on an as-needed basis for our Canon printers. I have it documented here:

https://derflounder.wordpress.com/2014/02/06/deploying-canon-print-drivers-with-printer-setups-via-c...

I've also written a tool which can generate payload-free packages that deploy printer configurations. I have that documented here:

https://derflounder.wordpress.com/2017/07/18/generating-printer-configurations-using-payload-free_pa...