Deploying a Printer Connection

After you complete the preceding preparatory steps, you can deploy a printer connection by following these steps:

1. Create a new GPO for deploying the connections, or use an existing GPO linked to the OU, domain, or site where the users or computers being targeted reside.
2. Open Print Management, right-click the printer you want to deploy, and select Deploy With Group Policy.
3. In the Deploy With Group Policy dialog box, click Browse, find and select the GPO you will use to deploy the printer, and then click OK.
4. Choose whether to deploy the printer as a per-computer connection, a per-user connection, or both.
5. Click Add to add the printer connection settings to the GPO.
6. If needed, repeat steps 3 through 5 to deploy the same printer to additional GPOs.
7. Click OK when finished. The printer connection to be deployed using Group Policy will be displayed under the Deployed Printers node in Print Management.

Per-user printer connections can be deployed immediately using Group Policy if the user next logs off and then logs on again to a targeted client computer. Per-computer printer connections can also be deployed immediately if the user's computer is restarted. Neither type of connection will be deployed on earlier versions of Windows during normal background refresh of Group Policy. On Windows Vista and later clients, however, background policy refresh can also deploy both per-user and per-computer printer connections.

Note On Windows Vista and later versions, users can also force printer connections to be deployed immediately by typing gpupdate /force at an elevated command prompt.

The deployed printer connection is also displayed in the GPO used to deploy the connection. To view this, open the Group Policy Management Console (GPMC), right-click the GPO you used to deploy the connection, and then click Edit to open the GPO using the Group Policy Object Editor. To remove the deployed printer connection from the targeted users or computers during the next background refresh of Group Policy, right-click the connection and then click Remove. Unlinking the GPO from the OU, domain, or site where the targeted users or computers reside also removes the deployed connections.

Note You can also use the Group Policy Results Wizard in the GPMC to collect RSoP information to verify the success or failure of deploying printers using Group Policy.