GPO based printer deployment in W2k8 Domain

[john]

CAn you not just use the pushprinters.exe in a Startup script as that will run the .exe fine.

[PiqueABoo]

I know you can assign based on the machine, but you can't set a default printer based on the machine. When working on machine prefs the option to make is default is not available.

 

True, but....

 

I made a GPO that hits all users which is dedicated to allocating printers and (mapped) drives. Then you just get on and make some preferences e.g. #1 sets the default printer with a target saying "computer must be in room 27 OU".

 

Not sure how well this scales, but it also supports what I want in places which is to give different user groups different printer sets when they're logged on to the same machine e.g. a target might say "computer must be in room 27 OU and user must be in group X"

[mort99]

Hi Matt

 

We are having an issue with GPP to install printers. The printers are not mapping at all.

 

We have attempted to manually install the client side extension KB943729. It does not show up under Add/Remove programs.

 

We have tested that the policy is running and the workstation is reporting that it is.

 

We are all windows XP users but one Windows 7 user reported getting a policy based printer albeit intermittently and it cleans up manually installed printers (which are not a problem to install).

 

Any ideas what could be wrong?

Any tests to check the KB943729 extensions are on the machine?

 

thanks

Mort

 

Is there a test

 

Are you talking about using group policy prefrences or "deploy with group policy" from the print management console.

 

We use group policy preferences to install printers, which is pretty good, however we had major issues with vista clients. We have had to revert back to vb scripts to map printers to vista workstations. It works flawlessly on XP however, you can specify which printer is the default. Combining this with item level targetting makes it very powerful indeed.

 

It would be interesting to see if you had any joy using this method on vista clients, if you have any.

 

Matt

[PiqueABoo]

Is there a test

 

Look in the client-side event logs - preferences are quite verbose (may have done but I don't believe I turned anything on for that behaviour)

[Oops_my_bad]

Using preferences, you have finite control over which machines/users the printer is deployed to

 

I don't see a printer preferences item in computer settings - so I assume you can only use this method (preferences) to deploy printers to users...

[PiqueABoo]

Deja vu.

 

a) Printers are essentially a per user thing (whatever impression RM or anyone else may give you)

 

b) You can deploy a printer with preferences in a GPO that is applied to all users and then set the targeting on a particular printer delivery preference to say it only applies on certain computers e.g. computers that are in your Room 27 OU... if it's Tuesday

 

It's the targeting that make preferences interesting/useful.

Edited June 15, 2009 by PiqueABoo

[eean]

b) You can deploy a printer with preferences in a GPO that is applied to all users and then set the targeting on a particular printer delivery preference to say it only applies on certain computers e.g. computers that are in your Room 27 OU... if it's Tuesday

 

It's the targeting that make preferences interesting/useful.

 

So, typical school environment, where users could potentially be logging on almost anywhere:

we create one GPO for all users with all the printers, then set up per machine rules/exceptions to decide where that printer is applied? You could have a lot of printers. Does it affect performance?

 

Previously, I set up shared printers per machine and had pushprinterconnections install them. I'm guessing that isn't an option in 2008. Do you know why they let you have IP printers per machine but not shared printers?

[p858snake]

So, typical school environment, where users could potentially be logging on almost anywhere:

we create one GPO for all users with all the printers, then set up per machine rules/exceptions to decide where that printer is applied? You could have a lot of printers. Does it affect performance?

 

Previously, I set up shared printers per machine and had pushprinterconnections install them. I'm guessing that isn't an option in 2008. Do you know why they let you have IP printers per machine but not shared printers?

in that case i believe you would be doing the GPO for the computers, not the users then any special exemptions (eg: teachers might get a special copier ect) be targeted at the user groups.

[eean]

in that case i believe you would be doing the GPO for the computers,

For users you can add Local Printer, TCP/IP Printer, and Shared printer (i.e. \\server\printername) but for computers you can only do Local Printer and TCP/IP printer.

 

You used to be able to add a per machine shared printer connection using Server 2003 R2, or via the command line in windows but they seem to have removed it from 2008. A downgrade?

[mac_shinobi]

Always worked fine for me and was good and reliable. So for example I had D3_COL and D3_BLA (both Printer name and Share Name) and the D3_BLA was the automatically selected Printer with it being a B and not a C So you may need to re-name your printers about a bit but it worked fine which is all I wanted and needed, so no need for anythign else like a script to recifiy that issue.

 

So if you used the following

 

BLA

COL

DLA

 

Assuming that it works and BLA became default then why would you need the first part ie D3_ ??

[john]

So if you used the following

 

BLA

COL

DLA

 

Assuming that it works and BLA became default then why would you need the first part ie D3_ ??

 

D3 was the room it was in EG S11, D3, D12 etc (makes it clear that that D3_BLA is the Black Printer in Room D3).

 

TBH now 2008 is here that stuff is not that relevant as 2008's GPP Printer management is a lot better than 2003's was.