Remote Print

Remote Print for BlackBerry allows you to wirelessly (over WiFi or BES) print any file from your BlackBerry including emails, photos, PDF,  Excel, Word, address contacts, memos and more! Remote Print also lets you send files from your BlackBerry wirelessly to your PC.

Remote Print is available from BlackBerry App World, MobiHand

Already have Remote Print for BlackBerry?:

Download Remote Print Server for PC (0.5mb)
Detailed Setup Instructions
Trouble Shooting

Need Support?

Features:

-Native integration into BlackBerry email, address book and memo applications for quick printing direct from the menu bar.
-Print Office (Excel, Word etc) and PDF files! (requires Office/Adobe reader to be installed on PC).
-Print photos and image files (png, gif, bmp, jped, jpg etc) direct from your BlackBerry.
-Use the send option to send any file directly to your PC without printing: great for quick BlackBerry->PC file transfers.
-Inbuilt file explorer to select files or whole folders for printing/sending.
-For BES users, print to your office printer from anywhere – even without WiFi.

How can I use Remote Print?:

- Receive an email and print it off in 3 clicks.
- Print out contacts and memos saved on your BlackBerry.
- Receive an attachment, download it and print it out all from the BlackBerry.
- Take a photo on your BlackBerry and print it out in a few clicks.
- Transfer (without printing) any file or whole folders from BlackBerry to PC at WiFi speeds.

How it works:

Remote Print is made up of two parts: the BlackBerry application, and a simple lightweight PC application – the Print Server (Mac is currently not supported).
After installing the Print Server and setting up a connection to the BlackBerry, you will be able to print to any printer installed on the PC direct from the BlackBerry. You will also be able to send files directly to this PC from the BlackBerry.
The printer can be changed from the Print Server program on the PC.
Note that you can install the Print Server on as many PCs as needed, and save connections to all of them.

WiFi vs BES Connection:

You can connect to the PC Print Server over both WiFi or BES.
For home use, a WiFi connection can be used. In this case, you will be able to print and send files whenever the BlackBerry is on the same WiFi network as the PC.
For an office with a BlackBerry Enterprise Sever (BES) installed,  in addition to WiFi, a BES connection can be used. In this case you will be able to print to office printers and send to your PC through the mobile cellular network – even if there is no WiFi available!

Screenshots:

Detailed setup instructions:

1) Download the BlackBerry application from here, and the PC side Print Server from here.
(The PC print server requires the .NET framework 2.0 to be installed. Most PCs have this installed already. Try installing the Print Server first, and if you get an error then .NET 2.0 can be downloaded here (20mb))
2) Install the Print Server on your PC and note the IP address and port written in the top left hand corner.
Note that your PC may have multiple IP addresses. In this case, you will see all of the addresses displayed in the white box (e.g. 2010/05/02 13:32:43: Waiting on address: 192.168.1.26 on port: 8080).
If you do not know which one is your WiFi IP address, then you will have to try them all in the steps below.

Note for Vista/Windows 7 users: On starting the server application, if you see the following error:

Server Error: Access is Denied

You will have to change the permissions of the application. This can be done by going to the application folder (c:\program files\CCApps\Remote Print\), right clicking on the Remote Print application  (make sure you are not clicking on an image file with same icon), then clicking “Run As Administrator”. See below:

Additional Note for Vista/Windows 7 users:

If the displayed IP address looks like a long string of letters, and not a normal IP address…

This means that your IP version 6 address is being displayed. In order to get your standard IP address (which is needed for the BB application), go Start -> Run, then type in “cmd” to start up the Command Prompt.
From here, type in “ipconfig” to get your IP address in standard format. This should look something like 192.168.1.21.

3) From the BlackBerry application, press the change/add printer button.

4) Type in the IP address and port from step 2), and give the connection a name. Press “add”.

5) Press the test connection button. If the test fails, the problem is probably a Windows Firewall setting. See below for instructions on how to fix this.

6) You are now ready to print and send files.

Windows Firewall Settings:

If the connection test fails, and the IP address and port are correct, please try changing the Windows Firewall settings:

1) Open the Windows Firewall settings  by going Start -> Control Panel clicking on “Security Center”. You should then see the window below:

2) If your firewall is already set to off, then your connection problem is not due to the firewall. Please double check your IP address and port settings in the BlackBerry application.
If the firewall is on, click on the “Windows Firewall” button at the bottom of the window to edit the Firewall settings. You should see the window below:

3) To see if the firewall is causing the problem, try temporarily turning the firewall off and then restarting the PC and the BB (with a battery pull). Then re-test the connection again from the BlackBerry.
If the connection works with the firewall turned off, then turn the firewall back on again and follow the steps below to add an exception for the Remote Print server.

4) To add an exception, click on the “Exception” tab from the window above, then click “Add Port”. You should then see the window below.
Fill in the name and port number (in this case, the Remote Print server is set to port number 8080, but this may be different) and press OK.

5) Restart the PC and start the Remote Print server program one more time and test the connection.

Trouble Shooting:

If you are having trouble connecting the Blackberry and PC, or are seeing a “java.io.IOException” popup:

1) First Checks: Make sure that you have gone through the above setup instructions thoroughly, installed the PC server, and added an exception to the Windows firewall. Check that the IP address and port are correct. They should look something like “192.168.1.21″ and “8080″. Make sure that you have correctly selected either WiFi or BES.
Important: If you have not already done so restart the PC and the Blackberry (with a battery pull). This will often solve the problem.

2) a) If you are using a WiFi connection to connect to the PC server: please test the connection between the BB and the PC using the following steps.

• First check that your device actually suppports WiFi (Storm 1 and Tour do not have WiFi, so cannot use the WiFi connection.)
• Make sure that the BlackBerry and the PC are on the same WiFi network: check the name of the wifi network (SSID) from both the BlackBerry and the PC.
• Now test that a connection between the PC and BB can be made by following the below instructions to send a Ping. Note that this test has nothing to do with the Remote Print application itself, but will be testing the connectivity of the WiFi network.

Get the IP address of both the BlackBerry and the PC

To get the IP address of the BlackBerry, go to “Manage Connections” on the BlackBerry home screen, then “Wifi Options”. Click the menu button and select “Wi-Fi Tools” -> “Wi-Fi Diagnostics”. The field called “Local IP Address” will give the devices WiFi IP address.
The PC’s IP address should be exactly the same as the BlackBerry’s IP address except for the last digit – in this case, something like: 192.168.0.
(If this is not the case, please check again whether the BlackBerry and PC are on the same network).

Check the connection between the PC and Blackberry by sending a Ping

Send a ping to the PC from the BlackBerry by going to “Manage Connections” on the BlackBerry home screen, then “Wifi Options”. Click the menu button and select “Wi-Fi Tools” -> “Ping”. In the “Ping to” field, insert the PC’s IP address and start.

Send a Ping from the PC to the BlackBerry by typing “ping 192.168.0.3″ (replacing the IP address with your BlackBerry’s address) from the command prompt.

If the ping is not successful in both cases:
- Try turning the BlackBerry’s wifi connection off then on again.
- Try turning the PC’s wifi connection off then on again.
- Check your wifi router’s settings and make sure communication between members of the network is enabled.

If this test fails…

This means that the PC and Blackberry cannot make a connection over your wifi network. Note that this has nothing to do with the Remote Print application  itself, but is a property of your WiFi network (In fact, it is not necessary to have the Blackberry application, or PC Server application running during this test).
The test could be failing for a number of reasons, here are a couple of  things to try:
- Make sure that Wifi is turned on properly on your BB. Try turning off all connections except Wifi.
- Try turning the BlackBerry’s wifi connection off then on again. Try restarting the Blackberry with a battery pull.
- Try turning the PC’s wifi connection off then on again. Try restarting the PC.
- Try disabling all firewalls on your PC, including the Windows firewall and the any 3rd party firewalls.
- Confirm that the BB and PC are actually on the same WiFi network by comparing their IP addresses (The addesses should be the same until the last ‘.’).
- Check your wifi router’s settings and make sure communication between members of the network is enabled.

b) If you are using a BES connection to connect to the PC server:

• Check that your device is actually connected to a BES (BlackBerry Enterprise Server) by going: homescreen -> options -> Advanced -> Enterprise Activation. If your device is connected to a BES, you will see something like “Desktop: Activated on (Date)”. If your device is not activated, you will not be able to use the BES connection.

• From the home screen, open “Blackberry Browser” (not “Internet Browser” or “Hotspot Browser”) and save.
  In the URL box type: “http://(ipaddress):(port)/getPrinter” where (ipaddress) and (port) are those listed in the PC Server application.
  For example, if the IP address and port listed on the PC Server application are “192.168.1.21″ and “8080″, go to the URL “http://192.168.1.21:8080/getPrinter”.
  If you are asked to save the output, the connection has been correctly made.
  If you get an error, this means that the PC Server application itself cannot be accessed:
  Double check that the firewall settings are correct and that an exception has been added for the server port.
  Double check that the PC with the server software is running on a PC accessible from the BES itself. i.e. on the same network as the BES.
  If this fails, try changing the server port (e.g. to from “8080″ to “9000″), adding a new exception to the Windows firewall, and try again.

3) Other things to check:

• The IP address and port number inputted into the Remote Print application are exactly as listed in the PC Server application.
• Restart both the PC and the Blackbeberry (with a battery pull).
• Try changing the port that the Print Server is waiting on, then restarting the server, then adding an exception for this port and updating the connection settings in the Remote Print Blackberry application.
• There are no other 3rd party firewalls active on your PC which could be blocking the connection.