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I re-deployed a printer via group policy after updating the printer drivers on the print server.

On some Windows 7 workstations the drivers could be updated on a printer by right-clicking it --> Update Driver. However most workstations do not offer this function, therefore are stuck with the printer's old driver & printing preferences. All domain users have local Admin rights to their workstations.

Trying to right-click --> Remove Device the printer displays error: Access is denied, unable to remove device.

Is there an easy way to re-deploy this network printer with the correct drivers?

Ash
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2 Answers2

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You want to change the driver pushed out by GPO. My guess would be that's why you can't update the drivers on most workstations, and "some" of the workstations aren't getting the new GPO applied - those ones are the one on which you can edit the settings/update the drivers. Correct it by correcting your GPO, rather than screwing around on each individual machine... which would seem to me to largely defeat the purpose of having GPOs.

(And yes, this is the "easy way" to redeploy this network printer. Change the installed printer settings in the GPO.)

Settings applied by GPO supersede local admin rights, which would be why you're getting access denied, even with administrator rights. (Which, by the way, is a really icky thing to give to all domain users. Nothing but trouble comes from it, trust me.)

HopelessN00b
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  • I updated the driver on the server from PS to PCL. For a particular troubled user I attempted the right-click --> Update Driver which appeared to install ok, however attempting to go into the printer preferences produced this error: http://db.tt/8GHEjQhG :-( The end user will restart their pc later to see if that helps. – Ash Jul 31 '12 at 01:28
  • @Ash Um, yeah, that's not the permissions fault I was thinking about. Printer causing a GPF, eek. – HopelessN00b Jul 31 '12 at 01:36
  • Issue resolved on workstation restart. End user now has the updated driver & can access printer preferences. – Ash Jul 31 '12 at 01:38
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There's an old trick to make connected clients immediately update their print driver. Unshare the printer and then immediately reshare it under the same name. This will cause the printer to momentarily disconnect from the clients. Upon reconnecting, the clients will check the driver version as part of the process and download the latest drivers.

MDMarra
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