Installing Local Integrations for PaperCut MF and PaperCut NG

A PaperCut MF integration (e.g. a custom sync and auth module) often needs installation on the application server and creating an installation script, or standalone installer, can save your support team a lot of time and frustration. This tip will help you write a more more robust installer.

Windows

During installation, the location of PaperCut MF's installation directory is often needed. The usual default is C:\Program Files\PaperCut MF, but it's not guaranteed. Luckily PaperCut MF writes the final location in the Windows registry under the key HKLM:\HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\PaperCut MF. Here is an example PowerShell snippet that allows you to recover the InstallPath value.

(Get-ItemProperty -Path "HKLM:\HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\PaperCut MF").InstallPath

So for example you can use this approach:

copy-item .\my-connector  "$((Get-ItemProperty -Path 'HKLM:\HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\PaperCut MF').InstallPath)\server\custom"

Linux

On GNU/Linux PaperCut MF is installed into the home directory of the papercut user. (TOP TIP: When you create the account set the new user's home directory to /usr/local/papercut, instead of /home/papercut)

When making these types of changes you should generally be using the papercut account (e.g. sudo -iu papercut) so it the install directory is $HOME. However you can also find the correct directory using other means. For example ~paperecut or getent passwd papercut | cut -d : -f 6

macOS

It's always /Applications/PaperCut MF

Notes

This information also applies to PaperCut NG as well. Just make the obvious changes.

Knowing the correct installation directory allows you to a) update the contents of the PaperCut MF installation directory, or b) configure your integration if it needs the location at runtime.