Carolina Print Hub printing is a way for fee-paying students to print at locations around campus and in the Virtual Lab. All fee-paying students who have no flags on their accounts receive a printing allotment from the ITS Print Plan account each semester to use for printing at Carolina Print Hub locations.
Getting Started with Carolina Print Hub
How much is the Carolina Print Hub allotment?
The Carolina Print Hub allotment is applied to your One Card and is available to use use toward printing in supported locations. The number of pages you are allotted per semester is:
- Fall 400
- Spring 400
- Summer Session I 175
- Summer Session II 175
- May 175
Your new allotment is assigned at the beginning of each semester.
What is Pharos?
Pharos, also known as the Carolina Print Hub printing client, is the software package that tracks your print plan funds. This package also helps the University manage its printing so that you can print less, reduce printing costs, and keep your printing more secure. The Carolina Print Hub printing client is installed on the computers in the UNC University Libraries and is also available to be downloaded on your personal computer. The Carolina Print Hub printing client is also installed in the Virtual Lab.
Where are printers located?
You can find Carolina Print Hub printing stations at many locations around campus.
How much does it cost to print?
Each semester students are given a print allotment, which they can use at the Carolina Print Hub locations. That allotment meets the needs of most students. On average, only 3% of students exceed that allotment and have to pay for printing out of personal funds.
Black & white pages cost $0.10 each to print and color printed pages cost $0.30 each.
Do I pay $40 for Carolina Print Hub each semester?
No, Carolina Print Hub is one of a pool of services offered by Information Technology Services (ITS) from student fees. Students who don’t fully use Carolina Print Hub printing each semester reduce the cost of other services in the pool – Adobe Creative Cloud, Microsoft software and services, Virtual Lab software, personal use of the campus WiFi, classroom technology and ITS Service Desk support.
ITS partnered with Student Government to provide an allocation of printed pages that meets the needs of most students. Currently only 3% of students need to use personal funds to pay for additional printing at Carolina Print Hub locations. The print allocation takes into account that some students will not print, some students will print more than the average, and a small percentage of students will exceed the allocation.
Are there any color Carolina Print Hub locations on campus?
You can install the Carolina Print Hub Color print queue on your laptop to print in color right from your laptop. You first need to install the Carolina Print Hub Color Queue. (Install both the Carolina Print Hub Color Queue and the Black & White Queue if you want to be able to print to both queues.) Once installed, Carolina Print Hub Color Queue will be listed in the Print Options when you are printing. Selecting the normal Carolina Print Hub Printing Queue does not let you print your document on the color printers. You can also print on the color printers using Mobile Print.
When is the print allotment available?
The print allotment is available from the first day of the semester until the end of finals.
Using Carolina Print Hub
How do I upload a print job using mobileprint?
- Go to mobileprint.unc.edu and login using your onyen and password
- Upload the document you wish to print
- Make any changes you need to your print job (such as the number of copies or printing only on 1 side).
- Go to a printer to release the print job
How do I print from inside an application using the Carolina Print Hub printing client?
- In the application you need to print from, select File > Print.
- In the Name field in the Print pop-up window, select Carolina Print Hub. Note: Printing is automatically set to print double-sided.
- Make any changes you need to your print job (such as the number of copies or printing only on 1 side).
- Click OK at the bottom of the window.
The application displays the Pop-up Client window.
- In this window, enter your Onyen. (Double-check that your Onyen is typed correctly, because if it isn't, your job will not go to the print queue).
- Type a descriptive name for your job (this name is displayed when you retrieve your print job), and click OK.
Results:
- Your print job goes to a print queue and is listed under your Onyen.
- A pop-up window displays in the bottom right corner of screen, showing the cost of your print job.
- Your print job stays in the queue for 60 minutes before being deleted.
How do I release a print job from one of the Carolina Print Hub Printers?
- Go to any of the Carolina Print Hub printers across campus.
- If the screen is black the printer is asleep. Touch the screen or any of the physical buttons to wake the printer.
- Press the yellow “Press Here”, button on the printer’s screen.
- Login using your onyen and onyen password
- Check the checkbox for the jobs you want to print
- Press the green print button.
- Log off the printer and pick up your documents.
How do I use Touchless Printing to release a print job from one of the Carolina Print Hub Printers?
Touchless Printing Job Release explains the requirements and steps for using touchless printing with Carolina Print Hub Printers.
How long will my print job stay in the print queue?
Print jobs are automatically deleted from a print queue after 1 hour of being submitted from your computer.
Do I need to take my personal computer with me when I pick up my printed document?
No, you will not need your laptop to release and print your document once you are at the ITS print stations.
Can I send print jobs from my Mac computer to a Carolina Print Hub printer?
Yes. Carolina Print Hub: Printing from a Mac explains how to install the Carolina Print Hub printing software, and Printing on a Carolina Print Hub Station explains how to send a print job to a Carolina Print Hub Print Station and how to pick up the printed copy.
Can I send print jobs from my personal computer to a Carolina Print Hub Printer?
Yes. Carolina Print Hub: Printing from Windows explains how to install the Carolina Print Hub printing software on a windows computer. Carolina Print Hub: Printing from a Mac explains how to install the Carolina Print Hub software on a Mac. You can also use Mobile Print to upload your print job to be released on any of the Carolina Print Hub printers. Printing on a Carolina Print Hub Station explains how to release the printed copy.
Can I send print jobs from my personal computer, mobile device or tablet using Virtual Lab to a Carolina Print Hub printer?
Yes. ITS Labs Virtual Lab has the Carolina Print Hub printing client installed.
Can I submit a print job from off-campus?
Yes. You can use Mobile Print to submit a print job from off campus.
Installing and Removing Carolina Print Hub
Can I install Carolina Print Hub on a non-Windows laptop?
Yes, Carolina Print Hub can be installed on a Mac: Carolina Print Hub: Printing from a Mac. Mobile Print will also work with both Windows and non-Windows machines.
How do I uninstall the Carolina Print Hub application?
Follow the steps in Uninstalling the Carolina Print Hub Application from Your CCI Laptop to removing the Carolina Print Hub software from your computer.
One Card and Printing Balance
Do my unused pages carry over to the next semester?
No, printing allotments do not roll over.
How can I get a refund for unprinted or unreadable pages?
You can submit a help ticket to receive a refund.
How can I tell what my print balance is?
You can log in to the One Card website to view your balance.
How can I add money to my UNC Onecard?
To add money to your One Card Expense account, go to the One Card Office or submit a request over the web at the Onecard website.
What if I am not covered with the allotted pages?
Non fee-paying students, faculty, and staff pay from their Onecard’s Expense Account.
Can I submit a print job that goes over my allotted pages and pay for the balance?
No, Carolina Print Hub printing can only use one print plan per print job. Your Carolina Print Hub ITS Print Plan needs to go to exactly $0.00 before you can print from your expense account. For example, if you only have two pre-paid pages left and you submit a job that is 10 pages, you need to break your print job into two separate jobs. Send two pages to print from the ITS print plan and the remaining eight pages to print from your expense account.
If you use color printing and have a remaining balance of $0.05 on your Carolina Print Hub ITS Print Plan, contact the One Card Office at 919-962-8024 or at the One Card website to clear the print plan so you can print using your expense account.
Known Issues
Why isn't the Carolina Print Hub popup appearing when I print from my OS X device?
The popup should automatically start running when you start your machine, but if it does not, you can manually start it. To manually enable the popup, open your hard drive in Finder and go to Library > Application Support > Pharos > Popup. Start Popup. Once it is running, you should be able to print.
The ITS Service Desk has also seen issues if someone installs the Carolina Print Hub color printer after the regular Carolina Print Hub printer is installed. The two installation programs install different versions of the popup client. To fix this problem, install the regular Carolina Print Hub printer again. In this situation, you will notice that the Popup client is not in the Library > Application Support > Pharos > Popup folder.
Error Message: PDF File from Adobe Reader on Mac causing Firmware error on printer
This error occurs when a PDF with a corrupt image or font is sent to the printer. To fix this, you can either print from the built-in PDF viewer application (Preview) or by printing the file as an image from Adobe Reader.
To print the file as an image, follow these steps:
- Choose File > Print
- Click Advanced
- Select “Print as Image” (the location of this box depends on version of Adobe Reader).
You should now be able to print the document without receiving that error.
When printing from a computer connected to eduroam, I am getting a "failed to contact the Popup Server" error
The eduroam network is available on campuses around the world. If you set up eduroam on another campus and come to UNC’s campus, you will have internet access to eduroam here, but you may not have full access to all the resources on UNC’s campus network. If you try to use Carolina Print Hub and get a “failed to contact the popup server” error, you may need to configure eduroam for use here at UNC-Chapel Hill.
The easiest way to verify if you are configured for full access is to do a Google search for “what is my ip address?” If you have an IP address that starts with 204, that means you have a guest connection and you may need to reconfigure eduroam. If you reconfigure eduroam and still get the same error when trying to use the Carolina Print Hub printers, visit one of the ITS Service Desk locations for further troubleshooting.
Why Am I Not Able to Print Multiple Copies From the Color Printer?
A new model of color printer was installed in the summer of 2018, and the new color printers cannot print more than one copy of a document when using the old CCI Color printing software. This software was updated on August 16th, 2018 to resolve this issue. If you installed the CCI Color printing software before that date, update to the new version. CCI Printing was renamed Carolina Print Hub mid-2023.
I should have a Carolina Print Hub printing allotment, but my account shows a $0.00 balance.
If you are a fee-paying student with no flags on your account, you should get the Carolina Print Hub ITS printing allotment at the start of the semester. If you believe you should have the allotment but see a $0.00 balance at the print stations, contact the One Card office. There could be a problem with your One Card that is causing your balance to show as $0.00 even though you actually have the funds.
Unable to print using Carolina Print Hub printing software on a Mac running OSX Big Sur
If you have a mac with OSX Big Sur installed and are unable to print using the CCI printing client, try reinstalling the Carolina Print Hub printing software from shareware. There are new drivers within that installer that allow users with Big Sur to print on our Lexmark printers. The new installer will be labeled as Carolina Print Hub, the new name for CCI Printing as of May 2023. Mobileprint could also be used as an alternative to the Carolina Print Hub printing client. See this help document for more info on Mobileprint.