Printer "Migration" Question

[psychonaut2000]

We are migrating our users from Novell to Microsoft File & Print Servers. The site in question has maybe 50 users. I've been asked to go to each workstation and remove the NDPS Printers and re-install them from the new server. This seems to me to be an obviously inefficient manner of addressing this issue? Couldn't this be automated via a login script or other such method? Can you add a printer entirely by running a .reg file?

Perhaps a more open-ended question would work better. Given a similar scenario, how would you go about installing printers?

One issue that comes to mind is that not all users use all printers at that facility. Being that it's much quicker to delete a printer than to add one I think it might be acceptable to add all printers for all users, via login script, etc, and then manually delete, or allow the user to delete, any uneeded printer(s).

Thanks in advance for any suggestions.
BTW..this needs to happen tomorrow! : )

 

[MJoyce]

You can use vbscript to install printers.

Allow me to demonstrate.

Set oNetwork = CreateObject("WScript.Network&quot
oNetwork.AddWindowsPrinterConnection "\\server\printer"

also

oNetwork.SetDefaultPrinter "\\server\printer"

 

[psychonaut2000]

Not having worked with vbscripting before. How, specifically, would I create and execute such a script so that desired printers would be installed on the machines of my choosing.

Thx!

 

[jfwebber]

What I have done, is the following. I created a share and in the share I have created .bat file that will install printers. The end-user can access this share, select the printer they want to install, double click on the .bat file, and the printer gets installed. All the .bat files contain the following:

rundll32 printui.dll,PrintUIEntry /in /n \\server\printer

This way, I do not have to visit the workstation each time a user need to add a printer.

Jim

Jim Webber
Network Administrator MCSE CNA