On that page I tried to cover several options, so it may appear more
complicated than it really is. Once you do it a couple of times, I think
you will find it relatively painless.
Unfortunately, there really isn't a way to copy the printer info from one
user profile to another, at least not one that is simpler than using the
command approach!
If you only have a few computers and one or a few (network) printers, it may
be simpler to logon locally at each computer as an administrator and run the
command. Then, you don't need to worry about remotely restarting the print
spooler or using the /c parameter.
You only have to issue the command once per client computer per network
printer. The effect last forever - you never have to do it again.
For example, if the name of the computer that has the printer shared from it
is PrintServer and the name of the printer share is Printer here's exactly
what you would need to do:
1. logon at the client computer with a user account that is an administrator
on that computer
2. click Start, Run
3. key cmd
An alternative to 2 and 3 above is to click Start, Programs (or All Programs
for Windows XP), Accessories, Command Prompt
4. press Enter (this will open a Command Prompt window)
5. key the text string below (note that the PrintUIEntry part is case
sensitive)
rundll32 printui.dll,PrintUIEntry /ga /n\\PrintServer\Printer
and press Enter
5. restart the computer (not strictly necessary, but may be the easiest
thing to do).
Putting the command into a command file eliminates the need to key the
"rundll32 printui.dll,PrintUIEntry /ga /n\\" stuff each time you want to add
a printer to a client computer. My typing is not that good and I often have
to rekey things, so saving it a command file elimates that pain.
You can create a command file using Notepad. Key (or copy and paste) the
command text into the Notepad window. Then, click File, Save As, select All
Files from the Save as type: drop down list box and include the .cmd
extension in the File name: text box (e.g. key awp.cmd in the File Name:
text box). If you later want to change the content of the command file,
point at the file in Windows Explorer, right click and select Edit (double
clicking a file with the .cmd extension will run it, not open it for
editing).
The "%1" etc. is so that you can specify parameters on the command when you
invoke it at the command prompt. This is useful if you have many computers
and many printers. But, if you want to, you can put the entire command,
without any %1 etc. (e.g. from 5 above) into the command file. If you do
this, you can simply double click on the command file in Windows Explorer to
run it - e.g.
1. logon at the client computer as an administrator
2. using Windows Explorer, navigate to where the command file is (could be a
network share or mapped network drive)
3. double click the command file
You should be able to copy/paste the commands from the web page into Notepad
to avoid having to key the basic command text. If you want, you can also
paste into a Command Prompt window by clicking the right mouse button.
