Hi I like the idea But Just to add to the puzzle we also run MS DOS, Windows 95 and NT4, and windows 7 we are moving to windows 7 but this will take at least a year and the cutting machines in the factory do not have the option of an upgrade unless the hardware is replaced and we do not have the budget for that as it runs into millions of pounds
In the factory we have about 60 machines they all print to different label printers as these are at the end of each users bench sp they don’t have to walk far, The other problem is although we have enough windows licenses in the factory they all logon as the same person, this is so the managers always know the logons and password so I wouldn't be able to ties the printers down to a user only a machine, In the office people print to the nearest printer this is more manageable however every user has different software mostly custom that we setup to print to another printer that could be in a remote office in most cases, the software stores the settings in the registry so thats easy to find ok maybe we have groups of 5 users with similar needs, it would take some work to set these ip (i know once there done they're done) At this moment I don’t have the time or patience to set this up We need a 64 bit server as some users have moved to 64 bit versions of windows because the software dictates this So I am going to try.... I have already virtualised the print server for testing Will upgrade it to windows 2008 Export the printers as was suggested Install a clean windows 2008 64 bit version Import the printers TEST so I know what to expect and the disruption Then go live :-) Thanks for all the suggestions I know setting up scripts and AD settings is the way to go but ....................... Nigel Parker Systems Engineer Ultraframe (UK) Ltd Tel: 01200 452329 Fax: 01200 452201 Web: www.ultraframe.com Email: mailto:[email protected] -----Original Message----- From: [email protected] [mailto:[email protected]] On Behalf Of Aakash Shah Sent: 28 June 2013 17:08 To: [email protected] Subject: RE: [NTSysADM] Print server Upgrade Not knowing the specifics of your environment, this could still work. I would suggest the following: 1. If the custom software makes the user select a specific printer, i.e. it does not respect the default printer, and if this printer is different than the printer the users would use for standard word docs, etc, you can find out where the custom program records the printer to use. It may be in the registry (likely), or a custom file. With this information, you can pre-populate either the reg key/custom file with the printer information. 2. And then for the rest of Windows, you can deploy (and set as a default if needed) specific printers based on some pattern (assuming this pattern exists - either physical location, IP address, security group, part of a name, etc). -Aakash Shah -----Original Message----- From: [email protected] [mailto:[email protected]] On Behalf Of Nigel Parker Sent: Friday, June 28, 2013 8:35 AM To: [email protected] Subject: RE: [NTSysADM] Print server Upgrade Hi The main problem is that we have a lot of custom written software, this needs the users to go into the options and select the printer within the software it doesn’t pick up default printer settings Even if it did this would be of no use to our users as they will have a default printer set to one machine for standard word docs etc and another machine to print out from within the application I can see your logic but for most of our users this will not work Nigel Parker Systems Engineer Ultraframe (UK) Ltd Tel: 01200 452329 Fax: 01200 452201 Web: www.ultraframe.com Email: mailto:[email protected] -----Original Message----- From: [email protected] [mailto:[email protected]] On Behalf Of Aakash Shah Sent: 28 June 2013 16:21 To: [email protected] Subject: RE: [NTSysADM] Print server Upgrade Is there any pattern/logic as to what printers each person will get? If so, you could use GP to deploy the printers, and if the pattern is complex, you could consider creating a script (still deployed via GP) that contains the detection logic and then adds the printer depending on the logic. You mentioned below that no two users has the same printers. Not knowing how that will look, I will create a sample use case: let's say that each of the 50 label printers is used by one person only. If this is the case, then you can consider creating the new print queue with a standardized printer name like "Dept <Username> Dymo 400", where username is the username of the person who uses this printer. Then, you can build a script that checks for this and adds this specific printer. And then let's say that the other printers are shared by a specific set of users - by either physical location of security group. You could then use GP to automate this setup for everyone. Basically, if there is a pattern to it, then you can build something appropriate to account for it. This would be more work up front, but it will pay off in the end (assuming you can find a pattern to it). This will also help you when replacing/refreshing people's computers since you won't have to do anything in terms of printers when you deliver a new computer. To answer your main question - when we transitioned from Windows 2003 to 2008r2, we rebuilt our servers since there was a lot we wanted to clean up (standardize printer names and port names, use Universal drivers, etc). Good luck! -Aakash Shah -----Original Message----- From: [email protected] [mailto:[email protected]] On Behalf Of Nigel Parker Sent: Friday, June 28, 2013 7:50 AM To: [email protected] Subject: RE: [NTSysADM] Print server Upgrade Hi That wont work here Also some of the software the users has to then specifically go to the settings and pick the printer, just getting them to click on the link could be problematic Regards Nigel Parker Systems Engineer Ultraframe (UK) Ltd Tel: 01200 452329 Fax: 01200 452201 Web: www.ultraframe.com Email: mailto:[email protected] -----Original Message----- From: [email protected] [mailto:[email protected]] On Behalf Of Kurt Buff Sent: 28 June 2013 15:24 To: [email protected] Subject: Re: [NTSysADM] Print server Upgrade Perhaps, but what we did for this very situation recently was to o- Build the new server with a new name o- Populate it with all of the printer definitions with the same share names (making sure to add in the x86 printer definitions) o- Send an email to folks telling them to note their current printer definitions and then delete them, and also provide them with a link to the new server (\\newserver), and tell them to doubleclick on each of the printers they needed to install the drivers. Worked like a champ. Kurt On Fri, Jun 28, 2013 at 1:46 AM, Nigel Parker <[email protected]> wrote: > Hi > We are currently thinking of upgrading our print server from a 2003 > box to 2008 we also need to move from a 32bit version of windows to a > 64 bit version > > In the past we used printmig to move all the printers to another > machine but this doesn't seem to like our 64 bit machine > > The machine need to have the same name so its a "seamless process" > otherwise we will have to manually setup printers for users as we have > 21 MFD`s 50 label printers and about 30 other associated machines > > Some people will need > A MFD > A Colour printer > And a couple of label printers setup > > No 2 people have the same setup > > Is it possible to migrate users to another print server like this? > > Nigel Parker > Systems Engineer > Ultraframe (UK) Ltd > Tel: 01200 452329 > Fax: 01200 452201 > Web: www.ultraframe.com > Email: mailto:[email protected] > > > > Please consider the environment before printing this e-mail. > > The statements and opinions expressed in this email are my own and may not > represent those of Ultraframe (UK) Ltd. > This email is subject to copyright and the information contained in it is > confidential and may be legally privileged. It is sent out only for intended > recipient(s). Access to this email by anyone else is unauthorised. If you are > not an intended recipient, any disclosure, copying, distribution or other use > or any action taken or omitted to be taken in reliance on it, is prohibited > and unlawful. > > > Please consider the environment before printing this e-mail. The statements and opinions expressed in this email are my own and may not represent those of Ultraframe (UK) Ltd. This email is subject to copyright and the information contained in it is confidential and may be legally privileged. It is sent out only for intended recipient(s). Access to this email by anyone else is unauthorised. If you are not an intended recipient, any disclosure, copying, distribution or other use or any action taken or omitted to be taken in reliance on it, is prohibited and unlawful. Please consider the environment before printing this e-mail. The statements and opinions expressed in this email are my own and may not represent those of Ultraframe (UK) Ltd. This email is subject to copyright and the information contained in it is confidential and may be legally privileged. It is sent out only for intended recipient(s). Access to this email by anyone else is unauthorised. If you are not an intended recipient, any disclosure, copying, distribution or other use or any action taken or omitted to be taken in reliance on it, is prohibited and unlawful. Please consider the environment before printing this e-mail. The statements and opinions expressed in this email are my own and may not represent those of Ultraframe (UK) Ltd. This email is subject to copyright and the information contained in it is confidential and may be legally privileged. It is sent out only for intended recipient(s). Access to this email by anyone else is unauthorised. If you are not an intended recipient, any disclosure, copying, distribution or other use or any action taken or omitted to be taken in reliance on it, is prohibited and unlawful.
