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    Allow non administrator users to install printers

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    printers print server
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    • S
      Sparkum
      last edited by

      Hey all.

      So for the drivers for GPO I assume I'm going...

      User configuration>Policies>Software Settings>Published Applications> then add my printer driver.

      Then for permissions I would go

      Computer configuration>Policies>Window Settings>Security Settings>Local Policies>Devices>>Devices:Prevent user from installing printer drivers: Disabled

      And

      Computer configuration>Policies>Administrative Template>Printers>>

      Users can only point and print to these servers: Disabled
      Enter fully qualified server names separated by semicolons
      Users can only point and print to machines in their forest Disabled

      Security Prompts:
      When installing drivers for a new connection: Do not show warning or elevation prompt
      When updating drivers for an existing connection: Do not show warning or elevation prompt
      This setting only applies to:
      Windows Vista and later

      Is there anything else that would need to be added?
      Or something I should remove?

      And some of you are suggesting a printer server, so would you esentially do one server that has upwards of 50+ printers on it?

      Thanks

      GreyG 1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
      • DashrenderD
        Dashrender
        last edited by

        As @JaredBusch mentioned - I do this.

        I have print queues setup for all of my printer types on the server. This then has the drivers installed on the server. When you create the printers in your GPO, you can set them up as IP direct printers, but you still point them to the print server to get the driver. This has worked very well for my remote locations where I don't have a print server. The machine gets the GPO, then adds the printer and downloads the driver from the remote print server, but after that, prints IP direct.

        GreyG 1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
        • GreyG
          Grey @Sparkum
          last edited by Grey

          @Sparkum said in Allow non administrator users to install printers:

          Hey all.

          So for the drivers for GPO I assume I'm going...

          User configuration>Policies>Software Settings>Published Applications> then add my printer driver.

          Then for permissions I would go

          Computer configuration>Policies>Window Settings>Security Settings>Local Policies>Devices>>Devices:Prevent user from installing printer drivers: Disabled

          And

          Computer configuration>Policies>Administrative Template>Printers>>

          Users can only point and print to these servers: Disabled
          Enter fully qualified server names separated by semicolons
          Users can only point and print to machines in their forest Disabled

          Security Prompts:
          When installing drivers for a new connection: Do not show warning or elevation prompt
          When updating drivers for an existing connection: Do not show warning or elevation prompt
          This setting only applies to:
          Windows Vista and later

          Is there anything else that would need to be added?
          Or something I should remove?

          And some of you are suggesting a printer server, so would you esentially do one server that has upwards of 50+ printers on it?

          Thanks

          No, use the print management tool. Through that, add the printer(s) to the server, then add them to the directory, then add the GPO. All of this is through the print management tool.

          https://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/cc753109(v=ws.10).aspx

          S 1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 1
          • GreyG
            Grey @Dashrender
            last edited by

            @Dashrender said in Allow non administrator users to install printers:

            As @JaredBusch mentioned - I do this.

            I have print queues setup for all of my printer types on the server. This then has the drivers installed on the server. When you create the printers in your GPO, you can set them up as IP direct printers, but you still point them to the print server to get the driver. This has worked very well for my remote locations where I don't have a print server. The machine gets the GPO, then adds the printer and downloads the driver from the remote print server, but after that, prints IP direct.

            It will only print 'direct' if you have enabled Branch Office Direct Printing.
            https://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/jj134156(v=ws.11).aspx

            DashrenderD 1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
            • DashrenderD
              Dashrender @Grey
              last edited by Dashrender

              @Grey said in Allow non administrator users to install printers:

              @Dashrender said in Allow non administrator users to install printers:

              As @JaredBusch mentioned - I do this.

              I have print queues setup for all of my printer types on the server. This then has the drivers installed on the server. When you create the printers in your GPO, you can set them up as IP direct printers, but you still point them to the print server to get the driver. This has worked very well for my remote locations where I don't have a print server. The machine gets the GPO, then adds the printer and downloads the driver from the remote print server, but after that, prints IP direct.

              It will only print 'direct' if you have enabled Branch Office Direct Printing.
              https://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/jj134156(v=ws.11).aspx

              I'll look at that post in a min, But I haven't intensionally done anything regarding Branch Office Direct Printing and it's working just fine.

              My GPO Printer objects have the IP address for the printers in them. The Print Queues setup on the server have IPs for printers in my main location, and know nothing about the IPs of the printers in the remote location - so I'm not sure how it would be flowing through the server, if that's being implied here.

              Here is the setup page from GP
              https://i.imgur.com/90e0Fqa.png

              S 1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 1
              • DashrenderD
                Dashrender
                last edited by

                My normal printer queue based ones look like this
                https://i.imgur.com/e3LCjKt.png

                1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 1
                • S
                  Sparkum @Dashrender
                  last edited by

                  @Dashrender said in Allow non administrator users to install printers:

                  @Grey said in Allow non administrator users to install printers:

                  @Dashrender said in Allow non administrator users to install printers:

                  As @JaredBusch mentioned - I do this.

                  I have print queues setup for all of my printer types on the server. This then has the drivers installed on the server. When you create the printers in your GPO, you can set them up as IP direct printers, but you still point them to the print server to get the driver. This has worked very well for my remote locations where I don't have a print server. The machine gets the GPO, then adds the printer and downloads the driver from the remote print server, but after that, prints IP direct.

                  It will only print 'direct' if you have enabled Branch Office Direct Printing.
                  https://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/jj134156(v=ws.11).aspx

                  I'll look at that post in a min, But I haven't intensionally done anything regarding Branch Office Direct Printing and it's working just fine.

                  My GPO Printer objects have the IP address for the printers in them. The Print Queues setup on the server have IPs for printers in my main location, and know nothing about the IPs of the printers in the remote location - so I'm not sure how it would be flowing through the server, if that's being implied here.

                  Here is the setup page from GP
                  https://i.imgur.com/90e0Fqa.png

                  And you just set all printers to static IP's I assume?

                  DashrenderD 1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
                  • S
                    Sparkum
                    last edited by

                    Additionally if I go this option and the server dies tomorrow does that mean no one can print?

                    Or the server is simply giving permission to install and serving up the drivers, and everything else simply becomes local?

                    DashrenderD 1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
                    • S
                      Sparkum @Grey
                      last edited by

                      @Grey

                      I assume this isnt actually the case?

                      "The Active Directory Domain Services (AD DS) schema must use a Windows Server 2003 R2 or Windows Server 2008 schema version."

                      GreyG 1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
                      • GreyG
                        Grey @Sparkum
                        last edited by Grey

                        @Sparkum said in Allow non administrator users to install printers:

                        @Grey

                        I assume this isnt actually the case?

                        "The Active Directory Domain Services (AD DS) schema must use a Windows Server 2003 R2 or Windows Server 2008 schema version."

                        lol no. I use 2012. I think it means 2003 or above. My FL is 2008.

                        1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
                        • DashrenderD
                          Dashrender @Sparkum
                          last edited by

                          @Sparkum said in Allow non administrator users to install printers:

                          And you just set all printers to static IP's I assume?

                          This is one option - JB uses DHCP reservations for things like printers.

                          1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
                          • DashrenderD
                            Dashrender @Sparkum
                            last edited by

                            @Sparkum said in Allow non administrator users to install printers:

                            Additionally if I go this option and the server dies tomorrow does that mean no one can print?

                            Or the server is simply giving permission to install and serving up the drivers, and everything else simply becomes local?

                            No, the server is only used in my case to get the driver. Once the driver is installed, I'm not sure it ever talks to the server again.

                            S 1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
                            • S
                              Sparkum @Dashrender
                              last edited by

                              @Dashrender

                              Hmm very interesting and awesome!

                              Thanks guys, looks like I have my project for tomorrow.

                              GreyG 1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
                              • GreyG
                                Grey @Sparkum
                                last edited by

                                @Sparkum said in Allow non administrator users to install printers:

                                @Dashrender

                                Hmm very interesting and awesome!

                                Thanks guys, looks like I have my project for tomorrow.

                                Honestly, if you use the print management tool, you'll be done before lunch.

                                S 1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 1
                                • S
                                  Sparkum @Grey
                                  last edited by

                                  @Grey

                                  That sounds awesome, I can only imagine how much time my lower tier spends on installing these stupid things.

                                  GreyG 1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
                                  • GreyG
                                    Grey @Sparkum
                                    last edited by

                                    @Sparkum said in Allow non administrator users to install printers:

                                    @Grey

                                    That sounds awesome, I can only imagine how much time my lower tier spends on installing these stupid things.

                                    o.O

                                    The PM tool is part of Windows 7+, chief. It's not a tiered tool or anything.

                                    DashrenderD 1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
                                    • DashrenderD
                                      Dashrender @Grey
                                      last edited by

                                      @Grey said in Allow non administrator users to install printers:

                                      @Sparkum said in Allow non administrator users to install printers:

                                      @Grey

                                      That sounds awesome, I can only imagine how much time my lower tier spends on installing these stupid things.

                                      o.O

                                      The PM tool is part of Windows 7+, chief. It's not a tiered tool or anything.

                                      Hopefully he's talking about how much time his helpdesk spends manually creating printers for people.

                                      S 1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
                                      • S
                                        Sparkum @Dashrender
                                        last edited by

                                        @Dashrender

                                        Haha sorry ya thats what I meant.

                                        1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
                                        • S
                                          Sparkum
                                          last edited by

                                          Hey guys.

                                          So just doing some more reading on Branch Office Direct Printing just kinda finding mixed opinions.

                                          So all of our computers are Windows 7 (and prob will be for a good while)

                                          Can I use branch office direct printing? I assume thats my best option right? Alot is saying Windows8+ only with a fall back to legacy,

                                          Rather will I see a benefit to using it now versus just future proofing.

                                          Thanks

                                          1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
                                          • DashrenderD
                                            Dashrender
                                            last edited by

                                            I've never used Branch Office Direct Printing, frankly I'm not sure what the gain is over what I'm doing today?

                                            1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
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