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JSI Tip 5444. How do I manage print servers in a Windows 2000?
Jerold Schulman
June 16, 2002
6 Min Read
NOTE: The text in the following Microsoft Knowledge Base article is provided so that the site search can find this page. Please click the Knowledge Base link to insure that you are reading the most current information.
Microsoft Knowledge Base article Q323228 contains:
IN THIS TASK
SUMMARY
How to Add Printer Drivers for Other Client Computers
How to Update Printer Drivers
How to Remove Printer Drivers
How to List All Files on a Printer Driver
How to Change the Spool Folder Location
How to Turn On and Turn Off Printing Event Logging
How to Turn On and Turn Off the Notification for Users When Printing Completes
How to Create a Custom Printer Form
How to Track Printer Usage
How to Monitor Print Queue Performance
SUMMARY
This article describes how to manage print servers in a Windows 2000 environment. You must be a member of the administrators group on a computer that is running Windows 2000 Advanced Server to perform all of the tasks that are described in this article.
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How to Add Printer Drivers for Other Client Computers
Click Start, point to Settings, and then click Printers.
On the File menu, click Server Properties, and then click the Drivers tab.
Click Add, click Next, and then follow the instructions in the Add Printer Driver wizard.
After you enter the printer's manufacturer and model, select the environment and the operating systems for which you want to install the drivers.
NOTE: You can use the Sharing tab in the printer properties to add printer drivers for other platforms (such as Alpha-based or Intel-based platforms) or for other operating systems. If you have to add additional drivers for multiple printers, you may want to use the Drivers tab on the print server properties.
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How to Update Printer Drivers
Click Start, point to Settings, and then click Printers.
On the File menu, click Server Properties, and then click the Drivers tab.
In the Installed printer drivers list, click the driver that you want to update, and then click Update.
Click Yes, and then type the path to the drivers if you are prompted.
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How to Remove Printer Drivers
Click Start, point to Settings, and then click Printers.
On the File menu, click Server Properties, and then click the Drivers tab.
In the Installed printer drivers list, click the driver you want to remove, click Remove, and then click Yes.
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How to List All Files on a Printer Driver
Click Start, point to Settings, and then click Printers.
On the File menu, click Server Properties, and then click the Drivers tab.
In the Installed printer drivers list, click the driver that you want to view, and then click Properties.
To view the details of any of the files that are listed, click the file, and then click Properties.
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How to Change the Spool Folder Location
Click Start, point to Settings, and then click Printers.
On the File menu, click Server Properties, and then click the Advanced tab.
In the Spool folder box, type the path and the name of the new default spool folder for this print server, and then click Close.
Either restart the spooler service or restart the server.
If the server functions as the print server for a large number of printers or for print jobs that are typically very long, consider moving the spool folder to another location. The spool folder may require a lot of disk space to spool all the jobs. Typically, the spool folder is not located at the root folder (typically, drive C). If the new folder does not exist, this procedure creates it.
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How to Turn On and Turn Off Printing Event Logging
Click Start, point to Settings, and then click Printers.
On the File menu, click Server Properties, and then click the Advanced tab.
To turn on or turn off spooler error event logging to the system log file, click to select or clear the Log spooler error events check box.
To turn on or turn off spooler warning event logging to the system log file, click to select or clear the Log spooler warning events check box.
To turn on or turn off spooler information event logging to the system log file, click to select or clear the Log spooler information events check box.
Either restart the spooler service or restart the server.
By default, all printing events are written to the system log file. If you want to reduce the amount of data that is logged, turn off information event logging. If you want to reduce the amount data even more, turn off warning event logging. Microsoft does not recommend that you turn off spooler error event logging.
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How to Turn On and Turn Off the Notification for Users When Printing Completes
Click Start, point to Settings, and then click Printers.
Click File, click Server Properties, and then click the Advanced tab.
Click to select or clear the Notify when remote documents are printed check box.
Either restart the spooler service or restart the server.
When the Notify Computer, not User Group Policy setting is turned on, the computer that originated the print job is notified, even if the user who submitted the print job has logged off and another user has logged on.
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How to Create a Custom Printer Form
Printer forms define the size and the type of paper that is used by a print device. Forms are provided for all standard paper sizes. You can define a custom paper form for nonstandard paper sizes.
Click Start, point to Settings, and then click Printers.
On the File menu, click Server Properties.
On the Forms tab, click to select the Create a New Form check box.
In Form Description for box, type a name for the new form.
Type the dimensions that you want to use for the new form in the following boxes:
Measurements
Units
Paper Size
Printer Area Margins
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How to Track Printer Usage
Click Start, point to Settings, and then click Printers.
Right-click the printer you want to audit, and then click Properties.
Click the Security tab, click Advanced, and then click the Auditing tab.
Click Add, and then click the user or the group whose printer access you want to audit.
In the Access column, click the successful and the failed printing events that you want to audit, and then click OK two times.
NOTE: Click successful printing events if you want to audit all successful attempts to perform this action. Click failed printing events if you want to audit all failed attempts to perform this action. You can view the audit information in the security log file.
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How to Monitor Print Queue Performance
Click Start, point to Programs, point to Administrative Tools, and then click Performance.
Click the icon with the plus sign (+) on the Performance toolbar.
Click the print server computer in the Select counters from computer box.
Click Print Queue in the Performance object box.
Click the counters that you want to monitor.
NOTE: To view a detailed explanation of a counter, click the counter, and then click Explain.
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