I know it’s frustrating for iPad and iPhone users to have AirPrint on their device but not be able to use it. While some people may have a printer that supports AirPrint many do not. That leaves us with third party solutions to allow people to utilize the printing feature on iOS devices.
Not long after Apple released the AirPrint feature, developers starred coming up with software or tweaks that would allow AirPlay to work on printers that does not support AirPlay. The options have been some what limited, especially for Windows users.
Up until the release of iOS 5 there was a free download called AirPrint Installer that would allow iOS users to print wirelessly with printers that are not officially supported. As some of our readers pointed out the tweak no longer works after upgrading to iOS 5.
Since we know just about everyone wants to upgrade to the latest software, we have found another solution. The software is called FingerPrint from Collobos Software.
It does not require you to jailbreak your iPad, in fact you don’t need to install anything on your iPad. The software is compatible with both Windows and Mac. FingerPrint for Max OS X is $7.99 and FingerPrint for Windows is $9.99, they both have a free trial.
While it’s not a free solution, there are some advantages over AirPrint Installer. First, the set up is a breeze. After you download the software, it’s a typical Windows setup where the install wizard guides you through the installation. It took me less than 5 minutes to download and install the software. After the installation was complete my printers showed up when I selected to print using AirPrint on my iPad. I would call the setup pretty much seamless.
Another advantage over AirPrint Installer is the “Open on My PC” feature. When you select this option as a printer, instead of printing the document it just opens it on your PC.
Unlike AirPrint Installer, FringerPrint also appears to have customer support from the developer. So, if you have any trouble with it working you can send questions directly to the company who made the software.
I highly recommend to install the free trial so make sure it works before you make the purchase.
View this Post for more AirPrint options on a Mac.
Even that one I just posted converted to smart quotes. I suggest typing the command instead of copy/paste or you can paste to notepad, fix the quotes, and copy/paste from there to cmd.
Partial success Thanks to David’s note regarding the smart quotes, I made those changes and the command worked. However, when I typed in the 2nd command (sc.exe start AirPrint), I get a not found or access is denied message. When I go directly to services.msc, I find thevairprintbservice, butbwhen I try to start it, I get a error saying that the system could not find the file specified. Any ideas?
You do not have to turn on Guest Account to remove the lock on any shared printer. This should work with any User Account that uses a password. I don’t know if it will work for a User Account that has no password (you could try deleting the Password and Confirm Password boxes and leaving them blank).
In Windows Vista Home Premium (SP2):
Control Panel > Administrative Tools > Services
or
Control Panel > System and Maintenance > Administrative Tools > Services
Double-Click AirPrint
Click the Log On tab
Click on This Account button
Type in the name account “.\NAME OF USER ACCOUNT” without the quotes but with the period and backslash into the blank box.
If you don’t know the name of your account, select User Accounts in Control Panel or click on Browse beside the box. Click on Advanced then Find Now. Highlight the main account you use on your computer. Click OK and then Click OK again.
You should be back on the Log On tab. Delete the dots in the Password box and type in the password you use to log in into your User Account. Repeat in the Confirm Password box.
Click Apply.
Stop the AirPrint service.
Restart the AirPrint service.
The lock should disappear on your iOS device. You may have to reboot the iOS device for the lock to disappear.
Tried this on an iPod Touch 4G, iPad and iPad 2 and all see the shared printer and print without problems. I even get warnings about out of paper or out of ink on my iOS devices.
I hope my instructions are clear and correct – I had to keep returning back to the AirPrint service screen to figure out the next step. Post a comment with any corrections or improvements or questions or discussion.
I can’t speak to the security implications of allowing a service to log on as a user account. From the info I found online, logging as a user account, does give the service access to the network. Also, if you change your User Account password, you will have to change the password in the AirPrint service.
I stand corrected. Above procedure stopped work this morning. Interestingly enough the printer in iOS had both a checkmark AND a padlock beside it. I really don’t want to enable the guest account. Leave it to Apple to make something that could be useful a complete pain in the butt.
Hey guys–”AirPrint Activator” DOES WORK with iOS 5.
@Vincent Clement–the problem with that guest account thing is a windows and “FingerPrint” problem, not Apple’s. Plus, they never opened AirPrint “officially” to work with anything but AirPrint enabled printers, in part to eliminate hassle just like this.
BUT–I have enough printers and didn’t want to buy another ink guzzling machine that had AirPrint officially built in.
So, I’m using AirPrint Activator, version 2.1b2, from netputing.com and it works perfectly! It lets me use any printer in my home, both wireless printers that connect directly to my SO/HO network, as well as printers attached by cable to any of my computers on my home network.
AirPrint Activator, still free. And working with my iPhone 4S, iPod touch, and iPad 2–all running iOS 5
Please ignore my last comment… I came across this late at night without fully noticing the AirPrint **FOR WINDOWS** was what’s described as not working with iOS 5. I knew that I’d previously had to update my AirPrint Activator version to make my iMac happy, and in my sleepy state thought that maybe people wo found this old article now would need to know they just needed a new version…so, my heart was in the right place, by my sleepy head is not. LOL!!
I just downloaded FingerPrint to my desktop computer running XP. The printer connected to the computer is an old HP1315. It is not a wireless printer nor is it an AirPrint printer. After I downloaded FingerPrint, which is a free trial, I went back to the family room and tried a printing from my iPad 1. Never would believe it would print but it did. I am just thrilled because even though my printer is old I really like it. I guess I should say I have a router and my laptop has wireless connection to my husbands HP6500 printer if this makes any difference.
I tried it and WoW… I like that. Also, the fact that you can send your document to print directly in PDF inside your Dropbox account, is awesome! I recommend it for any iDevice User.
There is a trick for setuping your dropbox folder. First of all, don’t forget to create a specific folder inside your Dropbox folder. This folder will be used for the document repository. If your Dropbox Folder is not on your C: Drive, you just have to edit the registry key. Unfortunately, the FingerPrint Software allow you to see only your C Drive. But when you go inside your registry, you can enter the path you want. And it does work.
Yes – I can confirm FingerPrint for Windows works on Win32bit version of Windows 7. Exactly what I want!
hi
I could not get it to work the longest time and then found this made the changes to the service and it worked.
https://discussions.apple.com/thread/3383237?start=0&tstart=0
Basically they change the service.
At the command line type the following 2 commands:
sc.exe create AirPrint binPath= “C:\Program Files\AirPrint\airprint.exe -R _ipp._tcp,_universal -s” depend= “Bonjour Service” start= auto
sc.exe start Airprint
Thank you for letting me know about FingerPrint. I gave up on trying to get AirPrint Collaborator to work. FingerPrint is so simple to install and what a convenience. We have iPhone 4S’s & iPad connected to a Windows 7 Ultimate 64b PC shared HP LJ 1320. I did not want to buy another HP printer just for AirPrint. FingerPrint was by far the easiest install. The best $10 bucks I have ever spent! Thanks again for the info.
Using the listed commands worked fine without needing to purchase Fingerprint. Thank you for sharing
[...] of workarounds included AirPrint Installer, which required you to install iTunes or Bonjour Printer Services separately, then run their [...]
I have and iPad 2 with iOS5. and after searching around I found this site and as a result downloaded Fingerprint to my iMac. My printer is a HP Photosmart C6180 A-i-O which was not recognised by Air Print. With Fingerprint I can see it but when I ask it to print it keeps trying to print from my 6 x 4 Photo tray. Is there a way to change this? I couldn’t find any Help on the Fingerprint site.
I would appreciate any help you can give me.
Collobos FingerPrint for Windows is now available as a service!
Back on Oct 15, 2011, this article appeared i ipadhelp.com, it appears to be the first mention of a solution for iOS 5.0.
That same day, I recorded video of my simple tests, and posted a summary of my good experience with this gem.
I have now received new news from Collobos, announced Jan 30, 2011, they’ve added FingerPrint for Windows installing as a service!
Thought you might want to know, and for now, it’s still just $10 for FingerPrint for Windows.
AirPrint and ios5
Thank you for all your comments on using airprint with ios5. I have managed to set up at home on windows 7 32 bit and print to my printer from iPad2 and Iphone4.
Does anyone know how to enable the service on windows server 2003? Following instuctions from this page i can see printers from my idevices but all have padlocks? Can anyone help?
Thanks
Fingerprint works as advertised on my Windows 7 PC and Canon MX860 printer win an iPad 2. It allows me to select duplex mode and also warns me that ink levels are low. One thing I haven’t been able to figure out, though, is how to print in greyscale. The printer default is set to greyscale, but the iPad only prints in color.
AWESOME! I’ve wasted a bunch money on stupid apps. Didn’t even think about installing a $10 program on my desktop. Outstanding. Thank you for blogging about it… so I could find this link in the search engines. I installed the free version, verified everything printed and immediately purchased the licensed version. THANK YOU!
Some words of warning about FingerPrint. I purchased it, installed it. Worked fine for a few days. now, it does not run. othing changed on the network, and when I double click on the software, there is a message saying Connecting to FingerPrint Service. Now, why in the world would it need to connect to ANY service? I have sent them a support request, their response was to reboot my systems (Did that already) When I pressed for an answer regarding why it needs to connect to their server, their response was they will give me a refund. Obviously, they have NOT told everyone everything we need to know about their software. They may be making copies of what we print on their systems, so beware of what you print using this! More as it happens
I’m thrilled! It worked right away after installing! Thanks!
If you need to print a picture or a part of a document or web page you may wish to look up the app PrintBack by Xerox. Allows you to print by sending via email to a pc without being near the pc. If you travel then print it and you will have it when you get home, works great and inset it to hold my jobs until I get back home.
@Tom McElvy
I initially had the same issue with “Connecting to FingerPrint Service” and assumed the same thing. But it’s not trying to connect to their servers. The issue was that there’s a Windows Service called “FingerPrint Service” that wasn’t started.
Going into your Windows Services you should be able to start it…
Then FingerPrint worked perfectly for me.
@ George
After intalling the FingerPrint Software and opeing it up thats all I get is the message “Connecting to FingerPrint Service” with a green search bar. Any chance you can help me find the Windows Services area you are talking about??
Thanks
Anthony,
You can Open the Start Menu, in the search line, type services.msc and press Enter.
This should pull up services installed on your computer. Here you can start or disable the Fingerprint service. I think this is what George is referring to.
I just installed this software on a Windows 7 64 bit computer using an HP 8500 all in one printer. It worked like a charm with my iphone 4 running iOS 5.1.
This software is ready for the newest available software for both my pc and my iphone and I give it two thumbs up.
Installed in a minuted and just worked immediately. It opens on the computer in a PDF viewer, automatically connected to my dropbox to where I can now print anything from m y iphone and it shows up as a pdf in a folder in my dropbox.
Buy it.
I have version 1.2.0.278. It worked initially, but then started saying “Connecting to FingerPrint service. . .”
I followed others advice and went into the services panel. The FingerPrint actually IS running, but the program can’t connect to it anyway.
So: The conclusion is that FingerPrint does work, if you are lucky. If you aren’t lucky, it doesn’t work.
I am currently using this with a Canon Pixma MG6120. Currently installed on Windows 7 x64 Desktop but the desktop needs to be on in order for me to use it. My printer is hooked up to my network wirelessly its not “shared Network” so I can print from any other computer regardless which one is turned on or off. Can I make this same set up happen with fingerprint?? thanks
Try PRINTER PRO LITE – much easier, takes no skills to install, free and takes seconds to start to use it and works perfectly with and WITHOUT wifi printers – IN ONE WORD… JUST AWSOME!!!
We have two iPads with the latest software, but no air printers. We have an HP1518 laser network printer on our wifi home nework.
Downloaded Fingerprint 2 on our home PC (Windows 7). Worked perfectly but would not print the next morning. I had to wake up our PC to print.
To prevent your PC from sleeping so that you can print anytime, go to Start Menu, Control Panel, System & Security, Power Options.
On the Select Power Plan page select Change Plan Settings for the plan selected. Then click Change Settings for the Plan, Next to Put computer to sleep select the drop down arrow which will allow you to choose time options. Select NEVER.
You can also change the monitor display settings but I chose not to.
Hope this helps
I just tried PRINTER PRO LITE and it worked fine, so I went ahead and bought PRINTER PRO 3 ($6.99).
I like the fact that the purchased application is tied to my iPad and that the PC application is free since I have multiple Windows PCs to work with (and I don’t want to buy FingerPrint 2 for each PC).
FingerPrint 2 would be more cost-effective in a one-PC, many-Mac environment, but I’m the other way.
has anyone tried print n share? also had great customer support (from personal experience) and seems to give fingerprint a run for its money!
It appears that FingerPrint feels they are the only ones that have the capability to share out printers off a Windows based system … as they have raised the price to $19.95 USD for the Windows version!
I have tested the 2.x version on a Windows server and it does work nicely on any IOS based device on my wireless / wired network. I would say its worth the price IF you have all of your printers shared from one server. I would NOT recommend it though IF you have multiple Win based PCs with shared printers.