SyteLine Printing Issues: Diagnosis and Resolution
Printing in SyteLine is mission-critical for manufacturing operations—shop floor travelers, packing slips, purchase orders, shipping labels, and barcode tickets must print reliably and on time. When the error "Print job failed: The specified printer driver is not installed" or "Print request timed out waiting for print service" appears, production lines stall. This guide addresses every printing failure mode in the SyteLine ecosystem from server-side print services to client-side redirection.
SyteLine Print Service Configuration Failures
The SyteLine Print Service (SLPrintService) runs as a Windows service on the application server and handles all server-side print jobs including SSRS reports, Mongoose reports, and direct print operations. The error "SyteLine Print Service is not running or not accessible" indicates the service has stopped or the SyteLine web application cannot communicate with it. The secondary error "Print job queued but never processed" occurs when the print service's internal queue is stuck due to a hung print driver.
- Error: "Print Service is not running" — open Windows Services, find 'SyteLine Print Service', verify it is set to Automatic startup and is Running; check the Event Log for crash details; common cause is the service account password expiring
- Error: "Print job queued but never processed" — stop the SyteLine Print Service, clear the Windows print spooler (net stop spooler, delete files in C:\Windows\System32\spool\PRINTERS\*, net start spooler), then restart the SyteLine Print Service
- Verify the SyteLine Print Service configuration in SyteLine Configuration Manager > Print Settings: the Print Service URL must be reachable from the web server (test with a browser: http://printserver:port/SLPrintService)
- For server-side printing, the SyteLine Print Service account must have 'Print' permission on every network printer configured in SyteLine—use the Windows printer sharing permissions dialog to grant explicit access
- Configure a print service health check: create a Windows scheduled task that runs every 5 minutes and sends a test print job to a null printer; alert if the service does not respond within 30 seconds
Barcode Label and Thermal Printer Errors
Barcode label printing from SyteLine uses ZPL (Zebra Programming Language) or EPL commands sent directly to thermal printers. The error "Label printed but barcode is blank" means the ZPL template references a font or barcode symbology not installed on the printer firmware. The error "Label alignment is offset" after a printer ribbon change indicates the media sensor needs recalibration. These issues require both SyteLine configuration and printer firmware troubleshooting.
- Error: "Barcode is blank on printed label" — connect to the Zebra printer's web interface (http://printer-ip), navigate to Printer Settings > Fonts, and verify the barcode font (e.g., ^BY for Code 128) is available; if not, download and install the firmware update that includes the required symbology
- Error: "Label alignment offset" — perform a media calibration: on the Zebra printer, hold the FEED button for 5 seconds during power-on to trigger auto-calibration; then verify the label dimensions in SyteLine's label template match the physical media (^PW and ^LL commands in ZPL)
- Error: "Connection to thermal printer refused" — verify the printer is configured for Raw TCP printing on port 9100 in SyteLine; if using the Windows print driver instead, the ZPL commands get wrapped in print driver formatting and produce garbage output
- For high-volume environments printing 500+ labels per hour, use direct TCP/IP socket printing from SyteLine instead of the Windows spooler to avoid print queue bottlenecks and driver overhead
Client-Side Print Redirection and PDF Output
In CloudSuite Industrial's web client, printing defaults to PDF generation displayed in the browser, which the user then sends to a local printer. The error "PDF generation failed: The report server cannot process the request" typically indicates SSRS is overloaded or the PDF rendering extension has crashed. For direct-to-printer functionality, SyteLine requires a client-side print agent installed on each workstation, which introduces its own set of connectivity and compatibility issues.
- Error: "PDF generation failed" — restart the SSRS Windows service and check the SSRS log for specific rendering errors; increase the SSRS memory limit in rsreportserver.config: <MaxMemoryLimit>70</MaxMemoryLimit> (percentage of server memory)
- Error: "SyteLine Print Agent not detected" on client workstations — verify the SyteLine Client Print Agent is installed and running in the system tray; it requires .NET Framework 4.6.2+ and must be whitelisted in the organization's endpoint security software
- For Chrome and Edge browsers, PDF print dialogs may block with "Popup blocked" — add the SyteLine URL to the browser's popup exception list in Settings > Privacy and Security > Site Settings > Pop-ups and redirects
- Implement a PDF-to-printer automation workflow for hands-free environments: configure SyteLine to save reports to a watched folder, then use a lightweight service like FolderPrint to automatically send PDFs to designated printers based on filename patterns
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