Print driver installation from print server

Question

Hi all,

I've added a new printer to network and been strugling to deploy the printer (XEROX) to users since then.... I've added the printer to Print Server (Windows Server 2016) with no problem, downloaded and installed a driver and trying to deploy it to users via GPO....

As I've found out, there are some limitation now for installing printer drivers from print server - non-admin users are not allowed to do it. How can I resolve that? I've been doing some research online and found some solutions but it is still not working for me.

I configured GPO as below:

• Computer Configuration > Policies > Windows Settings > Security Settings > Local Policies > Security Options. Find the policy Devices: Prevent users from installing printer drivers -> DISABLED
• Computer Configuration > Policies > Administrative Templates > System > Driver Installation > Allow non-administrators to install drivers for these device setup classes {4658ee7e-f050-11d1-b6bd-00c04fa372a7} and {4d36e979-e325-11ce-bfc1-08002be10318}
• Point and Print Restrictions for Computers and also Users
• Configured registry -> HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Policies\Microsoft\Windows NT\Printers\PointAndPrint\ RestrictDriverInstallationToAdministrators =0

The Results:

• When I use printer server name only (like "abc") then I get message that "We can't install this printer at the moment. Try again later or contact your network admin for help"
• When I use FQDM of printer server, I get message "Printer isn't available because your network administrator has restricted access to it"
• When I set Point and Print to DISABLED, I get again "Printer isn't available because your network administrator has restricted access to it"

When I check the registry on testing machine (WINDOWS 11), I can see all the setting there under " HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Policies\Microsoft\Windows NT\Printers\PointAndPrint\" ... soo it seems to be applied correctly

From what I've read, I should be getting some warnings when adding printer - like "Do you trust this printer" or asked for Admin credentials when adding printer. But all I get is are those messages above,,,

Below is a printscr of the GPO

What am I missing here??? How comes it is so complicated to deploy a printer? Or is there any other way than the above to resolve this issue? Spent hours and hours testing it but no luck :/

Answer 1

thank you both.... I've eventually found v4 drivers for the printer..... Was not easy to find though :/ .... Installed v4 driver on print server and all is now working smoothly via GPO.