How to enable and configure Internet Printing on Windows Server

We have discussed sharing printer resources across the organization in our setup of Windows Print Server. However, the Internet Printing Protocol allows us to use the web or an intranet to print out documents directly from within the browser. This post will take you through setting up Windows Server to support the printing over the internet.

Setup Windows Server to print off the internet

This makes use of the Internet Printing Service possible on every web browser, public or private, through the facilities of Windows Server. To use it, one will have to implement Internet Printing, which basically allows printing over the internet using IPP over HTTP. As long as any printer is IPP-compliant, the service can provide a web-based interface to administer the printers and current print jobs.

Go ahead for the step-by-step guide on installing and enabling Internet printing in Windows Server.

Install all the features and roles including Internet Printing.

Share your printer

Access a shared printer

We can explain them in detail.

1: Installing Internet Printing and all the roles and features

Internet Printing is one of the many server-side roles that comprise the Print and Document services. Installation of an ISS (Web Server) Role is also an added requirement. If you want to achieve it, just follow these steps.

Open the Server Manager.

Click on one that says add roles and features.

When the add roles and features wizard appears, click Next.

Click Next after you've chosen between install based on roles or features.

Select the server and then click next.

Once at the Server Roles tab, select Print and Document Services.

Click Add Features once a pop-up appears.

After reaching Role Services, select Internet Printing and click Add Features and then go back to Next you're almost done.

When prompted to change the default parameters during the setup of the Web Server Role (ISS), do not change the defaults.

On the Confirmation tab, click Install.

If you want to close the Server Manager, you can do so now that the installation has completed.

When opening the Internet Information Services (IIS) Manager and navigating to the Default Web Site, a virtual directory named Printers is already created.

2. Publish the printer

Continue sharing your printer if you are ready. If you have been sharing printers in a local network, you must notice the process is pretty much similar to what we are going to achieve here.

In the Print Management interface, you can right-click on a printer and choose Properties. From there, select the printer you would like to share and then click Sharing.

When you use the standard Windows Server print-sharing features, you can share a printer to make it available on the Internet Printing site for users to connect to. The Security tab settings determine which users can connect to a shared printer.

3: connect to a shared printer

This means that the printer will appear on the Internet Printing ISS website after you have turned the Share this printer option on. You can browse to the IPP Windows Server by accessing its IP address or FQDN as /printers; for example, http:///printers or http:///printers/. Users who are on the same domain as it can connect to it from any web browser to obtain the drivers and install the printer locally on their computer.

Once you have accessed the server through the /printers virtual directory, you can see the shared printer. You can find the Network Name that was used to connect to the printer under the link to the properties of the printer. You can also see some of the common printer tasks that authorized users, like IT administrators, can do.

You can look at the properties of the printer by going to the Internet Printing webpage. For connecting through a client machine, open Windows and input the network name that has come up in the properties visible on the Internet Printing IIS site to access the printer over the network with the use of Internet Printing. Just type in the name of the network and connect by sharing the name of the printer.

We hope these steps help you, without further ado, good luck.