win2k and pritners

This is going to sound like a really silly question I'm sure, but it's got me stumped.

I have a lab of win2k prof machines in a win2k domain. I need to add a printer to the clients and have it available to all users. I've logged on the machines and domain admin and local admin to install printers and when a normal user is logged on, there are no printers shown.

I've even added the printer to the mandatory profile assigned to the users and the printer still doesn't show up.

How the hell do you install a printer on a win2k prof client and have it show up for all users on that machine?

Is the printer shared on the computer?

It's a networked printer on a server.

So no, it isn't shared on the client machines.

If I am understanding you correctly, you have it working for ONE user on that machine, but it doesn't show up for anyone else?

What you need to do is log in as a backup administrator (you may need to create an acct), and then copy the contents of whatever profile has the printer on it to the DEFAULT USER profile. Then delete whatever other profiles you have, and log in as someone else. The next time a person logs on and the profile is created, it will have that printer.

Make sense?

The problem you are experiencing is by design, because network printers are setup on a per-profile basis on 2k Pro (and NT4, and XP for that matter). Changing the default profile is one way to fix this problem, but it is recommended to use a standard user account to copy to the default user, and not a local administrators profile. Another problem is that users that already have a profile on the PC will not be affected by the changes to the default profile.

Two other methods, (I prefer these methods over the default profile), as an administrator, setup a "local port" using a UNC path as the "Port Name", or IP printing using just the IP of the printer, then install the printer. Using the "local port" method will still queue the jobs on the server first. An IP printer port will queue directly to the printer. Either way, the printer will be available to all users that login to the PC because it is considered a “local printer”.

Good luck!

Wow, thanks for all the great info guys. I used Skywalker's method and it worked great.

I'm going to try your method, ya_know because I think it might work a little better in my environment.

You guys rock.


Thanks again,


-Mil