Windows Server Hack [Electronic resources] نسخه متنی

Hack 51 Automate Printer Management

Here are a couple nifty ways to manage printers
from the command line instead of via the GUI.

Managing printer mappings
tends to be complicated task,
especially in larger environments. Increased level of difficulty
results from the fact that, in such situations, printers are shared
(rather than used by individual users). Shared printer devices are
typically network-attached (i.e., they either have internal network
cards or are connected to external hardware-based print servers).
This differs from a home/small office setup, where printing devices
connect to individual workstations via parallel, USB, or infrared
port.

The way printer software is installed also varies by connection.
Local printers are either autodetected (in Windows 2000 and XP) or
installed via the Add Printer wizard. In the case of network-attached
devices, printers are first installed with the Add Printer wizard on
a network server. Next, users connect to these printers (either by
double-clicking on the printers' icons in My Network
Places/Network Neighborhood or by running the Add Printer wizard),
which triggers automatic download of printer drivers and their
configuration on the local workstations. The printer mappings are
stored as part of a user's profile.

Since the process of connecting to network printers is
straightforward, you can leave this task to users. This is a viable
solution, as long as printers are easy to find (e.g., by implementing
a naming convention that clearly identifies the
printer's location). This, however, is not always
the case.

CON2PRT

If you want to be able to manage printer mappings easily, you can use the
CON2PRT command, which has been available since
the release of the Zero Administration Kit for Windows NT 4.0.
CON2PRT allows you to map network printers from
the command line and is extremely easy to use. It works with Windows
NT 4.0, 2000, and XP and can easily be included in a login script.
Its only limitation is the fact that it cannot be used to force the
installation of the locally attached printer, but this, fortunately,
is rarely needed (since, with Windows 2000 and XP, local printers are
usually autodetected).

The CON2PRT command offers three functions:

CON2PRT /f

Deletes all existing printer mappings

CON2PRT /c

Creates a new printer mapping

CON2PRT /cd

Creates a new printer mapping and sets it as the default

For example, to set a default printer to the printer
LJ4000_PS_01 on the server
SERVER01, you would type in the following:

CON2PRT /cd \\SERVER01\LJ4000_PS_01

You can find the complete syntax of CON2PRT by
typing the standard /? switch at the command
prompt, and download CON2PRT.EXE (along with the
rest of the Zero Administration Kit for Windows) from http://www.microsoft.com/ntworkstation/downloads/Recommended/Featured/NTZAK.asp.

RUNDLL32

While CON2PRT is easy to use, its
capabilities are limited to removing all
printer mappings and creating new ones (including setting the default
printer). Though it seems that this might be all you need when
dealing with printers, Windows offers much wider range of
functionality.

As you probably know, most of the features used by Windows in the
traditional 32-bit Windows environment are implemented in the form of
Dynamic Link Libraries (DLLs, files with the extension
.dll). As the name indicates, DLLs are
collections (libraries) of functions that can be used whenever they
are needed (dynamically) by any process operating within Windows.
Unfortunately, access to functions included in the DLL files, in
general, is restricted primarily to programmers. However, there are
exceptions to this rule. For example, you can take advantage of
certain specifically designed DLLs by running the
RUNDLL32 command that is included in every 32-bit
version of Windows. Keep in mind, though, that the number of
functions available with RUNDLL32 is fairly small
(for example, it does not include any of the Win32 API calls exported
from the system DLLs).

Printer-management functions used by RUNDLL32 are
stored in the printui.dll file. To find out the
collection of functions included in this file, you can run the
following from the command prompt or StartRun box:

rundll32 printui.dll,PrintUIEntry /?

This will display a long list of options available to you. In
general, you use the following syntax of commands (where
options and commandfile
parameters vary):

rundll32 printui.dll,PrintUIEntry options commandfile

Here are just a few of many possible uses of this command:

Delete a local printer (called HP LaserJet 5)

rundll32 printui.dll,PrintUIEntry /dl /n
"HP LaserJet 5"

Delete the local printer on the remote computer (called RemotePC01)

rundll32
printui.dll,PrintUIEntry /dl /n "HP
LaserJet 5" /c\\RemotePC1

Delete a network printer

rundll32 printui.dll,PrintUIEntry /dn /n
"\\SERVERNAME\PRINTERNAME"

Add a network printer

rundll32 printui.dll,PrintUIEntry /in /n
"\\SERVERNAME\PRINTERNAME"

Set a printer as the default

rundll32 printui.dll,PrintUIEntry /y /n
"\\SERVERNAME\PRINTERNAME"

Marcin Policht