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faq:disabling_easy_print_on_windows_2008_ts

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How to Disable the Windows 2008 Server Easy Print Option and revert back to 2003 Printer Redirection

Printing in Windows Terminal Services has changed with the introduction of Windows 2008 Server and Easy Print. The Terminal Services Easy Print driver is a feature in Windows Server 2008 that enables users to reliably print from a Terminal Services RemoteApp program or from a terminal server desktop session to the correct printer on their client computer. It also enables users to have a much more consistent printing experience between local and remote sessions. Here is an example of a redirected printer in MS 2008 Server under Terminal Services using the Easy Print driver:

Easy Print appears to pose a problem with trying to re-direct RAW text-based print jobs to the re-directed printer. The symptom is the print job starts, but nothing is printed. Graphic based print jobs however print fine using Easy Print. The solution for printing text based print jobs from a Windows 2008 Terminal Server is to make the following Group Policy change so that the Easy Print driver is not the preferred driver choice when adding the re-directed printer for a Terminal Server session. Open the Group Policy Administrator on the 2008 * Server by clicking START

  • RUN and typing GPEDIT.MSC.
  • Browse to the following folder (Computer Configuration\Administrative Templates\Windows Components\Terminal Services\Terminal Server\Printer Redirection) and set to Disable Use Terminal Services Easy Print printer driver first:

or Computer Config → Admin Templates → Windows Components → Remote Desktop Services → RD Session Host → Printer Redirection → Use Remote Desktop Easy Print printer driver first → disabled.

With this policy setting disabled, the terminal server will try to find a suitable printer driver to install the client printer. If the terminal server does not have a printer driver that matches the client printer, the server will try to use the Terminal Services Easy Print driver to install the client printer. If for any reason the Terminal Services Easy Print driver cannot be used, the client printer will not be available for the Terminal Services session.

It is important to keep in mind that you may be required to install the printer driver for the printer you are trying to print to. Generic text based printers normally will add fine in Terminal Services, but for certain printers such as a Zebra Barcode printer, you may be required to install the Zebra driver on the Terminal Server, in-order to not have the server use the “Easy Print” option.

Do note that this change should only be required for text based printing (i.e. printing slip invoices or printing code based (EPL2 for example) barcode labels).

For a more detailed explanation of MS Terminal Server printing for 2008 Server, please see the following link:

http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/cc753853(WS.10).aspx

Additional resource link:

http://www.microsoft.com/communities/newsgroups/en-us/default.aspx?dg=microsoft.public.windows.terminal_services&tid=1bc3fd80-b2ca-4a69-9374-70619765da0c&cat=&lang=&cr=&sloc=&p=1

faq/disabling_easy_print_on_windows_2008_ts.1575408929.txt.gz · Last modified: 2019/12/03 13:35 (4 years ago) by fgabiana