Disabling option to find printers by IP

Question

On windows 10, we are looking for a way to remove/disable the "Add a printer using a TCP/IP address or hostname" from the Add printer screen.

Any clue if there's a GPO or registry entry that could do this. We haven't had any luck finding one.

Answer 1

I don't know of such a specific option, only of stronger methods that disable adding all printers.

Method 1 : Hide Devices and Printers

This is described in the Microsoft article Hide/Disable Devices in "Devices and Printers":

• Run the Local Group Policy Editor (gpedit.msc)
• Navigate to the policy User Configuration\Policies\Administrative Templates\Control Panel
• Double-click "Hide specified control panel items"
• Select Enable, click Show, and type Microsoft.DevicesAndPrinters.

Optionally, once this policy is in place, use regedit to create the following entry:

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Explorer\Desktop\NameSpace

and create a new Key {2227a280-3aea-1069-a2de-08002b30309d} and give the "Default" key the value of Printers.

This will create a Printers folder on the desktop, which when opened gives only the printer listing.

Method 2 : Stop the user from adding or deleting printers

• Run the Local Group Policy Editor (gpedit.msc)

• Navigate to the policy User Configuration\Administrative Templates\Control Panel\Printers

• Enable the following policies:

  • Prevent addition of printers
  • Prevent deletion of printers