Windows 10 Printer Problems (GPP)

[tri_94]

Hi there

 

We are currently using GPP to assign printers to users. Due to the fact we need deploy shared printers with item level targeting.

 

We seem to be having a few issues

 

1. Having issues with printers being remembered by I'm guessing the roaming profile, so at times people are building a list of printers rather then the one or two they should have.

 

2. Not default being set (one should be).

 

3. Extra printers showing in devices and printers but not in the applications, again normally ones that has been remembered or appeared and are not assigned to the user/pc. (Its as if the printer is not mapped at all. When you click on it in devices and printers you have a connect button, if this is clicked it then maps and shows in the applications). Checking for printers using PowerShell doesn't show the extra ones at all.

 

Some times logging out and rebooting the computer is solving the issue other times that does nothing.

 

Any ideas

Many Thanks

[Guest Guest]

We had loads of issues using GPP to Deploy printers, we've since switched to Printer Mapper, it costs £100 but it resolved all our issues

[chazzy2501]

add a group policy preference that deletes all the printers and order it to be first.

[DaveTheTech]

Have you tried adding a policy that removes any shared printers?

[Rob_D]

We use the user-side add printer GPO setting as this gives more options (like setting the default printer) and run it as a loopback policy so we can do PC targeting. And (as others have said) the policy has a remove at the top to clear historic printers. This All works fine most of the time and when it doesn't a quick policy refresh sorts most issues.

[robyholmes]

Remember to use the FQDN of the print server.

 

I also don't like doing the 'Delete all, then install' method although it does work. It ends up making logins slower. What I do is for every printer you assign, you create a copy and change your Item Targeting to 'Is not' for example, and set that to delete. This means printers are left installed, unless it needs to be removed.

 

However, by far the best way to go long term, is more to Follow Me queue via Papercut and forgot about targeting printers. So long as your follow me printer is installed your done.

[tri_94]

add a group policy preference that deletes all the printers and order it to be first.

 

Already have that set and that didn't seem to make any odds at all.

[tri_94]

Have you tried adding a policy that removes any shared printers?

 

I've looked at a few methods including vbs and PowerShell scripts but this doesn't remove them as it doesn't seem to see them.

[tri_94]

Remember to use the FQDN of the print server.

 

I also don't like doing the 'Delete all, then install' method although it does work. It ends up making logins slower. What I do is for every printer you assign, you create a copy and change your Item Targeting to 'Is not' for example, and set that to delete. This means printers are left installed, unless it needs to be removed.

 

However, by far the best way to go long term, is more to Follow Me queue via Papercut and forgot about targeting printers. So long as your follow me printer is installed your done.

 

Problem with your method of each one is we have over 140 printers.

I've used Pull printing which i believe what the follow me is? But they don't want to go down that route.

[tri_94]

I found the extra printers in the registry

 

\HKEY_USERS\S-1-5-21-\Printers\ConvertUserDevModesCount

 

does any have a easy method of clearing these out or know of any problems in doing so?

 

Thanks

[synaesthesia]

Wouldnt the issue be using the long unsupported roaming profiles? Never had this problem!

[Simcfc73]

We had loads of issues using GPP to Deploy printers, we've since switched to Printer Mapper, it costs £100 but it resolved all our issues

 

Agree with this, solved all my issues too.

[2097]

Agree with this, solved all my issues too.

 

Also had lots of problems so switched to "Printer Mapper"

 

Printer Mapper isnt without its issues though . I found using net bios names a little hit and miss with mapping.

 

Printer Mapper is 100% reliable though using AD groups .

[Davit2005]

I don't know if it is still the case but deleting printers as part of the GPP did slow down login times from what I've seen.

 

To be fair we got rid of Roaming profiles at the first school I worked at and never used them since due to the PITA they caused with Printers, etc.

 

At my last place I moved to GPP, it just made it so much easier, in actual fact we used the same format for enrolment for the following 3 years.

Edited October 8, 2020 by Davit2005

[tri_94]

Out of interest what do you use instead of roaming profiles? UE-V?

[Sheridan]

I spent ages trying to get printers to deploy reliably on W10 and using a combination of GPP and machine policies I would say a user gets the printers they should maybe 75% of the time. Printing is a shocking mess in W10 and so unreliable compared to 7.

[synaesthesia]

I still can't get my head around under what circumstances it's so broken when everywhere I've ever deployed via GPP it's only ever failed on one machine because of connectivity or other unrelated issues. Baffling.

[Sheridan]

I still can't get my head around under what circumstances it's so broken when everywhere I've ever deployed via GPP it's only ever failed on one machine because of connectivity or other unrelated issues. Baffling.

 

I wish I could say the same, we’ve tried all methods and still have a pretty poor success rate. Pretty stock image as well, nothing fancy just the edu version.

[CHiLL]

I spent ages trying to get printers to deploy reliably on W10 and using a combination of GPP and machine policies I would say a user gets the printers they should maybe 75% of the time. Printing is a shocking mess in W10 and so unreliable compared to 7.

It all started in Windows 8, as I painfully discovered in September 2015, on our (then) brand spanking new network. Almost all our IT systems were replaced by an IT solutions contractor that summer, which included a new AD infrastructure and new desktops running Windows 8. They spent considerable time trying to figure out why the printers weren't deploying and ended up blaming our leased printing supplier, claiming driver problems. The leasing company blamed our AD configuration and we resorted to having two other separate external IT support companies attempting to resolve the issue, with no success. With other reports online of printer deployment issues (including on here), we (the IT professional community) determined it was an issue with this new version of Windows.

 

It's better now than it was back then though, where we were probably getting <20% successful printer deployments, regardless of whether we used GPP, PowerShell or the exact same VBS script that worked flawlessly on the old Windows 7 computers. Now, like you, we're probably around the 75% deployment. Though it could be less, as when they don't add automatically, users add them manually through the AD listing (which I'd rather not have) without informing us there was a problem.

[Steve21]

I would definitely say if you're having that many problems it's something non-windows directly related. Out of curiosity, have any of you who are having problems tried doing a global mapping for a random TCP/IP printer etc and seeing if that works? (rather than MFP/leased/via print servers etc)

 

At my last place we had a printer lease and it worked fine on Win10, yet once it expired and they changed to a new supplier/brand we had no ends of problems using the same method GPP/servers/setup, only difference was the printers/drivers. No matter which version we tried or firmware on the printers etc these just refused to play ball with GPP, and in the end had to go back to an old VBS script with forced delays between login and the mapping of the printers to get it to work.

 

Obviously in our situation it couldn't be anything windows related as there was no change on our side, not even a windows update between the breaking

 

Steve

[Sheridan]

The problems we have started with w10, and have persisted through multiple versions and images, different print servers and lots of different printers.

 

The issue is not so much the printer not deploying as not appearing for the user. If a user complains their printer hasn’t appeared we can usually see it in the registry but they can’t see it in Word. Logging off and back on can fix this in most cases but not all.

 

We tried pretty much everything discussed on here over the years but I gave up this as a bad job, and just put it on the list of things that W10 doesn’t do well.

[2097]

I think as suggested in this post the main problem here is roaming profiles.

 

We also use them and it caused lots of issues before we started using "Printer Mapper"

[CHiLL]

I think as suggested in this post the main problem here is roaming profiles.

 

We also use them and it caused lots of issues before we started using "Printer Mapper"

We've never used roaming profiles and had all sorts of issues over the years. We use default profiles and found that a user's first logon to a machine was the most problematic in terms of not mapping the printer. Log off and back on usually sorted it.

[chazzy2501]

I map my printers using 3 methods. GPO VBS, PS & GPP. This is still not 100% so I allow pupils to add printers.

 

EDIt: I forgot to mention I use a machine with user policy loopback for the vbs and ps1 method.

Edited October 12, 2020 by chazzy2501

[tri_94]

I map my printers using 3 methods. GPO VBS, PS & GPP. This is still not 100% so I allow pupils to add printers.

 

EDIt: I forgot to mention I use a machine with user policy loopback for the vbs and ps1 method.

 

I am possible looking to use a ps1 script to apply the printers.

 

What problem are you having?

 

Thanks