Questions[printer](server)

• Workstation: Windows 7 (x64) [Install target for printer]
• Server: Windows Server 2012 R2 (x64) [Active Directory, Print Server]

I have been bashing my head on the desk trying to get this printer to be installed via group policy! For some reason, I simply can NOT get this printer deployed with GPO. I have tried setting it up to deploy via Computer Configuration->Policies->Windows Settings->Deployed Printers, as well as Computer Configuration->Preferences->Control Panel Settings->Printers and User Configuration->Preferences->Control Panel Settings->Printers. I have also tried going through my Print Server Management console to add it via user and/or computer targeting. I have tried ALL KINDS of ways and nothing is working. I followed a bunch of tutorials and watched a bunch of videos just to make sure I was not missing something but it really is a simple task (in theory)... It just will not work.

In trying to debug the issue I found that if I went to \\myserver\ and double clicked on the printer it would try to install the printer and then prompt me to install the drivers with a UAC type prompt.

I have tried everything I can think of to get that message box to stop popping up. I dug into it and found that if I was to edit a GPO called Point and Print Restrictions located at Computer Configuration->Policies->Administrative Templates->Printers and was as at User Configuration->Policies->Administrative Templates->Control Panel->Printers you could try setting the policy to Disabled or Enabled and choose Do not show warning or elevation prompt for the two Security Prompts listed at the bottom of the policy settings.

Well that was a bust too...

I did find that if I tried to manually install the printer by going to the unc and typing in my Administrator credentials it would download the drivers from the server and install the printer (as expected). If the user tried to remove the printer and was successful somehow as soon as they would log off and back on the GPO would do what I want and add the printer back. But it required me to add it manually the first time on EVERY PC.

After testing this and then removing the printer from the GPO, then logging off and on again. I could run the command printui /s /t2 to bring up a GUI that would allow me to remove the installed drivers with ease to put the PC back to it's original state (asking for Administrator credentials). Also something else I learned was the printers were stored in the registry located at HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows NT\CurrentVersion\Print\Connections. When I was trying to remove a printer and it told me I couldn't, I just went to that registry key and removed the GUID key of the printer I was trying to delete. Then just restarted the Print Spooler service and boom it was gone. This was no help getting me get to where I wanted but it was helpful in removing the printer during debugging the issue.

I read somewhere that maybe the cause is some type of windows security update that changed something. It was released because of some article showing how you could pwn an entire network if you were able to pwn a single printer. Something about when users connected to the printer and downloaded the drivers it would install injected software and run on the machine, etc...

My main goal is to be able to deploy this printer to a set of users in this OU with the GPO I'm using. But everything I try requires an Administrator to be logged on to do it (at least the first time). Does anyone have any idea why my printer will not automatically add itself via the GPO and also how do I get that dang "Do you trust this printer?" message to go away?

I have users connecting with remote desktop and some have things like Quicken which has a PDF driver installed on their machines at home.

We want them to be able to redirect to print at home, but do we have to really install something like Driver Amyuni Document Converter 300, when it will never be used in anyway. The event log certainly believes it is worth contacting an administrator to install before logging in again.

I am investigating methods of monitoring particular stats with printers. I am not very knowledgeable yet, and was just curious what .mib files are used for and why there are many of them for a printer?

Example: http://www.oidview.com/mibs/674/md-674-1.html

I was asked to get hold of the total pages counts for the 100+ printers we have at work. All of them are HP Laser or Business Jets of some description and the vast majority are connected via some form of HP JetDirect network card/switch. After many hours of typing in IP addresses and copying and pasting the relevant figure in to Excel I have now been asked to do this on a weekly basis. This led me to think there must be an easier way, as an IT professional I can surely work out some time saving method to solve this issue.

Suffice it to say I do not feel very professional now after a day or so of trying to make SNMP work for me!

From what I understand the first thing is to enable SNMP on the printer. Done. Next I would need something to query the SNMP bit. I decided to go open source and free and someone here recommended net-snmp as a decent tool (I would like to have just added the printers as nodes in SolarWinds but we are somewhat tight on licences apparently). Next I need the name of the MIB. For this I believe the HP-LASERJET-COMMON-MIB has the correct information in it. Downloaded this and added to net-snmp. Now I need the OID which I believe after much scouring is printed-media-simplex-count (we have no duplex printers, that we are interested in at least). Running the following command yields the following demoralising output:

snmpget -v 2c -c public 10.168.5.1 HP-LASERJET-COMMON-MIB:.1.3.6.1.2.1.1.16.1.1.1

(the OID was derived from running:

snmptranslate -IR -On printed-media-simplex-count  
Unlinked OID in HP-LASERJET-COMMON-MIB: hp ::= { enterprises 11 }  
Undefined identifier: enterprises near line 3 of C:/usr/share/snmp/mibs/HP-LASER  
JET-COMMON-MIB..txt  
.1.3.6.1.2.1.1.16.1.1.1  )  


Unlinked OID in HP-LASERJET-COMMON-MIB: hp ::= { enterprises 11 }  
Undefined identifier: enterprises near line 3 of C:/usr/share/snmp/mibs/HP-LASER  
JET-COMMON-MIB..txt  
HP-LASERJET-COMMON-MIB:.1.3.6.1.2.1.1.16.1.1.1:  

Am I barking up the wrong tree completely with this? My aim was to script it all to output to a file for all the IP addresses of the printers and then plonk that in Excel for my lords and masters to digest at their leisure. I have a feeling I am using either the wrong MIB or the wrong OID from said MIB (or both). Does anyone have any pointers on this for me? Or should I give up and go back to navigationg each printers web page individually (hoping not).

I recently had a client that had a problem with his Canon IPF9000. It's a wide-format printer that is used in high-end printing. The quality of its prints is pretty outstanding.

Well, my client had bought clone cartridges from a Chinese supplier (the ones from Canon are really expensive), one of which had a misaligned interface. But instead of checking what the problem was when he could not fully slot the cartridge, he tried to force it, causing the intake needle (there are two for each cartridge, don't know what they are called, but I'm calling them intake and cartridge-fill needles) to get pushed into the the base. This meant that any cartridges that he installed now would not be dispensing ink (but would still have air pumped in).

Fortunately he called me in after only trying to "fix" it for 2 or 3 days; but only because the printer was showing that any cartridge he tried installing was low (why is it that it feels like you're confronting children when talking to some users. Me: Why's the ink low? Him: I don't know...can you fix it?).

I was able to do a physical check and found the needle and what happened to it (bragging: within a minute, and I do not do printers). I pulled apart the assembly around the needle, pulled it out and had it fixed. There didn't seem to be any spillage in the assembly but I didn't disassembly the whole thing more than what was necessary to pull the needle. Then I put the assembly back together again. Fun stuff -- next time I need to do something like that it should take me less time.

Anyway, now that it's fixed, and although the ink tanks are full (including a Canon one), they are both reporting low-ink (all other cartridges are fine). While I'll be trying a full reset of the printer on Monday, I need to know a few things to do if that doesn't work.

1) First, could there have been any damage from the needle dropping about a centimeter? If there was a hole in the line I can see air coming in. Would the printer know to detect that?

2) Is there any product that can reset the cartridges themselves? I've tried google but that's been an exercise in frustration.

Thanks to anyone that can answer either of those questions.