Device-Scoped Universal Print Provisioning via Intune / Printer Provisioning CSP

Summary
Our organization is requesting support for device-scoped Universal Print deployment through Intune and the Printer Provisioning CSP. This would allow Universal Print printers to be installed on shared, non–1-to-1 devices—such as computer lab machines—so that any authorized, licensed user who signs in automatically receives the correct printer.

Background

We are a large education institution with hundreds of shared computer labs distributed across multiple campuses. Universal Print works extremely well for our employee 1-to-1 devices when deployed via Intune using the Printer Provisioning CSP. In those scenarios, the current User-scope CSP is adequate.

However, our primary challenge arises with shared lab environments. In these labs, each Windows device is used by many different students throughout the day. We use Intune’s Settings Catalog to deploy per-lab printer assignments—for example, the Lab A printer is deployed to all computers in Lab A.

Problem

The Printer Provisioning CSP is designed exclusively for User-scope deployment:

• Documentation:
  https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/client-management/mdm/printerprovisioning-csp
  https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/intune/intune-service/configuration/settings-catalog-printer-provisioning

Because of this, the CSP expects the printer configuration to apply per user rather than per device. When applied to shared lab computers:

• Printers usually install, but we experience intermittent failures, inconsistencies, and unexpected behavior.
• After working with Universal Print and Intune support for over 6 months, we learned these issues occur because this policy is intentionally User-scoped, and our use case isn’t officially supported.

This leads to a gap in management capabilities for organizations with shared-device environments.

Feature Request

We are requesting a Device-scoped version of the Universal Print provisioning policy, equivalent in functionality to the existing User-scoped Printer Provisioning CSP.

Desired Behavior

• An Intune policy (Settings Catalog or CSP) that installs a selected Universal Print printer onto the device, not the user profile.
• When any licensed Universal Print user with access to that printer signs in, the printer should:
  • Already be present (device-level installation), or
  • Automatically finalize user mapping with minimal delay.
• No per-user provisioning should be required to place the printer on the system.

Why Device Scope Is Needed

This solves the following:

1. Shared computer labs
   • Hundreds of students sign in to the same hardware.
   • Each lab needs to reliably offer its corresponding printer.
2. Performance and reliability
   • Device-scoped provisioning removes per-user provisioning delays and intermittent failures.
3. Consistency and manageability
   • Cleanly matches how labs, kiosks, classrooms, and shared-resource PCs operate in education environments.
4. Licensing alignment
   • Users are already properly licensed for Universal Print.
   • The device simply needs the printer pre-provisioned so the user can access it.

Conclusion

A Device-scoped Universal Print provisioning option would resolve the major challenges faced by education institutions, libraries, training centers, shared workspaces, and any environment where multiple users share Windows devices.

This capability would bring Universal Print in line with real-world deployment requirements and greatly simplify lab management at scale.

We strongly recommend this enhancement and would be happy to provide additional information, testing feedback, or environment details.