So we recently upgraded our printing infrastructure with a whole new lot of printers and software (along with a shiny new version of PaperCut MF) and have implemented a global queue or better known as Follow Me Printing. So how do we go about pushing out all the new global printers to our users. Well along with the 50 other projects we have on the go, one of them is a clean up of our group policy, so after removing around 15 GPOs related to our old printers I got to work.
So for starters I’ve created a GPO which will contain all of our Follow Me Printing settings, including deploying the PaperCut Client and Global Queue Printers. In our environment we have a mix of Windows XP, Windows Vista and Windows 7 which will all handle printers being deployed via Group Policy differently (Microsoft make things so easy, don’t they). For XP, things are simple, simply add the printer to be deployed either by user or computer preference under control panel > printers. For Vista and 7 however this is where it gets tricky. If you are using a driver which has been loaded on the machine before, the printer will deploy, otherwise you will receive an error in the event log such as the following:
The user 'Printer Name Here' preference item in the 'Group Policy Object {GUID-GOES-HERE}' Group Policy object did not apply because it failed with error code '0x80070bcb The specified printer driver was not found on the system and needs to be downloaded.' This error was suppressed.
This basically means that the client couldn’t download the driver, but the real reason is because of UAC and the computer not requesting permission to install a driver. Thankfully there is a Policy that we can enable that will allow us to set the permission requirements during printer driver installation.
Using the Point and Print Restrictions Policy we can enable printer driver installation without it getting hassled by UAC. Under Windows Vista it is a User Policy and on Windows 7 it is a Computer Policy (I have both enabled for good measure). So enable toe Point and Print Restrictions Policy and change the following options:
- When installing drivers for a new connection: Do not show warning or elevation prompt
- When updating drivers for an existing connection: Show warning only
Once we have configured the Point and Print Restrictions Policy printers will download and install on any client computer that the Object is targeting.
Hope that helps a few people out when setting up and configuring their Group Policy Printer Distribution, any queries please comment.
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