- The Windows service (
Omnilinker.Station.Service.exe). It stays connected to Omnilinker, takes print jobs and sends them to the printers. It runs as Local System, so it keeps printing when nobody is signed in. - The tray app (
tray\Omnilinker.Station.Tray.exe). It shows the station’s state next to the clock, and is where you pair the PC and where people at the desk pause printing or fix a printer. It runs as the person who is signed in.
Before you begin
- A station in Omnilinker and its pairing code. An administrator adds the station in Devices > Stations and gets a 6-character code that works for 10 minutes. See Add a station. You can install the app first and pair later.
- The PC: Windows 10 or 11, 64-bit, next to the printers it will print on.
- The printers installed in Windows for all users of the PC. The service runs as Local System and cannot see a printer that was added for one Windows user only, such as a network printer connected from one person’s profile.
- Network: the PC must reach
https://omnilinker.plon port 443. If your company uses a proxy, you can enter it after installation; see Network and proxy. - A local administrator account, and a PowerShell window started as Administrator.
Get the installer
In the Add a station dialog, Download for Windows downloads the installer. Copy a link to open on that PC copies the download link, so you can open it on the station’s PC.Install the app
1
Run setup for all users
Open PowerShell as Administrator in the folder that contains the installer, and run it with these options.
Replace Setup installs the app to
<installer> with the installer’s file name:C:\Program Files\Omnilinker\Station\current. The tray app is in its tray subfolder.2
Let setup register the app
Setup then does the following by itself:
Finally, setup starts the service. The service starts the tray app for everyone who is signed in, and the pairing
window opens.If a service called
OmnilinkerStation already exists, setup updates its program path and startup type and keeps
its other settings.3
Check the result
Status should be Running.Setup does not stop when one of its steps fails. It writes what it could not do to
%ProgramData%\Omnilinker\Station\logs\setup.log, one line per problem. A successful run writes done.Pair the PC with Omnilinker
Pairing links this PC to one station of your company. You type a code instead of copying a password or an API key.1
Open the pairing window
After installation, Connect this PC to Omnilinker opens by itself. If you closed it, click the Omnilinker
Station icon next to the clock: it says “Not connected yet: click to connect this PC”.
2
Type the code
Type the code from Omnilinker in Pairing code. You can paste the whole code. Where’s the code? explains
where to find it: Devices > Stations > Add station.
3
Check who the PC will print for
The app shows “Code accepted. This PC will print for:” with the Company, Station, Location and who added
it (Added by), and how many printers it found. If this is not your company, click Cancel and check where
the code came from.
4
Connect
Click Connect this PC. The app shows that the station is connected and lists the printers on the PC. Click
Continue in Omnilinker to finish in the browser: choose what each printer prints and send a test label. See
Add a station.
How the station signs in
When the PC is paired, Omnilinker creates an account for that station alone and gives the app its key. The account has only the Station app (service accounts only) permissions, in the role Station Agent, and can act for this one station only. The key is stored encrypted in the data folder, which only SYSTEM and administrators can open; it is never shown to anyone.- Pair again with a new code in the station’s settings gives the PC a new key and stops the old one.
- Removing the station in Omnilinker stops its key at once. See Remove a station.
Who can change the app
Anyone signed in to the PC can open the tray app, see the printers, pause and resume printing, reprint the last label, send a test label and run Troubleshoot. See Use the Station app. Pairing an already paired PC again, changing the proxy, and disconnecting the PC need more. Only these people can do them:- members of the local group Omnilinker Station Operators,
- administrators whose tray app runs elevated (Run as administrator).
Network and proxy
The app connects out to Omnilinker over HTTPS; nothing connects in to the PC. When the connection drops, the app tries again every 30 seconds, and jobs wait in Omnilinker until it is back. If your company network needs a proxy, open the tray app’s Settings (right-click the icon) and choose Proxy under Connection: Use Windows settings (the default), None, or Manual… with an address such asproxy.company.local:8080. The next connection uses it. Changing the proxy needs an operator.
Local files
Open logs folder in the tray app’s Settings opens the service logs.
Update the app
The app updates itself. The service looks for a new version 5 minutes after it starts and then every 4 hours. When it finds one, it downloads it straight away and installs it at night, between 01:00 and 05:00 local time, and never while a label is on its way to the printer. It then stops, and Windows starts the new version a few seconds later. Afterwards the tray app shows “Updated overnight to …”. To install a downloaded update now, open the tray app’s Settings and click Install now under Updates. It installs as soon as nothing is printing. Check now looks for a new version straight away. An update runs the same steps as setup, so the service, the operators group and the tray app at sign-in stay in place. The pairing, the jobs file and the logs are kept: they are outside the install folder. To update by hand, run the new version’s installer with the same command as for the first installation, from PowerShell as Administrator.Remove the app
1
Disconnect the PC (recommended)
In the tray app, open Settings and click Disconnect… under Disconnect, then Disconnect. Omnilinker
is told straight away, and jobs on their way to this PC go back to Omnilinker. You need to be an operator.You can also remove the station in Omnilinker instead; see Remove a station.
2
Uninstall the app
Signed in as the administrator who installed the app, open Settings > Apps > Installed apps (on Windows
10: Apps & features) and uninstall Omnilinker Station.Uninstalling stops and removes the Windows service, removes the tray app from sign-in, and deletes the install
folder. Problems are written to
setup.log, as during installation.3
Delete local data (optional)
Uninstalling keeps
%ProgramData%\Omnilinker\Station, with the key, the jobs file and the logs, for support. The key
no longer works once the station is removed in Omnilinker. Delete the folder, as an administrator, if you are not
reinstalling the app on this PC. Each person’s %LocalAppData%\Omnilinker\Station folder can go too.4
Remove the operators group (optional)
Uninstalling keeps the Omnilinker Station Operators group. To remove it, run in PowerShell as Administrator:
Troubleshooting
No service after installation
No service after installation
Get-Service OmnilinkerStation finds nothing. The installer was probably started without --installto, for
example by double-clicking it, so it installed into a user profile. Check setup.log: it says “Install for all
users”. Uninstall that copy in Installed apps, then install the app again from PowerShell
as Administrator.“The Omnilinker Station service is not running”
“The Omnilinker Station service is not running”
The tray app cannot reach the service. Restart the PC. If it stays like this, start the service in PowerShell as
Administrator with
Start-Service OmnilinkerStation, then check the service logs.A printer is missing
A printer is missing
Install the printer in Windows (Settings > Printers & scanners), for all users of
the PC. It appears in Omnilinker within a minute. The Printers the app can see check in Troubleshoot shows
whether the app sees it.
The station stays Offline in Omnilinker
The station stays Offline in Omnilinker
Open Troubleshoot in the tray app. If “Omnilinker is blocked on this network” appears, other websites work but
Omnilinker does not answer: a firewall, antivirus or company proxy is usually the cause. Allow
omnilinker.pl on
port 443, or set the proxy in Network and proxy.“Only an administrator of this PC can do that.”
“Only an administrator of this PC can do that.”
Pairing again, the proxy and disconnecting need an operator. Add the person to Omnilinker Station Operators; see
Who can change the app.
“This PC is no longer connected”
“This PC is no longer connected”
The station was removed in Omnilinker. Ask an administrator to pair it again (Pair again under Removed
stations, or a new station), then type the new code. If the PC will not print for Omnilinker any more,
remove the app.