Deploying Printers to 7/2008 R2

GPP, it seems far more reliable for me personally, this is how mine's setup:

Single policy attached to the computer accounts
Merge loopback processing mode
Point and print restrictions disabled/"Do not show warning or elevation" (in other words just go ahead and isntall the driver)
Then under User configuration of the policy all the printers are added as shared printers twice - one as a delete policy, the other as an update policy.
Item-level tagging is set so that the delete policy removes the printer from ALL machines except those specified in the item level tagging section.

Works flawlessly, the last way i did it i would keep getting roaming profile users have printers get attached and then as they moved around the school they would pickup 5-6 printers each taking over the default, it got messy.

EDIT: attached 2 images so it makes more sense to anyone that does it differently. I should also add i used 2-3 other methods in the past, scripts, print management and another method of GPP and each one gave me loads of grief until i used this method.

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Originally Posted by ruddj

I use GPP as I can set the default printer for different labs.
I assign the printer using a user GPP but then use the Item Level Targeting with the workstations OU to assign default based on WS location. Allows very detailed filtering and seems to work well.

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Ditto, works a treat for us.

We use GGP as we can set the default printer to the laser, we also use item level targetting based on the Computer being a member of security group for example SEc KNG-PR-B01-LAS. This way we can allocate printers to staff who teach in multiple departments and have a mobile workstation.

No working great for us, when the user logs on they get the printers from the last room (and the last room only) plus the ones they are supposed to get.

Thanks for all the feedback chaps. Here's some interesting info for you all!

At one site I support they use Canon photocopiers, including all the management/print to store function. In a 2008 R2/Windows 7 environment using Print Management, printing was incredibly unreliable. Printing sometimes reached a users mailbox and sometimes it didn't.

This happened when using the latest PCL5 and PCL6 drivers. I then found that Canon have their own printer driver referred to as UFR II. This works perfectly, with no error messages and printing jobs is faster too.

With this success, I've noticed Ricoh have their own driver also referred to as RPCS, in addition to their PCL5 and PCL6 drivers. Does anyone have any experience using their RPCS driver in a domain environment? Many thanks!

The Ricoh RPCS drivers did not allow us to put the codes for printing to the photocopier. Other authentication methods may work fine.

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Originally Posted by glennda

When i first started using you couldn't assign a default printer with Print Management (not sure if you still can).

I just kind of made it up as a i went along.

Setup Policy's per computer OU and enabled user group policy loopback processing mode so that user policys assigned to machines can be applied to users logging into that machine.

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So with this then, would the printers be deployed to the user's config as opposed to the computer config?

I am trying to work this out because I am thinking I may have to change to using policy preferences with loopback to be able to set the default printers correctly. I want to ensure that the B&W ones are set as default, and at present with our Windows 7 network it is a mixture of B&W and colour as default.

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Originally Posted by ChrisH

The Ricoh RPCS drivers did not allow us to put the codes for printing to the photocopier. Other authentication methods may work fine.

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Thanks for this. We're just using the latest PCL5 driver with the Secure Print option enabled. Users enter their code on their profile and jobs go to their mailbox. Generally speaking it works OK. Are you saying the RPCS driver doesn't support the Secure Print option at all?

There is no tab for the code with that driver.

Print Management installs the printer on the machine and are deployed on a machine policy. Preferences just connects to a shared printer.

There is still no way of setting default printer thru Print Management alone.

I use a combination of both and use Item targeting to set a preference default to the printer for the area where the machines are based.

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Originally Posted by dhoward_westexetc

So with this then, would the printers be deployed to the user's config as opposed to the computer config?

I am trying to work this out because I am thinking I may have to change to using policy preferences with loopback to be able to set the default printers correctly. I want to ensure that the B&W ones are set as default, and at present with our Windows 7 network it is a mixture of B&W and colour as default.

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Yes you set the shared printers as per user and then enable User Group Policy loopback processing in the computer config to merge (of the same policy). It then applies the user policy to any users who login to that machine only.

Print Management installs the printer on the machine and are deployed on a machine policy. Preferences just connects to a shared printer.

There is still no way of setting default printer thru Print Management alone.

I use a combination of both and use Item targeting to set a preference default to the printer for the area where the machines are based.

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Originally Posted by Davit2005

Print Management installs the printer on the machine and are deployed on a machine policy. Preferences just connects to a shared printer.

There is still no way of setting default printer thru Print Management alone.

I use a combination of both and use Item targeting to set a preference default to the printer for the area where the machines are based.

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gpp will also install the print driver if needs be.

Although you will need to allow the user to connect printers (and install driver) see here > http://www.edugeek.net/forums/window...ac-prompt.html

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Originally Posted by glennda

Yes you set the shared printers as per user and then enable User Group Policy loopback processing in the computer config to merge (of the same policy). It then applies the user policy to any users who login to that machine only.

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Right...I think I see now. So in my Printer deployment policy (in the machine OU) I would have a policy preference shared printer that would have the B&W printer to update it and set it as default, in addition to my current deployed printers in computer config. I would then enable loopback policy processing in the printer deployment policy?

I hope I have understood this right, if so I can give it a whirl at a convenient time and see how I get on!

Thanks for your help.

Re: the Ricoh drivers
I have a site that has a Richo photocopier and for the life of me can only get clients printing if they use the RPCS driver, using any other driver results in an error on the photocopier saying "Job reset".
Did you have to do anything unusual to get other drivers working?

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Originally Posted by sparkeh

Re: the Ricoh drivers
I have a site that has a Richo photocopier and for the life of me can only get clients printing if they use the RPCS driver, using any other driver results in an error on the photocopier saying "Job reset".
Did you have to do anything unusual to get other drivers working?

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No I didn't, however in 2008 R2 Print Management I noticed a new option to 'Set Printing Defaults', may be worth a try. I suppose you could always check permissions too. I only allow users to Print and Manage Documents, not the printer itself which reduces problems.

The only other thing to check in 2008 R2 is a policy located in:

Computer Config > Policies > Admin Templates > Printers - Point and Print Restrictions - Enabled

and

User Config > Policies > Admin Templates > Control Panel > Printers - Point and Print Restrictions - Enabled

In both instances set the following:

Untick the two boxes and set both drop down menus to: Do not show warning or elevation prompt

I set this on both, so then deploying printers per user or per computer should just work.