Epson PoS TM-H6000iv

[marktbreaux]

I am wondering if anyone has experience with this printer or any other usb connected point of sale printer and vmware view?

It seems to work when it wants to and disconnect randomly and I have to do some sort of rain dance to get it back. If fact, I am not even sure how I get it back. I stop the printer spool service, turn it off, connect the usb in a different port.... and then magically it comes back. Thanks for any help.

Mark

[Linjo]

In the latest View release, 5.1 there has been significant improvements in the USB functionality.

If you are not on that one so please try upgrading.

// Linjo

[marktbreaux]

Thank you, Linjo, for responding so quickly. I am running 5.1. This is my current version information from vmware view client.

5.1.0 build-704644

[Linjo]

Ok, great. Is the agent also 5.1?

Is this over Lan or Wan?

// Linjo

[marktbreaux]

Yes the agent is  5.1 also. This is over a LAN connection using panologic their display protocol but it will be WAN using PCoIP later on.

I can try the 10zig PCoIP client I have but I would prefer to try this out on the pano since I have already purchased them.

[Linjo]

Oh, is this on a Panologic client! Then I guess all bets are off, don't run in to them very often.

I would suggest to contact Panologic.

// Linjo

[marktbreaux]

I have a case open with them also.

[Pashtoun]

Looks like there's a KB for this. No work around

VMware KB: Epson printers become unresponsive in VMware Horizon View

[iliketurbos]

What OS is everyone runing? that states XP driver, I am looking to try with windows 7.

thanks

[Pashtoun]

Windows 7 32 bit. I was never able to resolve this.

[iliketurbos]

thank you for the reply, did you try to use an aftermarket USB / tcp over ip convertor instead of the native USB view redirection? this might be a show stopper for VDI for a client of mine.

what did you end up doing?

thanks again!

alan

[Pashtoun]

We installed Ethernet NICs into the printers like the one on this website and just plugged them into the network.

Epson Connect-It Interface Cards for TM Series Printers

HTH

[peterbrown05]

We have been investigating this issue as multiple customers - with varying flavors of Epson devices (scanners and printers) have been affected by this problem. Some were seen to "not work at all", others would "print, but only when you logged off" and other rather random weird behavior.

It currently looks like this is a problem in the way the Epson device driver actually behaves - it actually tries to start working before announcing it is ready to start, and as a result the virtual driver basically gets stuck. Since this is a generic Epson driver for printers and scanners then the same root cause affects multiple usb devices.

We have a potential fix in the pipeline to accommodate this odd Epson behavior. So hopefully we can get a fix for this out soon.

watch this space....

cheers

peterB

[julianbotero]

Have you found any workaround for this. I am trying to get a TM-T88IV Thermal printer to work and it doesn't work.

[robdevaul]

I am having trouble with the TM-T88V.  I will be watching this thread for a response from peterB.  Right now I just install it to the thin client and have it forward into view.

[julianbotero]

Rob.. Can you provide details on how you added it to your thin client? Did you just install the Epson APD to he Windows Embedded OS? I tried that on my 10Zig Thin client but i was never able to successfully install it.

[robdevaul]

I'm not using true thin clients, I have a repurposed PC using Windows ThinPC which is just a lighter installation of Win7.  I just installed the APD software and it forwards through ThinPrint.

[peterbrown05]

Hello All!

I'm delighted to be able to finally announce that we believe the issue with the Epson printers has been resolved in Horizon View 5.3 which was officially made available on our download page yesterday. (20th November 2013).

This should stop the Epson driver locking up, preventing the printers (and some of the Epson scanners) from working in a View desktop.

However, please note, that "out of the box" the device will still have issues. You need to apply some special configuration that enables this special mode to workaround the driver issue.

1. Install View Agent 5.3 in the View desktop virtual machine.
2. Use the Registry Editor (regedit.exe) and create a USB folder under     HKLM\Software\VMware, Inc.\VMware VDM\   (if it doesn't already exist)
3. Add the registry information described in the following example:
   
   Assuming that the vid pid (vendor ID and product ID) of the Epson printer is Vid_04b8&Pid_0202, you would add the following registry value:

       HKLM\Software\VMware, Inc.\VMware VDM\USB\Vid_04b8&Pid_0202\DeviceFlags = DWORD: 0x1000

        Note: You must always create the registry option because it is device-specific and this special mode of operation should not be applied across all devices - just for the specific Epson device. Note also that depending on the model of printer or scanner that you have, the Vid/Pid may be different so you will need to check that in Device Manager (or in the view debug logs)

Do post back and let me know if this resolves the issues you have seen.

Many thanks,

peterB

[robdevaul]

Confirmed to work on the Epson TM-T88V

[peterbrown05]

excellent news! thanks for letting the forum know.

It is worth noting that the KB Has been updated with the relevant info: VMware KB: Epson printers become unresponsive in VMware Horizon View

cheers

peterB