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    Allow non administrator users to install printers

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    printers print server
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    • MattSpellerM
      MattSpeller @dengelhardt
      last edited by

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

      @Sparkum ,
      I use GPOs to install and manage printers across 12 locations. Even the CEO is for it.

      We do the same - if a user has a home printer they want installed we just do it after hours remotely. No big deal.

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

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

        @Sparkum ,
        I use GPOs to install and manage printers across 12 locations. Even the CEO is for it.

        +1 for GPOs and a central print server.

        Is there a DFS-like service for printers?

        JaredBuschJ 1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
        • JaredBuschJ
          JaredBusch @Grey
          last edited by

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

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

          @Sparkum ,
          I use GPOs to install and manage printers across 12 locations. Even the CEO is for it.

          +1 for GPOs and a central print server.

          Is there a DFS-like service for printers?

          Have your GPO push out printers that print direct to IP instead of through a print server. Then you have no need. GPO still does install, but the printers simply exist only on the user computers instaed of on both the server and the computer.

          1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 1
          • dengelhardtD
            dengelhardt
            last edited by

            @JaredBusch ,
            How do you get the drivers to the printers through GPO if not using a print server? Do allow non-admins to install the drivers?

            JaredBuschJ 1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
            • JaredBuschJ
              JaredBusch @dengelhardt
              last edited by

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

              @JaredBusch ,
              How do you get the drivers to the printers through GPO if not using a print server? Do allow non-admins to install the drivers?

              I cannot answer that yet myself, but I have a need to do this at a client in the next few weeks.

              @Dashrender suggested this method to me saying he does it. He mentioned something about getting the drivers, but i do not recall what. I have a chatlog of our conversation and figured I could figure it out.

              1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
              • 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
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