Print Server

Removing locally installed printers and replacing with print server

Recently ran into an environment where there was a print server installed and managing all 200 printers however some users (380 computers) still had printers installed locally and were printing directly to the printer through the IP address or host name. This can cause issues with permissions, driver updates, or logging.

Instead of manually touching each computer I created a PowerShell script to verify it was a network printer installed locally and if it existed on the print server to install it for the user, reducing phone calls to the help desk. The script also confirms they are on the corporate network to continue and run and also verifies the printer is online so that it doesn’t remove personal printers that may have been installed for home use.

 
   1: #Only run if on the corporate network to prevent removing personal printers

   2: $Continue = $false

   3:  

   4: $DNSAddresses = Get-DNSClientServerAddress | Select-Object -ExpandProperty ServerAddresses

   5:  

   6: foreach ($DNSAddresses in $DNSAddresses)

   7: {

   8:     #Check DNS server IP to ensure on corporate network

   9:     if($DNSAddresses -eq "192.168.x.x")

  10:     {

  11:         $Continue = $true

  12:         Write-Host "We are on corporate network, continuing.."

  13:         break

  14:     }

  15: }

  16:  

  17: if($Continue -eq $true)

  18: {

  19:     $LocalPrinters = Get-Printer

  20:  

  21:     foreach ($printer in $LocalPrinters)

  22:     {

  23:         if($printer.Type -eq 'Local')

  24:         {

  25:  

  26:             $Port = $printer.PortName.Split("_")

  27:        

  28:             #Checking if a live printer on corporate network

  29:             $ConnectionResults = Test-Connection $Port[0] -Count 1 -Quiet

  30:  

  31:             #Checking if printer is a network printer

  32:             if($ConnectionResults -eq $true)

  33:             {

  34:                 Write-Host "Deleting printer: " $printer.Name

  35:                 Remove-Printer -Name $printer.Name

  36:  

  37:                 #Checking if printer is on print server so we can re-add it

  38:                  $PrintServerPrinterPortName = Get-Printer -ComputerName "printserver.domain.org" -Name $Port[0]

  39:  

  40:                 Write-Host "Printers found on print server with same port name: "$PrintServerPrinterPortName.Count

  41:  

  42:                 if($PrintServerPrinterPortName.Count -gt 0)

  43:                 {

  44:                     $AddPrinter = "\\printserver.domain.org\" + $Port[0]

  45:                    Write-Host "Adding printer from print server: " + $AddPrinter

  46:                   

  47:                    Add-Printer -ConnectionName $AddPrinter

  48:                 }

  49:                 else

  50:                 {

  51:                     Write-Host "Did not find printer on print server with same port name. Checking printer name."

  52:                     $PrintServerPrinterName = Get-Printer -ComputerName "printserver.domain.org" -Name $printer.Name

  53:  

  54:                     Write-Host Write-Host "Printers found on print server with same printer name: "$PrintServerPrinterName.Count

  55:  

  56:                     if($PrintServerPrinterName.Count -gt 0)

  57:                     {

  58:                         $AddPrinter = "\\printserver.domain.org\" +$printer.Name

  59:                         Write-Host "Adding printer from print server: " + $AddPrinter

  60:                         

  61:                         Add-Printer -ConnectionName $AddPrinter

  62:                     }

  63:                     else

  64:                     {

  65:                         Write-Host "Exhausted all options and no printers found."

  66:                     }                

  67:                 }

  68:             }        

  69:         }

  70:     }

  71: }

  72:  

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Group Policy Printers not installing after update KB3170455 – MS16-087

 

Microsoft changed the way printers are installed with update KB3170455 (MS16-087). Now, for printers to be installed using group policy, the print driver must be set as true under packaged in Print Management. Some vendors have not updated their drivers to make them packaged, but there is a way to force a package to be packaged.

 

Open regedit and go to HKLM\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Control\Print\Environments\Windows *** (choose version)\Drivers\Version-3\**DriverName**

 

Set the attribute PrinterDriverAttributes to 1 and restart the print spooler on the server. The driver will now show true as packaged and will install using GPO.

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