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I have about 15 printers in my organization. We are currently dealing with the problem that when we change or add one (or god forbid, more) printers we have to go to each client PC, remove the old printer, install the new one, etc. (more than a days worth of work)

We are a low budget small business, so buying a large scale enterprise solution is out of the question. We are also a mixed environment with many Macs and PC's.

How do you all handle multiple printers, printer changes, and making sure that the printers are available to every client?

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  • Do you have a Windows Domain, and Windows server? That would take care of all the Windows boxes with just a few settings in a Group Policy.
    – Zoredache
    Sep 12, 2014 at 23:50
  • We do have a windows server, but no windows domain or AD. The idea of using AD was put off the table because of the complexities of BYOD implementation, and incompatibility with OSX devices.
    – Reid
    Sep 12, 2014 at 23:54
  • Not sure what "complexities of BYOD implementation" means in your organization, but that's not caused by having an AD domain. You certainly can join OS X computers to a domain.
    – jscott
    Sep 13, 2014 at 0:39
  • Radical thought (thus not an answer as it doesnt qualify), but what about ensuring your printers are all IP enabled and support a minimum standard - for example PCL6 - and then simply configure all the desktops to use a generic PCL6 driver. this might cost you in some bells and whistles (like double sided printing), but will removes the driver handling issue.
    – davidgo
    Sep 13, 2014 at 1:05
  • I have a network of about 80 stations with about 15-20 of them OSX, AD domain has never been an issue. As far as I know you could share printers from the server without a domain but you would need to create users credentials in the server. Maybe just maybe (as i haven't tried it) you could add 1 user like Print and a pass, then connect multiple users to it. or a couple users or groups. Not sure how it would act with multiple users using the same credentials at the same time.... Just a thought.
    – Vdub
    Sep 13, 2014 at 4:06

1 Answer 1

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Share the printers from the server and then to update the drivers write a script to do the legwork. Find a way to easily push it out. Either that or send a memo outlining the process and let the users do the work. They need to be accountable for at least some technology skills if they use computers at work.

I found this below that might work out for you. I didn't write it myself so I dont know if it will work. Im sure you can remove the driver if you edit it to do so.

@Echo Off REM Change

REM Add printer rundll32 printui.dll,PrintUIEntry /in /n\COMPUTER\PRINTER

REM Set printer as default rundll32 printui.dll,PrintUIEntry /y /n\COMPUTER\PRINTER

http://community.spiceworks.com/how_to/show/21020-adding-a-network-printer-from-the-command-line-or-bat-file

http://ss64.com/nt/rundll32.html

EDIT 1: I do see the problem with the user accounts now. You could try to create one general user with printer access as stated above and have them log in using that account when adding the printer. Honestly I would send out memos, does everyone really need to have every printer added right away? If they need the new printer they will go through the process of adding it. They don't have a choice. We make all our nurses and doctors do it. If anyone has a problem they can ask for help. I'm sure there are a few super users out there.

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