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VMX Printer Bridge

The VMX Printer Bridge is a Windows background service that connects your receipt printer to VMX. It continuously checks for new print jobs from your VMX server and sends them to your local printer — no special router configuration required.

Installation

Download the Installer

  1. Go to VMX Admin → Registers → Printers
  2. Find the print queue you want to connect and click Service
  3. A file named something like VMXPrinterBridge_Setup_Register_1.exe will download

One installer per printer, per computer

Each downloaded installer is pre-configured for a specific print queue. The installer shows you exactly which queue it's for before you click Install. Do not share or reuse installers — if another computer needs the bridge, download a fresh installer from VMX Admin.

Run the Installer

  1. Double-click the downloaded .exe
  2. The Ready to Install screen confirms which print queue and server this installer is for — verify it's correct before continuing
  3. Click Install — the service installs and starts automatically
  4. The Finish screen confirms the service is running

The installer requires administrator privileges. Windows may show a security warning ("Windows protected your PC") because the installer is not yet digitally signed — this is expected. Click More info → Run anyway to proceed.

How It Works

Once installed, the VMX Printer Bridge runs as a Windows background service called VMX Printer Bridge and starts automatically every time Windows boots. It:

  • Continuously checks your VMX server for new print jobs
  • Sends them directly to your configured printer
  • Restarts itself automatically if it ever stops unexpectedly
  • Requires no ongoing maintenance

The service connects outbound to your VMX server over HTTPS — no inbound firewall ports need to be opened.

Printer Support

The bridge supports network printers (via TCP/IP), printers installed locally on Windows (by name), PDF printing, and file share–based printers. Your VMX support contact will configure the correct connection type during setup.

Replacing or Moving a Computer

If you are replacing the computer that runs the Printer Bridge:

  1. Uninstall the bridge from the old computer first — go to Windows Settings → Apps, find VMX Printer Bridge, and uninstall it. This prevents the old computer from competing with the new one for print jobs if it's ever turned on again.
  2. Set up the new computer by downloading and running a fresh installer from VMX Admin.

If you're setting up the bridge on a new computer without decommissioning the old one, both machines will attempt to process print jobs, which can cause missed or duplicate prints.

Monitoring

In VMX Admin → Registers → Printer Bridges, each connected bridge shows:

  • Last Connect — should refresh every 30–60 seconds if healthy
  • Host/OS — computer name, Windows version, IP address, and last reboot time
  • OS Printers — all printers installed on that Windows machine with their status
  • Queue — jobs currently stuck in the Windows print spooler (normally Empty)
  • Spooler Errors — recent print system errors on that computer

Troubleshooting

The service keeps stopping or won't print

The bridge restarts itself automatically after most failures. If it keeps stopping:

  1. On the Windows machine, open Services (services.msc)
  2. Find VMX Printer Bridge and check its status
  3. If Stopped, click Start

From VMX Admin → Printer Bridges, the Restart button will remotely trigger a clean restart.

The print queue has stuck jobs

Use the Flush Queue button in VMX Admin → Printer Bridges. This clears all jobs stuck in the Windows print spooler. The printer will be offline for a few seconds during the flush.

"This installer has not been configured"

The installer file is outdated or was corrupted during download. Download a fresh copy from VMX Admin.

Printer shows "Unknown" status

This is normal for some printer drivers that don't report status back to Windows. The bridge will still print correctly — Unknown just means the driver doesn't expose a status code.

Uninstalling

Go to Windows Settings → Apps, find VMX Printer Bridge, and uninstall. This stops the service, removes all VMX Printer Bridge files, and deregisters the Windows service cleanly.