Image forming apparatus and method for switching to printing with MICR toner

An electrographic printing machine (10) operable in combination with an installed one of a plurality of developing, or toning, stations (38a, 38b), is disclosed. Each of the plurality of toning stations (38a, 38b) is associated with a toner type, with one of the toning stations (38a) associated with Magnetic Ink Character Recognition (MICR) toner. Each toning station (38a, 38b) has an indicator (50), for example a resistor, that can be interrogated or measured by the printing machine (10) when installed, so that the printing machine (10) is aware of the type of toner to be used. If a MICR toning station (38a) is installed, a set of process setpoints and parameters are used that optimize MICR printing; if a normal toning station (38b) is installed, a different set of process setpoints and parameters adapted for the normal toner is used. Also in response to detecting that the MICR toning station (38a) is installed, the printing machine (10) enables certain security functions, such as privilege-level control of MICR fonts and secure files, and also such as disabling features such as automatic reprinting.