PrintNode Badge Printer Setup Guide

Badge Printer Setup

Hardware setup

This article is a complete walkthrough for connecting an onsite badge printer to Greet. Greet users must pull dedicated PrintNode credentials. Greet users must install the client on the onsite laptop. Greet users must add the printer at the operating-system level. Greet users must print a first test badge.

✓ Before you start

Have these five things ready before you touch a single setting. Skipping the driver is the single biggest reason printer setups stall.

• The onsite laptop. Install everything on the exact machine that runs printing at the event.

PrintNode ties a printer to the device where PrintNode is installed.

• Your badge printer. Power on the badge printer.

Connect the badge printer to the same network used by the onsite laptop during the event.

• The printer driver. Use the driver from the disc that shipped with the printer.

Or download the driver from the printer’s site.

zebra.com/support is listed for Zebra.

Do not skip the driver.

A printer added without a driver will not print.

A printer added without a driver will not show up in PrintNode.

• Admin access on the laptop.

Use admin access to install PrintNode and add a printer at the operating-system level.

• Access to Greet with permission to view Printer Settings.

How printing works

Greet sends every print job to the cloud from whatever device the team uses for check-in. The device can include iPads.

The PrintNode client on the onsite laptop picks up those jobs automatically. The PrintNode client routes the jobs to the badge printer on the local network.

Keep PrintNode running on the laptop. Keep the laptop and the printer on the same network. Both requirements help printing run smoothly through the whole event.

1 Get your PrintNode credentials from Greet

Sign in to Greet. Go to Printer Settings. Printer Settings is where printers and cloud printing for the account are managed.

Scroll to the PrintNode Cloud Printing section. If cloud printing has not been set up yet, a message shows that it is unavailable. Click Set up dedicated account. Greet provisions a fresh, isolated PrintNode account in a few seconds.

After the account is active, a Client connection credentials panel appears. Click Show credentials on the right side of that panel.

Three fields appear: Email, Password, and API key. Copy the email and password with the small copy icon next to each field. Paste the copied email and password into a password manager (1Password, LastPass, Bitwarden) or into your own secure notes.

Treat the copied credentials like any other login. Do not send the credentials over unencrypted email. Do not paste the credentials into a public chat.

Email and Password are required for this setup. The API key is for advanced integrations. The API key is not required for the standard onsite flow.

2 Install PrintNode on the onsite laptop

PrintNode is a small desktop app. PrintNode connects the laptop to the PrintNode cloud. Greet sends print jobs to that cloud. PrintNode routes the jobs to the badge printer.

On the onsite laptop, open a browser. Go to printnode.com/en/download.

Pick the download that matches the laptop.

• Windows 10 or 11: the PrintNode .exe file.

This file is the one with a Windows logo.

• Mac, Apple Silicon (M1–M4) on Sonoma, Sequoia, or Tahoe: the .dmg listed under “For Apple Silicon.”
• Mac, Intel chip, or Apple Silicon on Big Sur, Monterey, or Ventura: the .dmg listed under “For Intel / Apple Silicon with Rosetta.”

If you are not sure which Mac you have, click the Apple menu. Choose About This Mac. Check the Chip line.

Drag the PrintNode icon into the Applications folder.

Open Applications.

Right-click PrintNode.

Choose Open the first time.

This action lets macOS run the app.

If Windows shows a “protect your PC” warning, click More info.

Click Run anyway.

Follow the installer through to the end.

3 Sign in to PrintNode

Open the PrintNode client.

Then click Open PrintNode.

If it is hidden, click the up arrow.

Right-click and choose Open.

Click Open PrintNode.

In the sign-in window, paste the Email into the Username field. Paste the Password into the Password field. Use the Email and Password copied from Greet in the previous section.

Click Sign In.

After signing in, the client shows tabs like Printers, Print jobs, and Account. The Printers tab is empty right now. This is expected because no printer has been added to the laptop yet.

4 Add your printer to the onsite laptop

This step trips people up most often. The printer must be added to the laptop through the operating system. A real driver must be selected.

Once the printer is added at the OS level with a working driver, PrintNode picks it up automatically. Greet becomes able to see the printer.

A printer added without a driver looks installed but will not actually print. A printer added without a driver will not appear in the PrintNode client.

If a vendor shipped a driver disc, use it. Otherwise, download the driver for the exact model. zebra.com/support is listed for Zebra. Download the driver before continuing.

Steps differ slightly by operating system. Use the section that matches the onsite laptop.

On macOS

Click the Apple menu. Choose System Settings. On older macOS versions, choose System Preferences. Then click Printers & Scanners in the sidebar.

Click Add Printer, Scanner, or Fax. On older macOS versions, click the plus icon. A window opens showing printers macOS can see on the network or by USB.

USB printers appear right away. A network printer can take a few seconds to show up. Then click the network printer.

If the printer does not appear, click the IP tab. Enter the printer’s IP address. Choose2Rent or your IT team can provide the printer IP address.

Leave the protocol as either “Line Printer Daemon (LPD)” or “HP Jetdirect – Socket.” Choose whichever protocol the printer recommends. Give the printer a name.

• If the dropdown shows the exact model, for example “Zebra ZD421,” you are set.
• If the dropdown shows “Generic PostScript Printer” or “Generic PCL,” open the dropdown.

Choose Select Software.

Search for the exact model.

• If the model is not listed, install the driver from the disc or zebra.com/support first.

Then re-run Add Printer.

Do not proceed without a real driver. This is the single most common cause of “the printer looked installed but doesn’t print.”

Click Add. macOS installs the driver and adds the printer to the list.

Click the new printer in the list. Click Options & Supplies → Utility. Or click Print Test Page. Send a test page. Confirm a physical page prints.

On Windows

Open Printers & scanners.

• Windows 11: Start → Settings → Bluetooth & devices → Printers & scanners.
• Windows 10: Start → Settings → Devices → Printers & scanners.

A shortcut on either version is to press Windows + I.

Click Add device on Windows 11. Or click Add a printer or scanner on Windows 10. Windows scans for a few seconds.

If the printer appears, click Add device next to it. If Windows already has a driver, Windows installs it automatically. If Windows installs a driver automatically, you can skip to step 5.

If the printer does not appear, click Add manually on Windows 11. Or click “The printer that I want isn’t listed” on Windows 10.

Then choose “Add a Bluetooth, wireless or network discoverable printer” for Wi-Fi or Ethernet printers. Or choose “Add a local printer or network printer with manual settings” if you know the IP address. Pick TCP/IP Device as the port type.

If the driver disc is inserted, or the driver installer already ran on this laptop, Windows finds it automatically. Click Next.

If the driver was already downloaded, click Have Disk. Browse to where the driver was saved. Select the .inf file. Click OK.

If neither option is available, look for a generic ZPL or ZDesigner driver under Zebra Technologies. This is listed as a last resort. Model-specific drivers always work better.

Never leave the driver as “unspecified.” Never skip past this screen. If you do, the printer looks installed but will not print. The printer will not show up in PrintNode.

Once the driver installs, click the printer in the list. Click Manage. Then click Print a test page. Confirm a physical page prints.

Check that the printer is on the same network as the laptop.

Or check that the printer is plugged in by USB.

Check that Windows shows “Ready” rather than “Offline” or “Paused.”

The page states that nine times out of ten, it is one of these three causes.

5 Confirm the printer shows in Greet and print a test badge

Check that PrintNode sees the printer. In the PrintNode client, click the Printers tab. The printer should be listed with a green Online status. If the printer is not listed, quit PrintNode from the menu bar or system tray. Then reopen PrintNode to force a refresh.

Refresh Printer Settings in Greet. Go back to Printer Settings in your Greet account. In the PrintNode Cloud Printing section, click Refresh. You should see the printer listed as Online. The list should include the computer name and Printer ID.

Print a test badge. Open the event being tested. Go into the staff interface. Open the attendee list used at check-in. Next to the blue Add Attendee button, click Select Printer, then Cloud. The printer should appear in the list. Select the printer. Open any attendee record. Print a test badge.

A physical badge printing means the full chain works end to end. Greet in the cloud sends the job. PrintNode runs on the laptop. The printer runs on the local network. Printing at the event runs the same way. The difference is that the steps are carried onsite.

Troubleshooting

The printer doesn't appear in the PrintNode client

• Confirm the printer is added to the laptop at the OS level.

Printers & Scanners on Mac can be used.

Printers & scanners on Windows can be used.

Confirm a real driver is selected.

Confirm the driver is not left unspecified.

• Print a test page from the OS itself.

If the OS cannot print, PrintNode will not see the printer.

• Quit PrintNode from the menu bar on Mac.

Quit PrintNode from the system tray on Windows.

Reopen PrintNode to force a refresh.

The printer shows in PrintNode but Greet says Offline

• Confirm PrintNode is still running on the laptop.

If the laptop went to sleep, printing shows as Offline in Greet.

If PrintNode was closed, printing shows as Offline in Greet.

• Confirm the laptop is on the same network as the printer.
• Click Refresh in Greet's Printer Settings page.

The Greet test badge doesn't print

• Check the printer for a paper jam.
• Check the printer for an empty ribbon.
• Check the printer for an empty label roll.
• Confirm the right printer was selected in the staff interface.

Use Select Printer → Cloud → your printer.

• Print a Windows or Mac test page again to confirm the OS-level connection is healthy.

The credentials aren't working

• Go back to Printer Settings in Greet.

Click Show credentials again to confirm the current email and password.

• If needed, click Reset password to generate a new one.

Then sign in again on the PrintNode client using the new password.

A note on networking

The onsite laptop and the printer have to be on the same network for a print job to reach the printer. If a Certain team member adds the printer to a remote laptop for a remote test, that team member can see it in Greet. No physical printing will happen because the remote laptop is not on the onsite network. The real test always runs from the onsite laptop. The onsite laptop must run on the same network as the printer.

Still stuck? Reach out to Certain Support.