Deploying Printers
Starting with Windows
Server 2003 R2 edition, and the release of the Print Management console,
Windows administrators are now able to easily deploy printers to
multiple computers and users using domain policies. Printers can be
deployed to computers and/or users and when a printer is removed from a
deployed printer domain policy, it is also removed from the computer or
user profile during the next startup or logon cycle. Of course, this
means that this setting also requires the Windows XP and Windows Vista
systems to wait for the network to start before running this policy
because the printer is deployed using Group Policy settings as well as a
startup or logon script. Also it must be noted that simply removing the
policy does not remove the printer.
Deploying a printer using
domain policies can be performed by using the GPMC on a Windows Server
2008 R2 system that also has the Print Services Tools installed.
Deploying printers with group policies can also be performed using the
Print Management console, which is one of the Print Services Tools, and
using this tool actually provides more functionality during printer
deployment. Because of the added functionality, the recommended
deployment method for Group Policy deployed printers is to use the Print
Management console. To deploy a printer to a computer using Group
Policy, perform the following steps:
1. | Log on to a designated Windows Server 2008 R2 administrative server.
| 2. | If
necessary, install the Group Policy Management Console and Print
Services Tools features on the system.
| 3. | After the tools are installed, click Start, click All Programs, click Administrative Tools, and select Print Management.
| 4. | In
the tree pane, expand the Print Servers node to reveal domain print
servers. If no servers are listed, right-click the Print Servers node
and select Add/Remove Servers. Browse to find a print server or type the
server name, click Add to List, and then click OK to return to the
Print Management console.
| 5. | After
a print server is added, expand the server and select the Printers node
in the tree pane. If no printers are listed in the Printers pane, a
printer must be installed. Please refer to the Print Management console
Help file if assistance with printer installation is required.
| 6. | In the Printers pane, right-click a desired printer, and select Deploy with Group Policy.
| 7. | When
the Deploy with Group Policy window opens, click the Browse button to
locate the group policy that will contain the deployed printer settings.
| 8. | When
the Browse for a Group Policy Object window opens, select the All tab
and select the desired group policy. To create a new GPO for this task,
select the Create a New Group Policy Object icon near the upper right of
the window.
| 9. | The
new group policy will be created with the default name of New Group
Policy Object; right-click the policy and rename it to DeployPrinterGPO.
Select the renamed policy, and click OK to return to the Deploy with
Group Policy window.
| 10. | Back
in the Deploy with Group Policy window, check the “The Computers That
This GPO Applies to (per Machine)” check box, and click the Add button
to load the printer into the policy, as shown in Figure 6.
| 11. | Click
OK to apply the changes. A window opens to display the results of the
printer deployment. Click OK if the operation succeeded; otherwise,
click the Details button to review the log for possible errors.
| 12. | Click OK again to close the Deploy with Group Policy window and return to the Print Management console.
| 13. | In the tree pane, select the Deployed Printers node and verify in the Printers pane that the printer is now listed.
| 14. | Close the Print Management console.
| 15. | Open
the Group Policy Management Console and locate the new GPO and link it
to the domain, site, or organizational unit that contains the desired
computers this policy will apply to.
|
Note
Only Windows Vista, Windows 7,
Windows Server 2008, and Windows Server 2008 R2 are capable of adding
printers through policies using built-in functionality. Older operating
systems must use startup scripts for computers or logon scripts for
users and must run the pushprinterconnections.exe utility from a Windows Server 2008 system.
To support deployed printer
domain policies for systems other than Windows Vista, Windows 7, Windows
Server 2008, and Windows Server 2008 R2, perform these additional
steps:
1. | On a Windows Server 2008 NOT R2 system, open Windows Explorer and browse to the c:\Windows\System32 folder.
| 2. | Locate the pushprinterconnections.exe file and copy it to the Clipboard.
| 3. | Browse to the domain Netlogon share in the Windows Explorer window. For this example, it will be \\companyabc.com\Netlogon. Paste the pushprinterconnections.exe file into this share and close the Windows Explorer window.
| 4. | Open the Group Policy Management Console.
| 5. | Expand the domain and expand the Group Policy Objects container.
| 6. | Select the DeployPrintersGPO policy and open it for editing.
| 7. | Expand the Computer Configuration node, expand the Policies node, and expand the Windows Settings node.
| 8. | Select the Scripts (Startup/Shutdown) node, and in the Settings pane double-click the Startup setting.
| 9. | In
the Startup Properties window, click the Add button. In the Add a
Script window that opens, click the Browse button to search for the
file.
| 10. | In the Browse window, browse to the \\companyabc.com\netlogon share, select the pushprinterconnections.exe file, and click Open.
| 11. | Back in the Browse window, leave the script parameters blank, verify the path and executable name are correct, and click OK.
| 12. | Click OK again to close the Startup Script Properties window, and close the Group Policy Management Editor also.
| 13. | Back
in the Group Policy Management Console, link the DeployPrinterGPO to a
test OU that contains a computer on which the printer can be installed.
| 14. | Reboot the computer to which the DeployPrinterGPO applies.
| 15. | After
reboot, log on and verify that the printer was successfully installed.
If the printer was not installed, the system might require an additional
reboot or Synchronous Foreground Group Policy Processing might need to
be enabled.
| 16. | After
the GPO testing is complete, log back on to the Windows Server 2008 R2
system, open the GPMC, and link the DeployPrinterGPO to the necessary
OUs.
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Deploying printers using
GPOs to users follows mostly the same process; except when deploying
the printer, the check box to deploy in the user section should be
checked and instead of a computer startup script a user logon script
should be defined. Deploying printers using GPOs for computers or users
simplifies the installation and removal of printers but does not set the
default printer if multiple printers are installed on the computer or
in the user profile. Setting the default printer should be performed by
the end
user, or the new Printer settings available in the User Configuration
Preferences node can be used to install and set the default printer.
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