Symptoms

When configuring a Duplex printer setting in an application for example Print&Share CQ, the actual print-out results in simplex instead of duplex. The duplex printer setting has been ignored.

Cause

There could be literally many reasons why you could select Duplex but the actual print-out is Simplex. In this article we are going to cover one problem that we have seen in a lot of support cases: printer drivers.

Our setup was a Windows Server 2019 with Print&Share CQ installed having a profile with a print channel. For the print channel we've selected the Ricoh IM C 2000 using the Ricoh PCL 6 V4 UniversalDriver V4.4 and configured it to print in Duplex.

Several tests were made, driver was reinstalled, but each time the Duplex setting was ignored and prints were made in simplex.

Resolution

Solution 1:

First of all, Make sure that your Windows (Server) operating system is up-to-date.

Next, these are the steps you could try:

• Try to update the driver to a newer version.
• Try to install a different driver

To have a good overview of the printer driver versions, you can open Print Managemenet:

1. Click Windows Start button and type in Run or press WINDOWS FLAG + R to open the Run dialog
2. Type in printmanagement.msc and hit Enter

We've installed the printer again via Windows Control panel and Windows automatically found and installed the printer. It was using the Microsoft IPP Class Driver.

From the manufacturer's website we've download another driver: Ricoh PCL 6 V4 Driver for Univeral Print 4.8.0.0.

Both new drivers were tested. The duplex setting was respected.

Solution: Update the driver or install a different driver.

Solution 2:

Of course make sure that your Duplex Unit is installed.

1. Navigate to Devices and Printers in the Windows Control Panel.
2. Right-click on the printer and select Printer properties.
3. Select the Device Settings tab.
4. Check if Duplex Unit (for 2-Sided Printing) is installed. If not, install it.