Deploy and install printers using group policies By Mariette Knap gpo, printers, deploy There are several ways you can install and deploy printers. By far the easiest way is to install and configure ‘Print and Document Services’. Here is how you do that with either 'per user' or 'per machine' policies applied. Start Server Manager and click ‘Add roles and features’. Click ‘Next’. Click ‘Next’. Click ‘Next’. Check ‘Print and Document Services’. Click ‘Add Features’. Click ‘Next’. Click ‘Next’. Click ‘Next’. If you have a multifunctional device that can also scan you may want to install ‘Distributed Scan Server’ also. You need to to verify if you device is compatible. Click ‘Next’. Click ‘Install’. Click ‘Close’ to finish the installation wizard. From Server Manager choose Tools –> Print Management. As you can see my HP Color Laserjet is already listed. You need to configure your printers on the server before you can share or deploy them to your clients. How you install a networked printer on your server is described in another manual. Before we can continue we have to create a GPO for printer deployment. Open Group Policy Management from the Server Manager. Right click ‘Group Policy Objects’ and choose ‘New’ Give it a name. Link the GPO to the domain. Select printers and click ‘OK’. The GPO is now linked and should be applied to all users and/or computers depending what choice you make later in Print Management. Close Group Policy Management. Go back to Print Management and right click the printer you want to deploy and choose ‘Deploy with Group Policy’. This is an interesting choice. What should you do? It depends on your situation. If your users have their own laptop and they are the only user on that device I would choose ‘per user’ because once applied it never needs to be applied again under normal circumstances and ‘per user’ offers more flexibility when it comes to printer specific settings. One setting in particular, the set ‘Make default printer’ is available in ‘per user’ and not in ‘per machine’. But if you have a call center for example where many different users use many different workstations I would opt for ‘per machine’. The ‘per machine’ GPO is also faster then ‘per user’. Click ‘Browse’. Select ‘Printers’ and then click ‘OK’. The GPO ‘Printers’ is now listed, select ‘The users that this GPO applies to (per users) and click ‘Add’. The printer is now listed and click ‘OK’. Read the details and click ‘OK’. Click ‘OK’. If you check the hive Deployed Printers you will see the printer listed! If you check on a client you will see that the printer is available. The way the Printers GPO should be implemented depends a lot on how your network layout is. This example applies the GPO to any user and any computer that user logs in and this may not be what you want. You may need to adjust the GPO a little bit so that it is optimal for your specific situation. If you have any questions about that and you need free advice please use the community forums at Forum.
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