SUMMARY
This article describes best practices for installing and
using printer drivers with Windows 2000 Terminal Services. In Windows 2000 and
later, the architecture of printer drivers was changed to unify the interface
and add reliability to the server.
Microsoft Windows NT 4.0 Printer
Drivers
If you upgrade a server from Windows NT 4.0 to Windows 2000,
remove the existing Windows NT 4.0 printer drivers before the upgrade, and then
install the equivalent Windows 2000 printer drivers after the upgrade. If you
cannot remove an extensive printer configuration before the upgrade, perform
the upgrade and then update any Windows NT 4.0 printer drivers that remain
after the upgrade to the Windows 2000 versions.
To determine if
Windows NT 4.0 printer drivers are installed on a Windows 2000 Server, use the
Printers tool in Control Panel. To do this:
- Click Start, point to
Settings, and then click Printers.
- On the File menu, click Server
Properties.
- Click the Drivers tab.
- Under Installed printer drivers, select
any driver that is labeled as a Windows NT 4.0 printer driver, then click
Remove.
- After you remove the Windows NT 4.0 printer driver, use the
Printers tool to install a Windows 2000 version of the printer
driver.
Microsoft recommends that you use the printer drivers that are
included with Windows 2000. These printer drivers have been extensively tested
in the Terminal Services environment. If the drivers that are included with
Windows 2000 do not provide the functionality that you need and you must
install a third-party printer driver, contact the vendor to determine if their
version of the printer driver support the Terminal Services environment before
you install the driver. Do not install a printer driver that is not designed
for the Terminal Services environment in a Windows 2000 Terminal Services
environment.
If a Windows 2000 version of the driver for your printer
is not included with Windows 2000, you can create an .inf file to install
different printer drivers.
For additional information
about how to configure the computer to use different printer drivers, click the
following article number to view the article in the Microsoft Knowledge Base:
239088
Windows 2000 Terminal Services Server Logs Events 1111, 1105, and 1106
Printing Policies
Change the "Prevent users from installing printer drivers" policy
setting to allow members of the Users group to install printer drivers or to
prevent members of the Users group from installing new printer drivers. To do
this:
- Click Start, and then click
Run.
- In the Open box, type
gpedit.msc and then click
OK.
- In the left pane, expand the Computer
Configuration branch, expand the Windows Settings
branch, expand the Security Settings branch, expand the
Local Policies branch, and then click the Security
Options folder.
- In the right pane, double-click the Prevent users
from installing printer drivers policy.
- To prevent members of the Users group from installing new
printer drivers on the local computer, turn on the Prevent users from
installing printer drivers policy. To do this, click
Enabled, and then click OK.
To
allow members of the Users group to install new printer drivers on the local
computer, turn off the Prevent users from installing printer
drivers policy. To do this, click Disabled, and then
click OK.
Service Packs and Hotfixes
Make sure that the latest Windows 2000 service pack and hotfixes
are installed on the Windows 2000 Terminal Services server computer. Microsoft
creates hotfixes for known problems as they are discovered. Collections of
hotfixes are then rolled up into service packs, which undergo extensive
testing. For more information about service packs, see the following Microsoft
Web page:
Windows
2000 Service Pack Download page