need advice on assigning printers based on classroom

[djm968]

I apologise if I have offended anyone by that comment, it just pi$&es me of a little when a guy or girl posts a genuine question or genuinely needs help and we get comments like “get a CC3 network” like yeah lets order one tomorrow! That really helps.

[NetworkGeezer]

@joedetic
Yeah ...the problem with monolithic batch files is that the Windows command processor doesn't do string splicing. This means you either have to name each printer or put the room attribute in an enviromental variable.

Of course room identifiers don't matter so much if the script is run from a GPO which then selects the right computers. For those prefering the centralisation of monolithic scripts it's better to use a grown up language such as VBS/JScript or KiXtart

[djm968]

VB Script VIA GPO is the way to go and if your computer naming convention includes a room identifier you will only need to create one GPO and script.

[BradP.]

I use a vbscript that maps printers by computer OU.

[john]

R2 does it for me

[Ric_]

I'd suggest that you just use my VBScript as Geoff mentions earlier in the post. it works for a lot of people and can be set up in 10mins - after which you only need to change it if you add additional printers or suites. The script also works for Citrix.

[SpuffMonkey]

We have an OU for each printer and put the PCs (in AD) in the appropriate OU. At login a script runs which looks at the OU and assigns a default printer based on that. I prefer doing this - as all the administration is centralised, rather than having local variables on the PCs.

[bossman]

djm968 apology accepted: I have spent the past 6 years aquiring professional status in my field i.e. network manager, 2k3MCSE, MCSA, MCP and I am on the last leg of my CCNA. So often on this forum do I hear the name of RM on the lips nay in the back of peoples throats as if choking blindly at the near mention of a CC3 network.
I am paid to manage the network to the best of my ability and when i concluded after a 6 month system analysis of the school i came up with a ten year plan which is now 5 years in the making after studying the other tools which where on offer, Vanilla, Ranger, CSE, Karoshi and other managed systems i came across RM CC3 and this is the system I use because I have found that it does for me what i want from a network.
It is flexible enough to add Linux servers to and many other peripherals including MACs. I don't get paid very much and i know if i moved into industry i would get much more but like you i am passionate about my job and what i do for the school, so lets not get into the argument about who is a real network manager because of the ability to script i think it is really irrelevent on this forum as we all bring something to the table to help each other.
live long and prosper my friend djm968

[djm968]

djm968 apology accepted: I have spent the past 6 years aquiring professional status in my field i.e. network manager, 2k3MCSE, MCSA, MCP and I am on the last leg of my CCNA. So often on this forum do I hear the name of RM on the lips nay in the back of peoples throats as if choking blindly at the near mention of a CC3 network.
I am paid to manage the network to the best of my ability and when i concluded after a 6 month system analysis of the school i came up with a ten year plan which is now 5 years in the making after studying the other tools which where on offer, Vanilla, Ranger, CSE, Karoshi and other managed systems i came across RM CC3 and this is the system I use because I have found that it does for me what i want from a network.
It is flexible enough to add Linux servers to and many other peripherals including MACs. I don't get paid very much and i know if i moved into industry i would get much more but like you i am passionate about my job and what i do for the school, so lets not get into the argument about who is a real network manager because of the ability to script i think it is really irrelevent on this forum as we all bring something to the table to help each other.
live long and prosper my friend djm968

Many thanks Bossman, I was having a bad day yesterday spent most of it fighting an LEA over a local admin password for a client and they eventually send a technician out who didn't know how to change a D/G manually.

I am not blaming him, but you would have thought that after two days of battle they would have at least sent someone who had half a chance of restoring some confidence in them.

I know I could have cracked the password but I thought it was polite to ask for permission..... Big Mistake.

Some of them emails I got from them are quite amusing and I might post the whole episode on my Blog.

I was very passionate about my job as a network manager in my previous school, I felt I was really making a difference and still miss it now but you can only live on emotional reward for so long. It is no accident that my client base is predominantly education I was not going to waste the skills and knowledge gained from the unique environment an educational background gives you and I have been lucky.

I am still passionate but now my financial package matches the emotional rewards.

So proper I will but as Benjamin Franklin said….. “wish not so much to live long as to live well”

[browolf]

we set a prefix on computer names so can identify rooms then add printers thru a batch file matching the prefixes. if theres a problem with a print server or queues which happens from time to time, its easy to switch the queues to an alternative print server. its simple and relatively foolproof

[projector1]

all our machines are setup as room name followed by pc number ie
R21-2
R2-1

the script provided by this site has worked fine.
I have just reghosted batch of student laptops. The only issue is that the names are LAPTOP followed by the year purchased followed by department followed by the machine number ie

LAPTOP05H01
Unfortunatelly these do match the naming convention we have implemented.

i have tried adding these to the vbscript but they are not mapping the printer.

I have tried this
(extracted from the script)
' Add printer connections dependant upon location
Select Case (Right(computerName, 7))
Case "OP05H??"
WshNetwork.AddWindowsPrinterConnection "\\cse2k01\historylaser"
WshNetwork.SetDefaultPrinter "\\cse2k01\historylaser"

I also tried it as "OP05H*" this did not work

is it possible to use wildcards in vbscripts?

(all xp pro sp2 clients)

[krisd32]

2003 server r2 does this for me, and works very well infact!
apart from theat you can't set default printers with it but i got around that problem.

Kris

[projector1]

thanks for the info

[Ric_]

You could use

Mid(computerName, 7, 5)

This will return 5 characters from the computer name, starting at the 7th character.

[projector1]

thanks ric i will try that after i enjoy these few days off! phew! roll on july ( 3 week trip to india)