Deploy Printers with Group Policy - Revision history

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Ledhed: Created page with "As of Windows 2003 R2 you can install network printers via Group Policy. == Overview == One on the biggest pains about managing a windows network is deploying printers. Every..."

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Created page with "As of Windows 2003 R2 you can install network printers via Group Policy. == Overview == One on the biggest pains about managing a windows network is deploying printers. Every..."

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As of Windows 2003 R2 you can install network printers via Group Policy.

== Overview ==
One on the biggest pains about managing a windows network is deploying printers. Every user seems to need a different combination of printers. This creates a lot of overhead for admins.

Deploying Printers via Group Policy can save a lot of time, because you specify which users get which printers, then all you have to do is place the computer objects into the right OU and they get the printers they need. Taking it a step further if a computer object is moved because an employee/user takes on a new role or job, then rather than re-mapping their printers, you just move their computer object to the appropriate OU and the printers are automatically mapped.

== Group Policy Layout ==
If you're planning on deploying printers via GPO, then you need to take some time and thing about the logical structure of your AD.

Since GPO' are applied at the Computer or User level, you should organize your OU's into two distinct groups.
One for Computer based GPO's and another for User based GPO's.

As with all GPO's if you deploy printers as a Computer based GPO then the printers will map at startup (and users may not be able to delete or rename them).
If you deploy printers based on a User GPO then the printers will map at logon (under the user's credentials, thus allowing them to rename and or delete them).

This can be important because in environments where you have multiple users using the same workstation (like hospitals with multiple shifts). It might be a good idea to apply at the User level.

== PushPrinterConnections ==
When Printer Deployment was first introduced in Win2003 R2, you had to run the "pushprinterconnections.exe" as a startup or logon script.
This is still required for XP clients (Even if you're running newer Server OS like 2012).

In later versions (Vista and above) you don't need the pushprinterconnections.exe script.

=== PushPrinterConnections.exe Bug ===
There is a bug with early versions of PushPrinterConnections.exe where if a printer is removed from deployment (and deleted from the workstation) upon reboot the old printers are re-mapped.
This is fixed in the following Hotfix

[[Category:Windows]]

@@ Line 36: / Line 36: @@
 So long story short, I had to install a temporary 2008 32 bit in a VM and apply the hotfix, then copy the file (located at %windir%\system32\pushprinterconnections.exe).
 To save myself from having to go through that hassle in the future I'm making the file available here: [[Media:PushPrinterConnections_KB973878_x86.zip|PushPrinterConnections_KB973878_x86.zip]]
 [[Category:Windows]]

@@ Line 35: / Line 35: @@
 I had a hell of a time trying to get pushprinterconnections.exe out of that hotfix.  I extracted it, then opened the .msu file with 7-Zip, but was unable to find the executable.
 So long story short, I had to install a temporary 2008 32 bit in a VM and apply the hotfix, then copy the file (located at %windir%\system32\pushprinterconnections.exe).
-To save myself from having to go through that hassle in the future I'm making the file available here: [[File:PushPrinterConnections_KB973878_x86.zip]]
+To save myself from having to go through that hassle in the future I'm making the file available here: [[Media:PushPrinterConnections_KB973878_x86.zip|PushPrinterConnections_KB973878_x86.zip]]
 [[Category:Windows]]

@@ Line 33: / Line 33: @@
 There is a bug with early versions of PushPrinterConnections.exe where if a printer is removed from deployment (and deleted from the workstation) upon reboot the old printers are re-mapped.
 This is fixed in the following [http://support.microsoft.com/kb/973878 Hotfox KB973878]
 [[Category:Windows]]

@@ Line 6: / Line 6: @@
 Deploying Printers via Group Policy can save a lot of time, because you specify which users get which printers, then all you have to do is place the computer objects into the right OU and they get the printers they need. Taking it a step further if a computer object is moved because an employee/user takes on a new role or job, then rather than re-mapping their printers, you just move their computer object to the appropriate OU and the printers are automatically mapped.
-== Group Policy Layout ==
+== Active Directory Layout ==
 If you're planning on deploying printers via GPO, then you need to take some time and thing about the logical structure of your AD.
@@ Line 12: / Line 12: @@
 One for Computer based GPO's and another for User based GPO's.
-As with all GPO's if you deploy printers as a Computer based GPO then the printers will map at startup (and users may not be able to delete or rename them).
+I find that computer OU's should reflect the geographical location of the workstations, and user OU's should reflect the departmental location of the users.
 If you deploy printers based on a User GPO then the printers will map at logon (under the user's credentials, thus allowing them to rename and or delete them).
@@ Line 29: / Line 32: @@
 === PushPrinterConnections.exe Bug ===
 There is a bug with early versions of PushPrinterConnections.exe where if a printer is removed from deployment (and deleted from the workstation) upon reboot the old printers are re-mapped.
-This is fixed in the following Hotfix
+This is fixed in the following [http://support.microsoft.com/kb/973878 Hotfox KB973878]
 [[Category:Windows]]