Distribute printers with Intune or native via universal print

Distribute printers with Intune or native via universal print
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 Apr 15 2020
25 Comments (25 New)
Completed

Now that the printers are known in the cloud, i would like to distribute them over the cloud.

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Copper Contributor

This is a must have feature, would've been great if was included on preview launch, alternative way to add printers via powershell would be great in the mean time.

Copper Contributor

Agreed. Must have feature with Intune.

Copper Contributor

Would like to see the following in this feature request in Endpoint Manager:

 

  • Print configuration policy under Device 
  • Set default printer based on priority
  • Possible to browse for printers published in universal Print
  • Possiblity to target printers based on Azure AD known network
  • Possiblity to target printers based on location

 

 

Brass Contributor

Is this option already possible? So I want to distribute my UP-printers to the endpoints with Intune....

Copper Contributor

Nope its a feature request.............

Microsoft
Status changed to: In progress
 
Copper Contributor

Looking forward to seeing this implemented!

 

I could imagine two steps:

1st the UP printers could get a url which could be set in a "Device Restriction" profile. Should be easy to implement I think.

2nd a native printer distribution page in intune where you can assign Rules how printers are deployed like based on AzureAD security group, device category, user gps device location.

Brass Contributor
Copper Contributor

I have configured an Universal Printer, which I can add manually through the search printer option.

However when I try to add it following the installation instruction at https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/download/details.aspx?id=101453 I cannot get the same printer installed automatically

 

Anyone tried this allready?

Microsoft
Status changed to: Completed
 
Microsoft

For more details on the solution, refer to blog - https://aka.ms/UP-MEM-integration.

 

Don't forget to leave your feedback here once you have tried the tool :)

Brass Contributor

The documentation notes that when "users sign in to their Windows 10 device, this background service receives a user login event notification. This event triggers a workflow that looks for the “printers.csv” file". Does this event fire when a user unlocks their device, or only if they logon after boot/restart etc?

Microsoft

@Troy Phillips - Both - unlock and logon.

Copper Contributor

I used the tool following the manual and it worked like a charm. 

It is a bit of a hassle that you can only assign one set of printers per user or group. Most of our customers only have 1 or 2 printers but we have a few that have a lot more (up to 20).  For these customers, this method of deployment is too cumbersome but you could argue that with so many printers, you are better off with a dedicated print server.

Also the logging in event viewer could give a bit more information.  For instance show the name of the printer as well as the ID of the printer being installed.

During the first try on an almost clean machine I noticed that I could see the printer from applications and in "Control Panel" but not under "settings --> devices --> printers and scanners". The default printers ("fax" and  "Microsoft print to PDF") were also not visible. Restarting the spooler or the machine did not solve the problem. This was observed on a Windows 10 1909 Dutch language. It is unclear if the problem existed before installing the Universal Print applications through Intune.

Reinstalling the machine did solve the problem so it might be unrelated but I thought, I'd share this experience nonetheless.

Copper Contributor

Sorry but this roll your own approach isn't what I expect from a modern management tool like MEM/Intune etc. I had might as well have written Powershell scripts by hand. There should be a GUI within the MEM or UP portals for something so simple

Iron Contributor

The UP assignment is lacking quite a bit. would be much better to be able to be able to assign based on location, especially for distributed enterprises. Places with multiple locations often have general use printers, and would be great to have a list of known networks, and then printers get assigned to devices that are in those networks. If a travels to another location, they shouldn't have to put in a ticket to get a printer assigned to them. It should be dynamic where there are known locations or networks, printers assigned to them, and then automatically added based on the devices location. 

The Location properties already exist in the Universal Print printer properties. Now you just need to match those locations up with a subnet and then that functionality is there.

Iron Contributor

This should not be listed as completed; it's a mess to try to do this.

 

The perfect scenario would be deployment without having to package anything and add it as a Win32 app - the service should know the printers exists, is available, and automatically install the requisite connection.

 

If the user is licensed and the printer is shared to a group the user is in, why do we have to create a CSV file and a bunch of other crap to make it work? - needs improvement before prime time.

Microsoft

Thanks @Derek Gabriel / @Daniel Harker for the feedback. We understand that experience may not be best for the customers - however it was designed with the constraints that Windows OS versions was already released. We are working to improve the experience in the future versions of Windows.

 

 

 

Brass Contributor

I know this is listed as complete, but I don't agree, like many others. I think the approach should be built into Intune. If it can be done with Group Policies, it should be able to be done with Intune. add it as a configuration option.

Copper Contributor

Agree, this is not the requested or workable way ....

Microsoft, you kind of let us down with the distribution part...

 

For the rest "Awesome" idea.... it just needs a bit of tweaking

Copper Contributor

@Saurabh_Bansal 

 

Thanks @Derek Gabriel / @Daniel Harker for the feedback. We understand that experience may not be best for the customers - however it was designed with the constraints that Windows OS versions was already released. We are working to improve the experience in the future versions of Windows.

So on this basis you've got your act together for Windows 11?

 

Of course you haven't.

Microsoft

@Daniel Harker - thanks for the feedback. I recommend taking a look at this blog post - There is more to Universal Print - Microsoft Tech Community. There is a screenshot for upcoming Microsoft Endpoint Management (MEM) integration with Windows.

 

Please let us know if you have any questions/feedback.

Microsoft

Please refer to Universal Print settings available in Microsoft Endpoint Manager - Microsoft Tech Community for announcement on native Intune/ Microsoft Endpoint Manager (MEM) solution.

 

This solution is currently available for both Windows 11 and Windows 10 devices.

 

Windows 10 availability - Releasing Windows 10 Build 19044.1806 to Release Preview Channel | Windows Insider Blog

Brass Contributor

Awesome!

Copper Contributor

We dont have the printer provisioning option in intune. It seams that our tennant diddnt have the last updates.

Actually it wil be nice if we can assign the cloud managed printers based on filters like IP subnet or connected WIFI SSID or something like that.

lets say if the client Laptop is connected in subnet 10.1.20.x  and the printer is in the same subnet. Then there is no user action needed and the printers are assigned and pushd to the client laptop.