<%NUMBERING1%>.<%NUMBERING2%>.<%NUMBERING3%> PRTG Manual: Windows Print Queue Sensor
The Windows Print Queue sensor reads the print queue on the parent device and returns the number of jobs in the print queue. It can monitor queues for all printers that are locally installed.
You can use this sensor to monitor all print queues on your Windows print server and to retrieve information about all available jobs that are in the queue longer than defined.
Additionally, this sensor can change to a defined status if there is a printer problem. See section Sensor Settings for available parameters.
Windows Print Queue Sensor
For a detailed list and descriptions of the channels that this sensor can show, see section Channel List.
Sensor in Other Languages
Dutch: Windows Print Queue
French: Windows file d'attente d'impression
German: Windows Druckwarteschlange
Japanese: Windows プリントキュー
Portuguese: Fila de impressão Windows
Russian: Очередь печати Windows
Simplified Chinese: Windows 打印队列
Spanish: Cola de impresión Windows
Remarks
This sensor has a high performance impact. Use it with care. We recommend that you use no more than 200 sensors of this sensor type on each probe.
This sensor requires that the Print Spooler Windows service runs on the target device and the probe system.
This sensor requires .NET 4.7.2 or later from Microsoft on the probe system. If the sensor shows the error PE087, additionally install .NET 3.5 on the probe system.
This sensor requires credentials for Windows systems in the settings of the parent device. Preferably, use Windows domain credentials.
If you use local credentials, make sure that the same Windows user accounts (with the same user name and password) exist on both the probe system and the target computer. Otherwise, the sensor cannot correctly connect.
Print Spooler Windows service
For this sensor to work, the Print Spooler Windows service must be started on the target computer and the probe system.
To enable the service, log in to the respective computer and open the services manager (for example, via services.msc). In the list, find the respective service and set its Start Type to Automatic.
Add Sensor
The Add Sensor dialog appears when you manually add a new sensor to a device. It only shows the settings that are required to create the sensor. You can change nearly all settings on the sensor's Settings tab after creation.
The settings that you select in the Add Sensor dialog are valid for all sensors that you create when you finish the dialog.
Sensor Settings
Setting
Description
Print Queue
Select the print queues that you want to monitor. PRTG creates one sensor for each print queue that you select.
If no print queues are available, you see a corresponding message.
If a printer name changes after sensor creation, you need to add the sensor anew.
Enable check boxes in front of the respective lines to select the items. Use the check box in the table header to select all items or to cancel the selection. In large tables, use the search function in the upper-right corner.
Basic Sensor Settings
Click the Settings tab of a sensor to change its settings.
If the name contains angle brackets (<>), PRTG replaces them with braces ({}) for security reasons. For more information, see the Knowledge Base: What security features does PRTG include?
This setting is for your information only. You cannot change it.
Tags
Enter one or more tags. Confirm each tag with the Spacebar key, a comma, or the Enter key. You can use tags to group objects and use tag-filtered views later on. Tags are not case-sensitive. Tags are automatically inherited.
It is not possible to enter tags with a leading plus (+) or minus (-) sign, nor tags with parentheses (()) or angle brackets (<>).
For performance reasons, it can take some minutes until you can filter for new tags that you added.
The sensor has the following default tags that are automatically predefined in the sensor's settings when you add the sensor:
ptfsensor
Priority
Select a priority for the sensor. This setting determines the position of the sensor in lists. The highest priority is at the top of a list. Choose from the lowest priority () to the highest priority ().
Usually, a sensor connects to the IP Address/DNS Name of the parent device. See the device settings for details. For some sensors, you can explicitly define the monitoring target in the sensor settings.
Sensor Settings
Sensor Settings
Setting
Description
Print Queue
Shows the name of the task whose print queue this sensor monitors.
PRTG shows this value for reference purposes only. If you need to change this value, add the sensor anew.
Advanced Status Options
You can optionally define specific sensor states for several return messages of the printer that this sensor monitors. Choose between:
Do not define sensor states for specific return messages: Do not define sensor states for specific return messages.
Define sensor states for specific return messages: Define sensor states for various messages that the printer reports.
Not all printer types properly support Advanced Status Options, which might lead to false alerts. If the printer does not support a property, this property is always false. This means that the sensor cannot display the state or detect if the printer supports the property. Even if the printer can report a property, it can only do so if a print job is sent to the printer.
Door Open
This setting is only available if you select the Define sensor states for specific return messages above. For each problem that the printer reports, you can define the status that the sensor shows. Choose between:
Ignore: Stay the same if the printer reports this message.
Warning: Show the Warning status if the printer reports this message.
Down: Show the Down status if the printer reports this message.
Manual Feed Required
This setting is only available if you select the Define sensor states for specific return messages above. For each problem that the printer reports, you can define the status that the sensor shows. Choose between:
Ignore: Stay the same if the printer reports this message.
Warning: Show the Warning status if the printer reports this message.
Down: Show the Down status if the printer reports this message.
Needs User Intervention
This setting is only available if you select the Define sensor states for specific return messages above. For each problem that the printer reports, you can define the status that the sensor shows. Choose between:
Ignore: Stay the same if the printer reports this message.
Warning: Show the Warning status if the printer reports this message.
Down: Show the Down status if the printer reports this message.
Offline
This setting is only available if you select the Define sensor states for specific return messages above. For each problem that the printer reports, you can define the status that the sensor shows. Choose between:
Ignore: Stay the same if the printer reports this message.
Warning: Show the Warning status if the printer reports this message.
Down: Show the Down status if the printer reports this message.
Out of Memory
This setting is only available if you select the Define sensor states for specific return messages above. For each problem that the printer reports, you can define the status that the sensor shows. Choose between:
Ignore: Stay the same if the printer reports this message.
Warning: Show the Warning status if the printer reports this message.
Down: Show the Down status if the printer reports this message.
Out of Paper
This setting is only available if you select the Define sensor states for specific return messages above. For each problem that the printer reports, you can define the status that the sensor shows. Choose between:
Ignore: Stay the same if the printer reports this message.
Warning: Show the Warning status if the printer reports this message.
Down: Show the Down status if the printer reports this message.
Paper Jammed
This setting is only available if you select the Define sensor states for specific return messages above. For each problem that the printer reports, you can define the status that the sensor shows. Choose between:
Ignore: Stay the same if the printer reports this message.
Warning: Show the Warning status if the printer reports this message.
Down: Show the Down status if the printer reports this message.
Paper Problem
This setting is only available if you select the Define sensor states for specific return messages above. For each problem that the printer reports, you can define the status that the sensor shows. Choose between:
Ignore: Stay the same if the printer reports this message.
Warning: Show the Warning status if the printer reports this message.
Down: Show the Down status if the printer reports this message.
Paused
This setting is only available if you select the Define sensor states for specific return messages above. For each problem that the printer reports, you can define the status that the sensor shows. Choose between:
Ignore: Stay the same if the printer reports this message.
Warning: Show the Warning status if the printer reports this message.
Down: Show the Down status if the printer reports this message.
Printer Error
This setting is only available if you select the Define sensor states for specific return messages above. For each problem that the printer reports, you can define the status that the sensor shows. Choose between:
Ignore: Stay the same if the printer reports this message.
Warning: Show the Warning status if the printer reports this message.
Down: Show the Down status if the printer reports this message.
Printer Not Available
This setting is only available if you select the Define sensor states for specific return messages above. For each problem that the printer reports, you can define the status that the sensor shows. Choose between:
Ignore: Stay the same if the printer reports this message.
Warning: Show the Warning status if the printer reports this message.
Down: Show the Down status if the printer reports this message.
Toner Low
This setting is only available if you select the Define sensor states for specific return messages above. For each problem that the printer reports, you can define the status that the sensor shows. Choose between:
Ignore: Stay the same if the printer reports this message.
Warning: Show the Warning status if the printer reports this message.
Down: Show the Down status if the printer reports this message.
Toner Out
This setting is only available if you select the Define sensor states for specific return messages above. For each problem that the printer reports, you can define the status that the sensor shows. Choose between:
Ignore: Stay the same if the printer reports this message.
Warning: Show the Warning status if the printer reports this message.
Down: Show the Down status if the printer reports this message.
Minimum Print Job Age (Sec.)
Optionally define the age of the print job in seconds. If you define a minimum print job age, the sensor does not regard jobs that are younger than this value. If you leave this field empty, the sensor does not check for the print job age. Enter an integer or leave the field empty.
Debug Options
Debug Options
Setting
Description
Result Handling
Define what PRTG does with the sensor result:
Discard result: Do not store the sensor result.
Store result: Store the last sensor result in the \Logs\sensors subfolder of the PRTG data directory on the probe system. The file names are Result of Sensor [ID].txt and Result of Sensor [ID].Data.txt. This setting is for debugging purposes. PRTG overwrites these files with each scanning interval.
In a cluster, PRTG stores the result in the PRTG data directory of the master node.
Sensor Display
Sensor Display
Setting
Description
Primary Channel
Select a channel from the list to define it as the primary channel. In the device tree, the last value of the primary channel is always displayed below the sensor's name. The available options depend on what channels are available for this sensor.
You can set a different primary channel later by clicking below a channel gauge on the sensor's Overview tab.
Graph Type
Define how different channels are shown for this sensor:
Show channels independently (default): Show a graph for each channel.
Stack channels on top of each other: Stack channels on top of each other to create a multi-channel graph. This generates a graph that visualizes the different components of your total traffic. You cannot use this option in combination with manual Vertical Axis Scaling (available in the channel settings).
Stack Unit
This setting is only visible if you enable Stack channels on top of each other as Graph Type. Select a unit from the list. All channels with this unit are stacked on top of each other. By default, you cannot exclude single channels from stacking if they use the selected unit. However, there is an advanced procedure to do so.
Inherited Settings
By default, all of these settings are inherited from objects that are higher in the hierarchy. We recommend that you change them centrally in the root group settings if necessary. To change a setting for this object only, click under the corresponding setting name to disable the inheritance and to display its options.
For more information, see section Root Group Settings, section Scanning Interval.
Schedules, Dependencies, and Maintenance Window
You cannot interrupt the inheritance for schedules, dependencies, and maintenance windows. The corresponding settings from the parent objects are always active. However, you can define additional schedules, dependencies, and maintenance windows. They are active at the same time as the parent objects' settings.
Schedules, Dependencies, and Maintenance Window
For more information, see section Root Group Settings, section Schedules, Dependencies, and Maintenance Window.
Access Rights
Access Rights
For more information, see section Root Group Settings, section Access Rights.
Channel List
Which channels the sensor actually shows might depend on the target device, the available components, and the sensor setup.
Channel
Description
Downtime
In the channel table on the Overview tab, this channel never shows any values. PRTG uses this channel in graphs and reports to show the amount of time in which the sensor was in the Down status