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I am having loads of problems with printers due to the point and print restrictions in Windows 7 being enabled. I've had this problem before and the solution last time was simply to disable the point to print restrictions.

Unfortunately the server I have here runs Server 2008 NOT Server 2008 R2 and the required options aren't there. There are some point to print settings but none of them seem to disable the settings and I can't get printers to install on client PCs.

I'm finding it rather hard to find any info on this as everything I find seems to be for 2008 R2 not 2008.

Has anyone found a way to remove the restrictions? The clients are all Windows 7.

John Gardeniers
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Arcath
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3 Answers3

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Install RSAT on a Windows 7 computer. Once RSAT is installed, you can enable the Group Policy Management Console feature and edit the GPO from the Windows 7 computer. This will enable you to edit the policy at the Computer Configuration level, which is what Windows 7 requires in order to disable Point and Print.

One caveat to that is if you're using a Central Store for your GPOs. This will just display the same GPOs you have available on your server. If this is the case, remove the Central Store or update it with ADMX files from your Windows 7 computer. If you upgrade it, you may have trouble continuing to manage GPOs from the servers. Check out this blog for more details.

Jason Berg
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The Point-to-print settings are definitely in the Server 2008 GPO schema. I've found that domain-wide point-to-print settings are bed dealt with in a Group Policy context rather than on specific machines. Point to print is a client setting anyway, I believe, so setting it in GPO for application to your Win7 machines should get you to where you need to be.

Nixphoe's link describes how to set this up via GPO.

Deploying Printers to Computers vs. Users via GPO

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sysadmin1138
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Does 2008 not have Point and print restrictions under Computer Configuration? Setting this to disabled should allow a Windows 7 client to pull and install a print driver from a 2008 print server. If you go to the server environment, I.E.: a terminal server, you have to add one more setting to allow users to add printers. Again toggle Point and Print to disabled but also set Computer Configuration | Policies | Windows Settings | Security Settings | Local Policies | Security Options

Set Devices: Prevent Users from Installing Printer Drivers to disabled.

"Devices: Prevent users from installing printer drivers when connecting to shared printers

For a computer to print to a shared printer, the driver for that shared printer must be installed on the local computer. This security setting determines who is allowed to install a printer driver as part of connecting to a shared printer. If this setting is enabled, only Administrators can install a printer driver as part of connecting to a shared printer. If this setting is disabled, any user can install a printer driver as part of connecting to a shared printer.

Default on servers: Enabled. Default on workstations: Disabled"

Chadddada
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