Print update rollup for Win7 and Server 2008 R2

30 May 2012 by

Whilst troubleshooting slow printing issues, I stumbled across the following blog post: http://blogs.technet.com/b/askperf/archive/2012/03/16/print-update-rollup-available-for-windows-7-amp-windows-server-2008-r2.aspx

I was surprised to read this in the comments:

At this time there are no plans to make this available on WSUS

Really?! If it is “designed to reduce known issues such as printing performance, print spooler crashes, connectivity to print queues, and print driver installation” then why would Microsoft not distribute this through the normal channels?

You can get the updates at http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;en-US;2647753 but don’t go blindly rolling this out; test first!

Filed Under: Microsoft, Printing Tagged With: ,

Migrating print queues + troubleshooting WMI issues

20 May 2012 by

Just read an excellent post on migrating print queues: http://blogs.technet.com/b/askperf/archive/2012/04/03/migrating-print-queues-quickly-using-printbrm-configuration-files-and-the-generic-text-only-driver.aspx

Also, there’s a great post on troubleshooting WMI issues using WMIDiag: http://blogs.technet.com/b/askperf/archive/2012/02/03/wmidiag-2-1-is-here.aspx

Filed Under: Microsoft, Printing Tagged With:

Cannot find pushprinterconnections.exe to deploy printers via GPO to WinXP PCs

17 April 2012 by

I was onsite with a customer the other week, and noticed that they installed print drivers individually on each PC to print direct to the printer. Not good, as the maintenance and management must have been a nightmare; the customer was a medium-sized school.

Usually I see shared printers being used, but better still are shared printers deployed via Group Policy. I started preaching to their IT guy about the wonders of centrally managed printing, and decided to set this up for him.

Unfortunately, after a while I gave up as I couldn’t find the necessary pushprinterconnections.exe file I needed for the solution to work with their Windows XP clients. It’s usually in %WINDIR%\System32 on the server, but not this time.

Here’s a link to the file if you ever struggle finding it too: pushprinterconnections

Instructions on Deploying Printers via GPO can be found here: http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/cc722179(v=ws.10).aspx

Filed Under: Microsoft, Printing Tagged With: ,

How to remove stubborn Printer Drivers

9 March 2012 by

I posted a How to Remove Printers guide on the excellent Spiceworks Community some time ago, but the link to the Printer Deleter has already changed a few times.

In the event that the link breaks again, you can download the Printer Deleter here instead.

If that doesn’t work, the final option is to reset the print spooler to factory defaults. You can do this by running Reset Print Spooler – MicrosoftFixit50126. Here’s some info on using it:

This Fix it Solution automates resetting the Print Spooler on Windows XP, Windows Vista, Windows Server 2003 and Windows Server 2008.

The Fix it has two modes: Light and Full.  The light mode will make changes to the spooler that should not require the end user to make any changes.  The full mode will restore the print spooler to defaults and require a reinstall of printers.

Filed Under: Microsoft, Printing Tagged With: ,