[windows2000] Re: Automated Printer Connections
- From: "Sullivan, Glenn" <GSullivan@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
- To: <windows2000@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
- Date: Mon, 6 Jun 2005 11:46:40 -0400
Attached is a zip file. Inside are the scripts required.
The "InstallPrinterDrivers" script is a startup script.
The other two go into the "Logon Script" folder in a GPO.
I may have left too much extraneous stuff (variables, etc...) in the
logon script, but I would expect you to debug it before rolling it out
anyway. I trimmed out all of the stuff that appeared to be completely
unnecessary.
To get it going:
1. Create groups, one for each printer, and add a test user to those
groups.
2. Add each printer and group name to the CSV file.
3. Run the logon script while logged on as the test (non-admin) user and
see which printers fail... I find BareTail (www.baremetalsoft.com)
invaluable for monitoring the tail end of the logon log... if you get an
error about a missing driver, the printer that is listed last in the
Logon.log is the one that failed.
4. Add entries to the InstallPrinterDrivers script as needed
The hardest part is crafting the correct "rundll32
printui.dll,PrintUIEntry" command to get the drivers to install... for
this, I log on as an admin and craft the correct command at the command
line. Then I add it to the script (doubling the quotes, of course) when
I get it right.
I guess the only thing I can think of that would make it more modular
would be to put the list of drivers required into a CSV file, and read
that in the startup script, but since I only had three printer drivers
that I need to automate, I haven't done that yet.
Hope this helps someone... Give me a yell if you need any help,
Glenn Sullivan, MCSE+I MCDBA
David Clark Company Inc.
________________________________
From: windows2000-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
[mailto:windows2000-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx] On Behalf Of Sullivan, Glenn
Posted At: Monday, June 06, 2005 10:49 AM
Posted To: Windows 2000
Conversation: Automated Printer Connections
Subject: [windows2000] Automated Printer Connections
I finally figured out what has been bothering me for years...
Quite some time ago, I decided that I wanted my printers to get
connected during login for my users.
I went through all sorts of work setting up group memberships and all
that jazz, but found that, for some of our printers, there were no W2k
drivers built-in, and they needed to be installed. But my users don't
have rights to install drivers, so those printers still had to be done
manually.
Now, I have written a VBScript startup script which installs the printer
drivers that I need at startup, under the privileges of the Local System
account.
So, every time I add a new printer, I have three steps to do before I
can "deploy" it to the people that need it:
1. Add the printer information to a CSV file that contains the info for
all of our printers, in this format:
Printer Queue, Group Name, Description
\\CSTerminal05\HP6P <file://\\CSTerminal05\HP6P> , Printer_CS_HP_6P, CS
HP6
2. Add a test account to the group for the printer, and login to a win2k
machine. If the printer is connected correctly, there are already
drivers installed, and step three is unnecessary
3. If a driver needs to be installed, download/extract the drivers, put
them in my public access share, and craft a command to install it, and
put that command into the startup script.
Then, the next time the computer restarts, the drivers will be
installed, and then the printer connected as needed when the user logs
in.
If anyone would like me to go into more detail, feel free to ask. I'm
just so psyched it's working...
Glenn Sullivan, MCSE+I MCDBA
David Clark Company Inc.
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