PSS ID Number: Q264039
Article Last Modified on 08-30-2002
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The information in this article applies to:
Microsoft Windows 2000 Server
Microsoft Windows 2000 Advanced Server
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Summary
In Microsoft Windows 2000 Terminal Services you can
redirect clients local printers when they log on to a
Terminal Services session with the Microsoft RDP 5
Terminal Services client. The redirection of local
printers is a default behavior.
When clients connect to a Terminal Services session and
the clients have network printers configured, the client's
network printers are not redirected. This behavior is by
design. Microsoft does not provide support for redirection
of network printers in Windows 2000 Server or Advanced
Server. This functionality requires a 3rd party add-on
product.
If terminal services users need to print to a network
printer, the client may set up the network printer on the
Terminal Services computer through the Add Printer Wizard
and enable users to select and print to that printer. In
cases where this is not an option, it is sometimes
possible to map a local port (LPT) on the client side to
the network path and install a printer driver to print to
that local port. This workaround will automatically
redirect jobs to the local printer, and the output sent to
that printer will then be redirected again to the network
printing device. This workaround is not a design feature
of RDP 5, and it will not work in all cases.
The information in this article is provided as
informational and not as a supported implementation of
Terminal Services redirected printing.
More Information
If there is a special circumstance where the user needs to
redirect a network printer, you can map the network
printer to a local port.
For Windows 2000 and Microsoft Windows NT, you can use the
following command:
net use lpt3 \\ servername\printer /persistent:yes
This command maps the network printer to the local port
LPT3. The user can then install the correct drivers for
that printer as though the printer was installed on LPT3.
If this is done, the printer on LPT3 is redirected when
the user connects to the Terminal Services session. This
also works with LPT1 and LPT2, as long as there is not a
local device on either of these ports.
For Microsoft Windows 95, Microsoft Windows 98, and
Microsoft Windows Millennium Edition (Me):
Right-click on the network printer in the printers folder
and click Properties. From the Details tab in the Printer
Properties box, click Capture Printer Port. This action
can enable you to select the LPT port that you want to map
to this network path.
The preceding workaround is useful in environments when a
user opens a session to a Terminal Services computer on a
remote network (for example, across the Internet) and
wants to print back to a printer shared on the local area
network (LAN).
An alternative way to work around this is to install the
remote desktop connection client, which is compatible with
the latest version of the Remote Desktop Protocol (RDP)
protocol and is compatible with Windows 2000 terminal
services. This client is included with Microsoft Windows
XP and is also available for download at the following
Microsoft Web site:
http://www.microsoft.com/windowsxp/pro/downloads/rdclientdl
..asp
For additional information, click the article numbers
below to view the articles in the Microsoft Knowledge
Base:
Q309825 HOW TO: Securely Copy and Paste Files Between the
Terminal Services Client and the Terminal Server in
Windows 2000
Q278139 Rdpclip and Drmapsrv Are Unsupported with Terminal
Services Advanced Client
Additional query words:
Keywords: kbnetwork kbprint
Issue Type: kbinfo
Technology: kbwin2000AdvServ kbwin2000AdvServSearch
kbwin2000Serv kbwin2000ServSearch kbwin2000Search
kbWinAdvServSearch
