Windows 7 / Getting Started

Configuring Properties of Printers

You can use Print Management to configure the properties of printers on your network. To do this, you might be required to install additional printer drivers locally on the Windows 7 computer from which you are running Print Management because some printer properties might not be configurable unless the printer's driver is installed on the local computer, Therefore, if the in-box (default) printer drivers included with Windows 7 do not include a driver for a network printer you want to manage, you must first download and install a driver for the printer from the print server before you can configure the printer's properties using Print Management.

To configure the properties of a printer, follow these steps using Print Management:

  1. Right-click the printer you want to configure and then select Properties.
  2. Respond to one of the following messages if they appear:
    • A message might appear saying, "To use the shared printer \\server_name \printer_sharename, you need to install the printer driver on your computer. If you do not recognize or trust the location or name of the printer, do not install the driver." If this message appears and you want to manage the printer, click Install Driver to automatically download and install the printer's driver from the print server.
    • A message might appear saying, "The printer_sharename driver is not installed on this computer. Some printer properties will not be accessible unless you install the printer driver. Do you want to install the printer driver now?" If this message appears and you want to manage the printer, click Yes to open the Add Printer Wizard. Follow the steps of the wizard to manually install the printer driver for the printer by supplying the necessary driver media.
    • If no message appears and the printer's Properties dialog box appears, the printer driver is either already installed on the local computer or is included as an in-box driver in Windows 7.
  3. Configure the settings on the various tabs of the printer's Properties dialog box as desired. See Help And Support for addition information about configuring printer properties in Windows 7.
[Previous] [Contents] [Next]

In this tutorial:

  1. Managing Printing
  2. Enhancements to Printing in Windows 7
  3. Printing Enhancements Previously Introduced in Windows Vista
  4. Additional Printing Enhancements in Windows 7
  5. How Printing Works in Windows 7
  6. Understanding XPS
  7. Understanding the Windows Printing Subsystem
  8. Understanding Printer Driver Isolation
  9. Understanding the Print Management Console
  10. Enhancements to the Print Management Console in Windows 7
  11. The Print Management Console
  12. Adding and Removing Print Servers
  13. Configuring Default Security for Print Servers
  14. Adding Printers Using the Network Printer Installation Wizard
  15. Creating and Using Printer Filters
  16. Creating and Using Driver Filters
  17. Managing Printers Using Print Management
  18. Configuring Properties of Printers
  19. Publishing Printers in AD DS
  20. Managing Printer Drivers
  21. Configuring Printer Driver Isolation Mode
  22. Configuring Printer Driver Isolation Mode Using the Print Management Console
  23. Configuring Printer Driver Isolation Mode Using Group Policy
  24. Troubleshooting Driver Isolation
  25. Exporting and Importing Print Server Configurations
  26. Printer Export Files
  27. Performing Bulk Actions Using Print Management
  28. Client-Side Management of Printers
  29. Installing Printers Using the Add Printers Wizard
  30. Searching for Printers
  31. Installing Printers Using Point and Print
  32. Using Devices And Printers
  33. Using the Color Management CPL
  34. Managing Client-Side Printer Experience Using Group Policy
  35. Configuring the Add Printer Wizard
  36. Disable Client-Side Printer Rendering
  37. Configuring Package Point and Print Restrictions
  38. Extending Point and Print Using Windows Update
  39. Deploying Printers Using Group Policy
  40. Preparing to Deploy Printers
  41. Deploying a Printer Connection
  42. Limitations of Deploying Printers Using Group Policy
  43. Migrating Print Servers
  44. Migrate Print Servers Using Print Management
  45. Migrating Print Servers Using PrintBRM
  46. Monitoring and Troubleshooting Printers
  47. Configuring E-Mail Notifications
  48. Configuring Print Server Notifications
  49. Configuring Script Actions
  50. Configuring Detailed Event Logging