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I have 3 servers with 2012 R2 RDS Session Host, where my users log on.

I have 4 printers.

What is best practice to deploy these 4 printers to my users?...

  1. Using GPO shared printers or Deploy Printer?

  2. Use GPO "User configuration" or "Computer configuration"?

  3. Should I remove printers when user logs off - if so how should I do this?

Thanks

Mojo

MojoDK
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  • What is best practice? Probably to use Printer Redirection so that the user's local printers are redirected to the RDS session. – joeqwerty Jun 11 '14 at 02:31

1 Answers1

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Using Group Policy Preferences is the way of mapping printers (and drivemaps) these days. Nothing even come close to the flexibility you have with the plethora of targeting rules.

We run a RDS environment with 600 users spread across 80 different locations. What we did was to build a single GPO targeting all the users. This GPO controls the mapping and deletion of 80 printers (one in each location).

We first do a delete printer action, where the printer is deleted if the remote desktop client IP doesn't match the range of the subnet to that specific site. Then we have a nearly identical mapping, where it does map the printer if the client IP is local to the subnet of the printer.

Regarding deletion at logoff: You should already be clearing out the profile folder when a user logs off (it's a GPO setting somewhere), and use roaming profiles. If you follow my scheme above then printers would be automatically deleted from the user if they're not matching the targeting rules.

I hope this gives you inspiration on how you wanna manage printers in your environment. Targeting rules inside GPP are extremely useful and powerful.

pauska
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    The only other option, which we use, (**) is to just set up the print queues and tell the users to manage their own printers. But if they are to be centrally managed, it's gotta be GPPs. Nothing else comes close. (And I never want to see a 46 KB VBS login script mapping printers ever again anyway.) – HopelessN00b Jun 10 '14 at 22:25
  • Thanks for helping me out here! :) ... how do you set "Default printer"? – MojoDK Jun 11 '14 at 05:08
  • @pauska: do you use "User Configuration -> Prefrences -> Control Panel Settings -> Printers"? – MojoDK Jun 11 '14 at 05:45
  • @MojoDK You have a choice of setting a default printer when you create a GPP object. And yes, it's a User Configuration GPP. – pauska Jun 11 '14 at 10:07
  • @Daniel Well, all the text in my answer? Shared Printer objects via Print Management does not have any targeting rules at all, while GPP does.. – pauska Jun 11 '14 at 14:19