Setting printer as default using GP

[drk84]

Hi,

 

I have set printers using print management which adds the printers using group policy. I have then set the default printer by adding the printers to the user configuration (Preferences\Control Panel Settings\Printers) where I add the printer as a shared printer. I have then selected the default option for the printer I want to set as default. I have then added the OUs which this GP is for in the item targetting level.

 

This policy sets the correct printer however doesn't set the correct default printer.

 

Has anyone deployed printers in server 2008 using group policy and been able to set the correct default printer?

 

Thanks in advance

[Davit2005]

Thius seems to work 98% of the time.

All printers are deployed via Print Management as Machine policy, in the same policy have set policy loopback to merge and then set the user preferences to the shared printer as default and targeted to the OU where the computers are located. I have however found that If I allocate the policy to laptops where I might not want a default printer set that it seems to set the default printer???

 

Hope this helps.

[drk84]

It does set a default printer however it does not set the printer I have selected in the group policy to be the default printer, it just sets any printer out of the ones deployed as default.

 

Hope someone can help.

[Domino]

Are you adding it to a computer or users OU? Have you enabled loopback processing?

 

There was a great article about this, but seems to have vanished - there's an archive here, but has no images: Set Default Printer with Windows 2008 Server Group Policy Preferences - Set the Default Printer via Group Policy | Windows Server Administration

[drk84]

I am adding it to computer OU.

 

I have not enabled loopback processing so will give that a try.

 

Thanks

[Domino]

Yeah, the default printer is a user preference - so you'll want to use loopback processing to apply it per computer.

[drk84]

This hasnt worked for all users on all machines.

 

Some machines have changed the default printer to the correct one but always havent.

 

Tried gpupdate force but still nothing.

[drk84]

does anyone have a method which works please?

[Domino]

The method I mentioned does work, I use it here.

 

You've got a configuration problem - maybe you could post the settings you've listed here - as well as running a gpresult on the client?

[drk84]

Below is the printer policy I am trying to get working. The 2 printers do appear however in most cases it doesnt select the correct printer as default.

 

Thanks in advance

 

 

ICT Printer Policy

Data collected on: 06/01/2012 09:30:31 hide all

 

Generalhide

Detailshide

Domain

Owner

Created 14/12/2011 12:24:12

Modified 05/01/2012 12:52:28

User Revisions 17 (AD), 17 (sysvol)

Computer Revisions 6 (AD), 6 (sysvol)

Unique ID {E75F35FF-5846-4780-B921-13B504D5D2C1}

GPO Status Enabled

 

Linkshide

Location Enforced Link Status Path

ICT Suite No Enabled DN.LOCAL/DN/Workstations/ICT Suite

Laptops No Enabled DN.LOCAL/DN/Workstations/Laptops

 

This list only includes links in the domain of the GPO.

Security Filteringhide

The settings in this GPO can only apply to the following groups, users, and computers:Name

NT AUTHORITY\Authenticated Users

 

Delegationhide

These groups and users have the specified permission for this GPOName Allowed Permissions Inherited

DN\Domain Admins Edit settings, delete, modify security No

DN\Enterprise Admins Edit settings, delete, modify security No

NT AUTHORITY\Authenticated Users Read (from Security Filtering) No

NT AUTHORITY\ENTERPRISE DOMAIN CONTROLLERS Read No

NT AUTHORITY\SYSTEM Edit settings, delete, modify security No

 

Computer Configuration (Enabled)hide

Policieshide

Windows Settingshide

Printer Connectionshide

Path

\\PRINTSVR01\Library_Colour

\\PRINTSVR01\ICT_Colour

 

Administrative Templateshide

Policy definitions (ADMX files) retrieved from the central store.System/Group Policyhide

Policy Setting Comment

User Group Policy loopback processing mode Enabled

Mode: Merge

 

 

User Configuration (Enabled)hide

Preferenceshide

Control Panel Settingshide

Printershide

Shared Printer (Name: \\PRINTSVR01\ICT_Colour)hide

ICT_Colour (Order: 1)hide

Generalhide

Action Replace

PropertiesShare Path \\PRINTSVR01\ICT_Colour

Set this printer as default printer True

Only if a local printer is not present False

Local Port

 

Commonhide

OptionsStop processing items on this extension if an error occurs on this item No

Run in logged-on user's security context (user policy option) No

Remove this item when it is no longer applied Yes

Item-level targeting: Organizational UnitAttribute Value

bool AND

not 0

name OU=ICT Suite,OU=Workstations,OU=DN,DC=DN,DC=LOCAL

userContext 0

directMember 0

Item-level targeting: Organizational UnitAttribute Value

bool AND

not 0

name OU=ICT Laptops,OU=Laptops,OU=Workstations,OU=DN,DC=DN,DC=LOCAL

userContext 0

directMember 0

Item-level targeting: Organizational UnitAttribute Value

bool AND

not 0

name OU=LS Laptops,OU=Laptops,OU=Workstations,OU=DN,DC=DN,DC=LOCAL

userContext 0

directMember 0

 

Shared Printer (Name: \\PRINTSVR01\Library_Colour)hide

Library_Colour (Order: 2)hide

Generalhide

Action Replace

PropertiesShare Path \\PRINTSVR01\Library_Colour

Set this printer as default printer False

Local Port

 

Commonhide

OptionsStop processing items on this extension if an error occurs on this item No

Run in logged-on user's security context (user policy option) No

Remove this item when it is no longer applied Yes

[Domino]

You might wanna try setting the user GPP parts to 'update' rather than 'replace'

[sparkeh]

does anyone have a method which works please?

Just to confirm that I have the exact same setup as Domino and it works fine.

Looks like we followed the same article, shame its gone as it was very good.

[Domino]

Just to confirm that I have the exact same setup as Domino and it works fine.

Looks like we followed the same article, shame its gone as it was very good.

 

Aye, I wish I'd taken a copy of it, it was so useful

[drk84]

You might wanna try setting the user GPP parts to 'update' rather than 'replace'

 

I have changed it to update and still nothing. I have now even re-done the policy again using that link you had put before.

 

One thing is do I still need to have the printers in the print management console or do I remove the printers from there?

Also I have put this policy under the workstation OU is this ok or does it need to go under the user OU?

 

Thanks for your help again and sorry for being such a pain - gets frustrating when something work and you dont know why :S

[Domino]

Computer OU is fine - it's the most useful that way as your users get the right printers for the computer location.

 

You just need loopback processing to be working - it sounds like that's falling down.

 

The printers should still be in the management console - and they also need to be listed in the directory for this to work properly.

 

Although looking at that config again - have you got the GPP item level processing listing AND joins for various OUs?

 

You probably want to right click those and change them to ORs - as the machine can only be in one OU

[Psymon]

We use the GPP Printer deployment method here. I set them up in our all-users policy, and targeted the Computer groups to deploy them on a per-machine basis.

 

This means that everytime someone logs on it re-installs the printer (same as a log-on script would), the way to get a default set when deploying multiple printers is to change the ordering of the printers, we have about 12 set as default, the last applied printer becomes the winner.

 

Give me 10 minutes and ill attach a couple of screen shots.

 

Simon

 

Edit - screenshots attached.

 

Edited January 6, 2012 by Psymon

[gshaw]

We do the same as Psymon, works perfectly and maps the correct printer based on the OU of the Computer (ours are structured by room number in the building)

 

Just make sure if you have roaming profiles to put "Delete All" as the first item otherwise you just get a build-up of all the printers you've ever mapped since the dawn of time

[drk84]

Here is are screenshots of what I have done. I dont have roaming profiles and I am not using any scripts for logins it is all done through group policy.

 

 

Thanks again for all your help just hope mine works soon

Edited January 6, 2012 by drk84

[Domino]

Here is are screenshots of what I have done. I dont have roaming profiles and I am not using any scripts for logins it is all done through group policy.

 

[ATTACH=CONFIG]12634[/ATTACH]

[ATTACH=CONFIG]12635[/ATTACH]

[ATTACH=CONFIG]12636[/ATTACH]

 

Thanks again for all your help just hope mine works soon

 

yeah, the first screenshot - you need to change the item level targeting so the second line says "OR the computer belongs to" rather than "AND the computer belongs to"

[drk84]

yeah, the first screenshot - you need to change the item level targeting so the second line says "OR the computer belongs to" rather than "AND the computer belongs to"

 

thats great solved the problem I've been having for over a week. Thank you so much. I didnt even look at the AND didnt even occur to me once.

 

Thanks again Domino

[Domino]

No problem, glad you've got it figured out

 

There's some powerful stuff in GPP, but it's always something small that trips you up.

 

The other doc I was looking for is here: whoops http://www.frickelsoft.net/blog/downloads/10%20things%20Group%20Policy%20Preferences%20does%20better.pdf

[paulst30]

The way we do it here is;

 

Login as admin to the computer and set the printer you want "as default"

We have a kix32 login script that sets the current printer set in the registry as default.

 

Export the Registry key

HKCU - Software - Microsoft - Windows NT - Current Version - Windows.

On the right plane you will see the printer you set as default.

Right click and export to the root of C and call it printer.reg

Also create a text file called printer.txt

 

This is our login script that runs

 

;************** Set Default Printer ******************

 

If EXIST ("c:\printer.txt") = 1

shell "cmd /c \\servername\public\Logon\Scripts\W7\printers\printer.bat"

?"Default Printer Set...."

Endif

 

Inside our Printer.bat file, we have

 

c:\windows\regedit /s c:\printer.reg

 

The only thing you need to worry about after that, its applying a login script to run when users logon.

 

Hope that gives a step for a solution.