NT4 Server - XP workstations

Does any one know of a way that not only an Administrator can see Printers on a Windoes NT4 Server from a Windows XP workstation.
The problem I have is that every time a user logs in, they have to go through the process of finding Printers, before printing.
I know it is saving a rain forest somewhere, but it is at the cost of deafness from unhappy users !

 

NT4 domain with NT4 print server(s)?

Can the users add a printer to their w/s and have it persist after they shutdown and restart?

 

XP Printers with NT4 Server

No the users ever time, have to go and find the printers .. Doh

 

Are we talking regular network printers with their own NIC and IP address?

Domain with NT4 domain controller or workgroup?

 

NT4 users on XP - with a Printer problem

Yes the printers have there only Network Addresses.

All are NT4 Domain users, majority are none IT, some as young as five!

Every time they log in, they have to search the network for printers to use.
Strange, but XP "Auto finds" printers that no longer exist, NOT the ones now found on the Network.
Only the Administrator user or one with Administrator privledges can see the printers that have been set up, but also finds the Auto ones..

 

Andy - if I seem to be fumbling around some here, it's because I am. This whole printer thing should be a non-issue and I can't figure out what is causing your problem.

As I understand your setup, the following should all be true
- Classic NT4 domain
- NT4 server set as your print server so only it has TCP/IP ports set up pointing to your network printers
- Printers are shared from the print server and users connect to a priter via those shares
- Printer share permissions are set to allow Everyone rights to print
- Print server handles queueing print requests and feeding them out to the printers
- XP PCs are domain members so all are running XP-pro

If you are using Simple File Sharing on the XP workstations, turn it off.

Follow the instructions Here to disable the automatic network share discovery the XP PCs have enabled by default. It is supposed to autodisable if you have a domain or a workgroup with over 32 members but seems to get confused at times.

 

Printers start printing !

Newt,
Sorry to have been so vague in my reporting of the problem, it is not one of the normal Windows gottach's!
I will try what you have suggested and get back to you.

 

Printer does not remain as default

Hi, Tried the work around and found that when adding the printer with a user login, logged out or rebooted, when logging back in the "Microsoft Office Document Image Writer" became the default, even though I had set the printer I wanted, as default ...
Am I giving you the information you require as this is a very simple setup.
Server NT4, workstation Windows XP, TCPIP both ends, not DHCP, just static IP's. A logon script that has nothing, see below,

@BREAK OFF
@ECHO OFF
@IF "%OS% "== "Windows_NT" GOTO Inst_WS >nul
@NET USE K: /HOME >nul
@NET TIME \\SERVER /SET /YES >nul

:Inst_WS


REM @\\SERVER\RollNT$\Townt.exe /W /I >nul
net use p: \\server\public
net time \\server /set /y
net use m: \\server\cdroms
net use g: \\server\cd
net use k: \\server\users\%username%
net use t: \\server\public\pupilswo


Any idea's ..

 

Still no good idea why it is broken but this should work to get things running like you want.

http://www.ss64.com/nt/con2prt.html

 

User Printing using CON2PRT

Thanks Newt,
Will go and implement the "CON2PRT" on all the 46 Desktop PC's and 15 laptops.

 

Let us know how it works out for you.

 

Got the Printing problem resolved !

Got the problem resolved as it was as a
local port
local printer attached to this computer
Unclick "Automatically detect and install my Plug and Player
create a new port (that you have setup on your NT4 Server (no spaces or special characters)).
Also the server name i.e. \\server\printer1 ...

And your printer will be available to all !