InfotechGuyz.com Blog

How to deploy printers in Active Directory environment

Deploying printers to end users can be one of the most challenging tasks. This task is performed manually most of the time. IT Administrators may use logon scripts to deploy printers but it can be very time consuming also. Windows Server 2008 includes Print Management Console which allows simple management of Printers.

Deploy printer using Print Management Console

  1. Open Print Management Console from Administrative Tools (Print Management Console is included in Server 2003 R2 and Server 2008)
  2. Expand “Print Servers” to view print server within domain. ( you can add new printers by right clicking on “Print Server’ and choose “Add Servers”)
  3. Expand the printers and select the printers.
  4. In Printers pane, right click on the Printer you want to deploy, select “Deploy with Group Policy”
  5. Select the Group Policy Object this printer will be attached to, using the “Browse” button.
  6. Check the appropriate check under “Deploy this printer connection to the following:”
  7. Click OK to save changes

 

Use pushprinterconnections.exe to push the printers

  1. Browse to the c:\Windows\System32 folder.
  2. Copy pushprinterconnections.exe to the domain Netlogon share -- \\mycompany.com\Netlogon.
  3. Open the Printer GPO using Group Policy Object Editor
  4. if printers are deployed per-machine, go to Computer Configuration > Windows Settings > Scripts (Startup/Shutdown)
    if printers are deployed per-user, go to User Configuration > Windows Settings > Scripts (Logon/Logoff)
  5. In Logon Properties or Startup Properties , add PushPrinterConnections.exe in the “Script Name” field