How to Add Printers with No User Interaction in Windows 2000

• Microsoft Windows 2000 Server
• Microsoft Windows 2000 Professional

SUMMARY

Windows 2000 provides the ability to install a printer using a command line. This is particularly useful when you add or remove a printer from a group of users using a login script or a scheduled event.

Although Windows NT 4.0 contains tools such as Con2prt.exe, the Con2prt.exe tool provides the ability to add or delete only network printers. You can also modify and delete local printers using Windows 2000. The result is that an administrator can control all aspects of a user's ability to print by having users run a batch file or logon script.

NOTE: Using this command in a login script or a client-launched batch file requires the client computer to be running Windows 2000. Because the login script runs on the client computer, a Windows NT 4.0 client is unable to process the command.

In addition, these commands can be run from an administrator's workstation or from a server so that the printers are push-installed to the client computers without having to go to the actual computer.

MORE INFORMATION

The following examples list the most typical uses for the command.

NOTE: This command only runs on a Windows 2000 computer against a Windows 2000 or Windows NT 4.0 server or workstation.

This example adds an Agfa printer driver and creates a logical printer on a computer named SERVER.

NOTE: Both lines can be placed in a batch file or typed after each other at a command prompt. These two lines are wrapped for readability.

rundll32 printui.dll,PrintUIEntry /ia /c\\SERVER /m "AGFA-AccuSet v52.3" /h "Intel"

rundll32 printui.dll,PrintUIEntry /if /b "Test Printer" /c\\SERVER /f "%windir%\inf\ntprint.inf" /r "lpt1:" /m "AGFA-AccuSet v52.3"

rundll32 printui.dll,PrintUIEntry /dl /b "Test Printer" /c\\SERVER

Additional query words: push install unattended user interaction 5.00 nt5howto print ntprint scripts automated automatic automatically win2000hotperf

Keywords : kbprint
Version : WINDOWS:2000
Platform : WINDOWS
Issue type : kbhowto