Connecting your POS

Connect your POS to the kitchen display

The kitchen display can pretend to be a network receipt printer. Your POS adds it the same way it would add a kitchen printer, and dockets appear on the screen instead of on paper. There is nothing to integrate and no menu to sync. Before you start - The display and the POS must be on the same network. - Virtual Printer needs the installed app on an Android tablet or a Windows PC. It does not work in a web browser, which is why the setting shows Requires the KDS app there. - It does not work on an iPad or iPhone either. The switch is there, but turning it on shows an error and the switch turns itself off again. - You will need a manager PIN, because Virtual Printer is a manager-level setting. Step 1: Switch on the Virtual Printer 1. Tap SETTINGS in the sidebar. 2. Open the Virtual tab. 3. Turn on Enable Virtual Printer. The screen confirms Virtual printer started on port 9100. The status box at the bottom of the tab reads Running, with a green dot, and shows the address to use: Add as printer in your POS: followed by the display's IP address, such as 192.168.1.50. The Virtual tab with Enable Virtual Printer on, the POS System chosen and the status box reading Running with the IP address If you cannot see the Virtual tab, you are signed in as staff. Tap Unlock at the top of Settings and have a manager enter their PIN. See Unlock settings that need a manager PIN. Step 2: Add it in your POS as a printer Add a new printer in your POS with these details: | Setting | Value | |---|---| | Type | Network / Ethernet / Wi-Fi printer | | IP address | The address shown in the status box | | Port | 9100 — the port after Raw TCP: in the status box | Then route the kitchen categories to it, exactly as you would for a physical printer. Detailed steps for particular POS systems: - Connect a Uniwell MGP POS - Connect a Uniwell AX or HX POS Step 3: Send a test order Ring up a test order and send it to the kitchen. It should appear on the display. It arrives already accepted, because Auto-accept orders is on by default in the Virtual tab. Turn it off if you want to accept each order by hand. To print each POS docket on paper as well, turn on Auto-print orders in the same tab. See Print dockets from the display. If nothing arrives, see Orders are not arriving on the display. Step 4: Tell the display which POS you use This step is optional but strongly recommended. In Settings → Virtual → POS System, pick your POS from the list. The display can read many dockets without it, but with your POS selected it reads order numbers, table numbers, items and modifiers far more accurately. Under the list it then shows Active template: and the name of your POS. Leave it on Auto-detect (no template) if your POS is not listed. Systems marked (image only) send their dockets as pictures rather than text. Those still display correctly, but individual items cannot be pulled out of them. Give the display a fixed address The POS finds the display by its IP address, so that address must not change. Give the tablet or PC a static address, or a DHCP reservation on the router — the same discipline as a network printer. If it changes, the POS quietly stops being able to reach it. Keep the app running The display receives POS dockets only while its app is open. - In the background is fine. Pressing Home or switching to another app does not stop the Virtual Printer. Dockets keep arriving and are on the board when you come back. While it listens, Android shows a Virtual Printer Active notification. - Closed is not. Swiping the app away from the recent apps list, force-stopping it, or restarting the tablet stops the Virtual Printer. The POS cannot reach the display, and dockets sent in that time are not kept — they never appear. Set your POS's printer fallback, if it has one, so they print somewhere else. On Uniwell MGP that is Route rules if NA — see Connect a Uniwell MGP POS. - On a Windows PC, minimising the app is fine; closing its window quits it. Online orders are different: they wait for the display and appear when the app opens again, without the new-order sound. To have the app open by itself after the tablet restarts, see Virtual Printer is not running. Done Orders appear on the screen as quickly as they would have printed. The Virtual Printer starts by itself whenever the app opens, so there is nothing to switch on again. While it is running, there is no VP button in the sidebar. If a VP button with a red dot appears, or a red banner reads Virtual Printer is not running — POS orders won't be received, see Virtual Printer is not running.

Connect a Uniwell MGP POS

MGP can send dockets to up to eight network kitchen printers, so one venue can run up to eight screens. Menu wording varies a little between MGP versions. At a venue with several POS terminals, do all of this on the Server machine — kitchen printers are disabled on clients, which share the Server's. Switch on the Virtual Printer on the display first, so you have its IP address. See Connect your POS to the kitchen display. Step 1: Set the printer charset to ASCII This is the setting that catches most venues out. Go to Configure → Receipt → Printer charset and choose ASCII. Uniwell's own manual puts it plainly: when using a Kitchen Video Display System, select ASCII. With Unicode, the docket is converted to graphics and the kitchen display cannot read it. With the charset on Unicode the orders still arrive, but they show as a picture of the docket — no separate items, no modifiers, and nothing you can strike off. The real order number cannot be read either, so the card shows a six-character code the display makes up instead. Unless you are working in a non-Latin language. Arabic, Thai, Vietnamese, Japanese and Chinese cannot be read in text mode at all. For those, Unicode is the right choice: the docket arrives as a graphic and displays correctly in any script, at the cost of structured items. Step 2: Add the display as a kitchen printer 1. Go to Configure → External Device → Config Kitchen printer. 2. Choose Network (Ethernet or WIFI) as the interface. 3. Tick one of the #1 – #8 kitchen printer slots. 4. Tap the IP address area beside that slot and enter the display's IP address. 5. Set Paper width to match your docket layout — 58 mm or 80 mm. MGP's port is fixed at 9100, which is the display's default. There is nothing to change on either side. Step 3: Name it Tap the #x Description area and give it a clear name, such as KDS Hot Kitchen or KDS Bar. Step 4: Route items to it Assign departments and PLUs to the kitchen printer number you just set up, using Department → KP and PLU → KP. Anything routed to that KP number now appears on that screen. For more screens, repeat steps 2 to 4 with a different slot and a different IP address, and see Run more than one kitchen screen. Step 5: Check the kitchen print options Under Configure → System options → KOT (Kitchen Print Options): | Option | Set to | Why | |---|---|---| | Ticket for Kitchen printer (per PLU per cut) | No | If this is on, every item is sent as its own docket with the same order number. The display takes the later dockets for repeat copies of the first and drops them, so only the first item appears | | KOT with real time print | Your preference | Whether items go as they are rung up, or when the sale is finalised | | KOT machine No. print, KOT print clerk | Your preference | Both appear on the docket if enabled | Step 6: Set a fallback Route rules if NA decides what happens when a kitchen printer cannot be reached. Set it to Route to 1st valid KP or Route to receipt printer so nothing is lost when a screen is off. The display does not keep dockets sent while its app is closed, so this fallback is what saves them. Step 7: Select the template on the display On the display, open Settings → Virtual → POS System and choose Uniwell / MGP APOS. Under the list it then reads Active template: Uniwell / MGP APOS, followed by a version number. This tells the display how an MGP docket is laid out, so it can find the order number and tell items from modifiers. One setting to leave alone In Settings → Virtual → Advanced Settings, leave Connection timeout (ms) at 0, the default. The display labels it 0 = keep alive (recommended). MGP pings its printers, holds the connection open with a heartbeat and reconnects by itself — the keep-alive default suits that behaviour, and shortening it causes dropped orders between sales. Done Ring up a test sale and send it to the kitchen. It should appear with the order number, items and modifiers listed separately. If it arrives as a picture instead, go back to step 1. If items and modifiers are mixed up, check step 7.

Connect a Uniwell AX or HX POS

Uniwell AX and HX Series systems send text dockets, which the display reads into separate items and modifiers. How well it reads them depends on how the kitchen print is set up on the POS. Switch on the Virtual Printer on the display first, so you have its IP address. See Connect your POS to the kitchen display. Step 1: Add the display as a kitchen printer 1. In the POS configuration, add a new network printer. 2. Enter the display's IP address and port 9100. 3. Route your kitchen categories to it, as you would any kitchen printer. Step 2: Set up the kitchen print Open Print Format on the POS and choose KITCHEN PRINT from the list at the top. Menu wording varies a little between versions. | On the docket | Set it up so | Why | |---|---|---| | Modifiers (condiments) | They print white on black. If yours print normally, go to the Others tab, select Condiment PLU and tick Reverse print | This is how the display tells a modifier from an item | | Items | The PLU line on the Format tab prints QTY before Name, so an item reads 1 x Toastie | The display shows the quantity. It also reads items correctly this way if your modifiers can't print white on black, as long as modifiers print without a quantity | | Order number | The last line includes the receipt number, such as 001 001 000190 0001 12/10/2026 22:07, or the header has an ORDER NUMBER line | Without either, the card shows a short code the display makes up | | Prices | Leave them off the kitchen print | A price printed beside an item becomes part of its name | Leave the header lines as they suit the kitchen. The display picks out the table number and EAT IN or TAKEAWAY, and shows a NON ADD message, the customer's name, the person count and the KP RECALL line as notes on the card. Long names are cut short. AX and HX cut a name that does not fit the line, so Grilled Prawn Cutlet can print as Grilled Prawn Cutl. The display shows the name as printed, so keep kitchen names short. Step 3: Select the template on the display On the display, open Settings → Virtual → POS System and choose Uniwell AX/HX. Under the list it then reads Active template: Uniwell AX/HX, followed by a version number. Signed in as staff, a manager has to unlock these settings first — see Unlock settings that need a manager PIN. This tells the display how an AX or HX docket is laid out. With the wrong template, or none, modifiers can be read as items in their own right. Uniwell MGP is a different product with its own template. If you are on MGP, use Connect a Uniwell MGP POS instead. Step 4: Send a test order Ring up a sale with a few items, at least one with modifiers, and send it to the kitchen. To compare the docket with what the display read from it, set Settings → Virtual → Display mode to Both. The card then shows the items with the original docket underneath. If it is not right - Change the kitchen print to match step 2. This is the most reliable fix. - Or edit the template. Under Settings → Virtual → POS System, tap Edit Template. For each line of a sample docket you can set its role, such as item, modifier or note, and point Order Number, Customer Name or Table Number at the line that carries it. - Or send us a diagnostic capture. Switch on Diagnostic capture under Settings → Virtual, send a test order, and tell us. We can see exactly what the POS sent and advise. The capture switches itself off after 48 hours. See Send diagnostics to support. Done A test order shows its order number, then each item with its quantity, and each modifier indented under the item it belongs to.

Run more than one kitchen screen

A second screen needs no server and no extra infrastructure. It is another printer as far as the POS is concerned. How it works | Route in the POS | Goes to | Address | |---|---|---| | FOOD | Hot kitchen | 192.168.1.50 | | DRINKS | Bar and coffee | 192.168.1.51 | | DESSERT | Desserts | 192.168.1.52 | Setting it up 1. Set up each screen on its own tablet or PC, following Connect your POS to the kitchen display. 2. Give each one a different fixed IP address. 3. In the POS, add each as a separate printer. 4. Route the categories you want to each printer. Every screen needs its own licence, and all of them must be on the same network as the POS. What each screen keeps for itself The Virtual, Display and Sound tabs belong to each screen. Switch on the Virtual Printer and choose the POS System on every screen, not just the first. The Kitchen tab is shared by every screen at the venue — it says Shared across all devices at this location. Change the bump mode or the all-day items on one screen, and the others pick it up. When every screen shows every docket A screen with sync on sends each docket it receives to the server, and every other screen at the venue with sync on shows it too. POS routing then decides which screen receives a docket first, not which screens show it. Sync is the Enable sync switch under Settings → Account → Sync to Server — see Check this screen's licence, sync and app version. It is on by default. To keep a screen to its own dockets, turn it off on that screen. The switch then reads Local mode — orders stay on this device, and the screen shows only what the POS sends it, with no orders from the server. The switch cannot be turned off when it reads Required — integrations are configured for this location, for example at a venue that takes mypreorder online orders. A screen on a Standalone licence always keeps its orders to itself. Naming them Name each printer in the POS after the screen it drives — KDS Hot Kitchen, KDS Bar — rather than leaving it as Printer 2. Routing becomes far easier to follow later, especially for whoever has to change it next. If a screen is off Most POS systems let you set a fallback for when a printer cannot be reached. Point it at another kitchen printer or the receipt printer, so that kitchen information is never silently lost when a screen is switched off or drops off the network.