Install and set up
Prepare the printers, pick the monitoring PC, install PrintSentinel and add your first sites and printers.
One PC monitors every printer: the server. Everyone else connects to it from their own PC or a browser. A small office can stop after step 4; offices with branches or a helpdesk carry on with Several PCs.
1. Switch on SNMP on the printers
On each printer’s web page, enable SNMP, read-only:
| Brand | Where |
|---|---|
| Konica Minolta | Web Connection → Network → SNMP Setting |
| Kyocera and UTAX | Command Center RX → Network Settings → Protocol → SNMP |
| HP | Embedded Web Server → Networking → SNMP |
- Prefer SNMPv3 with authentication and privacy where the printer supports it (Enterprise plan). Use the same user name, security level, protocols and passwords in PrintSentinel; Test connection shows the protection it used.
- On v1 or v2c, change the community from
publicto something private and keep it read-only. - Where the printer supports an access list, allow SNMP only from the server PC’s address.
2. Pick the server PC
Any Windows 10 or 11 PC that is always on and can reach every printer: the head office network and the branch subnets over the VPN. Give it a fixed IP address or a DNS name, and set Settings → System → Power → Sleep to Never (the screen can still turn off).
3. Install and start your trial
- Download the installer and run it as an administrator. Choose Anyone who uses this computer (all users): the Windows service in step 5 runs only from an all-users install.
- On first start, enter your work email and the code we send you. Your trial starts there.
4. Add sites and printers
- Sites: add your head office and one site per branch, with its address.
- Printers → Discover: scan each site’s range, for example
10.20.1.1-254, with the SNMP settings from step 1, and add the printers that answer to the right site. Or use Add printer for one address. - Settings → Notifications: set up Teams, email and desktop pop-ups. See Alerts and notifications.
Within a few minutes every printer shows its status, supplies and trays, and alerts start to open for anything that needs a person.
5. Keep it running with nobody signed in
Settings → Multi-PC access → Run as a Windows service… and approve the administrator prompt. Monitoring then carries on after restarts and Windows Update without anyone signing in. PrintSentinel moves its data to %ProgramData%\ (readable by administrators only), opens TCP port 47631 in Windows Firewall for your domain and private networks, and the app becomes a window onto the service.
To check it, restart the PC and don’t sign in. From another PC or a browser, open https://<server>:47631: the printers should show fresh last poll times.