A thermal printer that will not print is almost never broken. In nine cases out of ten it is one of four things: the driver, the paper roll's direction, the printer Windows thinks is the default, or a setting inside AgroPOS that was never filled in.

This walks through thermal printer setup in order, and then through the failures in the order they actually happen. Ten minutes, and you should not need to call anyone.

Before you start

You need:

  • A thermal receipt printer — 80 mm is what AgroPOS receipts are laid out for.
  • The USB cable and the power adapter that came with it.
  • The driver disc or download for your exact model. This is the part people skip, and it is the part that causes most of the trouble.

A note on 58 mm printers: AgroPOS lays out its receipt for an 80 mm roll. A 58 mm printer will print, but the columns will not sit where they should. If you are still buying, buy 80 mm.

Step 1: Install the driver first, before plugging in

The whole of thermal printer setup rests on this step. Get it right and the rest is quick; skip it and you will be back here later.

Windows will often detect a thermal printer on its own and install a generic driver. That generic driver prints, but it prints slowly, cuts in the wrong place, and sometimes ignores the paper width entirely.

Install the manufacturer's driver before connecting the printer:

  1. Find the driver for your exact model — Xprinter, Epson TM series, Black Copper, POS-80, whatever is on the box. The model number is on a sticker underneath.
  2. Run the installer.
  3. Only when it asks, connect the USB cable and switch the printer on.

If you already plugged it in and Windows installed something, that is fine — install the real driver anyway, then remove the extra entry from Settings › Bluetooth & devices › Printers & scanners.

Step 2: Load the roll the right way round

Thermal paper only prints on one side, and half of all "it prints blank" calls are a roll loaded upside down.

The coated side must face the print head. On almost every receipt printer that means the paper comes off the roll from underneath, not over the top. If you are unsure: scratch the paper with a fingernail. The side that leaves a dark mark is the side that prints.

Step 3: Test from Windows, not from AgroPOS

Do this before opening AgroPOS. It separates a printer problem from a software problem, and saves you looking in the wrong place.

Go to Settings › Bluetooth & devices › Printers & scanners, click your printer, then Printer properties › Print Test Page.

  • Test page prints → the printer and driver are fine. Any problem now is in AgroPOS settings, which is Step 4.
  • Test page does not print → stay here. The section below is for you.

Step 4: Tell AgroPOS which printer to use

In AgroPOS: Settings › Printer Settings.

  1. Thermal Printer — pick your printer from the list. If the list is empty, Windows does not see the printer; go back to Step 3.
  2. Print every receipt automatically — turn this on if you want each sale to print the moment it is confirmed, with no dialog to click through. At a busy counter this is worth having on.

If you leave the printer blank, or leave auto-print off, AgroPOS shows the normal Windows print dialog and you choose the printer each time. That works, it is just slower.

Make a Rs 10 test sale to a walk-in customer and see what comes out.

When it still does not print

Nothing comes out and the light is on

The printer is receiving nothing. Check that the USB cable is in a port that works — try a different one, and avoid USB hubs. Then check that the printer is not showing Offline or Paused in Printers & scanners; right-click it and clear both.

Paper comes out blank

Roll is upside down. See Step 2. If the roll is correct and it still prints blank, the paper may be old — thermal paper stored in heat or sunlight loses its coating.

It prints, but the right side is cut off

The driver is set to the wrong paper width. In Printer properties › Preferences, set the paper size to your roll — usually 80 × 297 mm or a "Roll 80mm" option. If your printer only offers 58 mm, that is the printer you have, and the layout will not fit properly.

It prints very faint

Two causes. Either the print density is low — raise it in Preferences — or the paper is cheap. Thermal paper quality varies a lot and it is a false economy on a counter that prints two hundred receipts a day.

It prints one receipt, then stops until I restart

Almost always a driver issue rather than the printer. Uninstall the printer completely from Printers & scanners, restart Windows, then reinstall using the manufacturer's driver.

Some characters print as boxes

The printer is being sent a character its font does not have. Urdu text in a customer or product name will do this on many thermal printers. Keep names that must appear on the receipt in English, or accept that they print as boxes on that model.

The receipt is too long, with a big gap at the bottom

The driver is set to a fixed page length instead of a roll. In Preferences, choose the roll option rather than a fixed size like A6.

If none of this works

Print a Windows test page one more time. If that fails, the problem is the printer, the cable or the driver, and no setting inside AgroPOS will fix it — take the printer back to whoever sold it.

If the Windows test page prints but AgroPOS does not, message support on WhatsApp with the printer's model number and what you see on screen. The number is on every page of this site.