Consistent Printer Allocation

[Disease]

Hi all,

 

At the moment we deploy printers using Group Policy from our print server we also use paper cut.

 

No matter what I just cannot get windows to deliver the required printer to the user consistently every time, I get some users where it take 3 restarts to get the printer they should be allocated and some where it doesn't stick at all, the vast majority have no issues. We allocate by computer using Computer Config->Policies->Windows Settings->Printer Connections->SharePath, Deployed from the Printer Server directly into the specific GPO.

 

How is everyone else applying printers consistently to user?

[Oaktech]

Someone once told me that per-computer printer installation via GP was essentially broken after windows XP due to changes in driver architecture, however item level targeting is not...

 

So...

 

At my current schools, it a single 'follow me' queue everywhere to everyone all the time, so it's not an issue - I can count on one hand the number of tickets we've had for printers not mapping in the last 5 years since we changed to Follow me.

 

Prior to that, in a different life at a different school where we had 20+ different print queues for departments and building I used to aim all printers at all users in a single GPO (because processing 20+ printer GPOs would have been madness) and then use item level targeting to determine which printers could apply to which groups of computers. I also made sure that I set a 'Delete All' at the top of the GPO to prevent weirdness.

 

That worked a treat.

 

You do have make sure that if you move PCs around you update security groups.

 

It would also be possible to do it with WMI filtering, or even possibly with security filtering in the GPO scope although I've never tried those and it would involve going back to individual GPOs for each printer allocation and making GP processing sloooow.

[TechMonkey]

Oaktech's solutions are the ones I use and have used. We moved to a central queue and it makes it all so much ssimplier.

 

Previoulsy did the deploy all printers and filter based on location/group/user using targetting.

[altecsole]

 

How is everyone else applying printers consistently to user?

 

We use a logon script to map the printer, based on entries in a text file. We also have a logoff script to remove printers.

There are occasions where the printer does not get added, but this is always a computer error, requiring a reboot.

 

Printer drivers are installed using a Computer startup script.

[CHiLL]

Our printers are managed by Papercut, including some follow-me queues for most staff, plus direct printing for classrooms/students and some office/admin staff. We use user Group Policy Preferences (User Configuration > Preferences > Control Panel Settings > Printers). We can use item-level targetting to add printers based on certain criteria, such as user, user group or machine OU.

 

We have found that printers do not get added if it's the first time the user has logged onto the machine (or first time after their profile has been removed). If they log off and on again, the printers will get added. I never figured out a resolution to this.

Edited October 11, 2023 by CHiLL

[drutt]

We use PaperCut Print Deploy. After setting it up had no issues that come to mind, also really good for exam printers assignment.

[mdrabble]

I use this https://katystech.blog/on-prem/powershell-printer-script

 

Works every time for me.