On 1st August we’ll be deploying an updated version of the scripts that map printers when you logon to a workstation in CONNECT. This will remove the printers group policy that can take a significant amount to time to apply when users log in. The updated scripts have been tested by us for several months and users will continue to get the same printers mapped when we make the change. It will also help resolve some of the issues we’ve had with laptops not remembering printers.
In a previous post we outlined the planned changes. The updated scripts have been tweaked again since then to help cater for laptops when used off the network and also to deal with situations where workstations aren’t shut down properly. The below graphic shows what we are implementing, with the Printing Group Policy being removed as previously planned. The log on script runs simultaneously in the background and so does not hold up the machine with continuing with other log on tasks. This is unlike the group policy which held everything else up until it had finished applying.
The changes mean that if you add a printer and your workstation doesn’t then shut down properly (say the power trips) that printer will still be available when you log back into that machine. This is down to two things:
- Previously the first thing that happened on logon was that all printers were deleted. This has now been changed (see the green box in the graphic above) and on log on it compares the installed printers with those that you had when you last used the same workstation. It then adds any from that list that you don’t already have and removes any which weren’t in the list. That way you retain the correct printers on any workstations you use.
- The log on script now checks what was run last: the log on script or the log off script. This should always be the log off script in normal circumstances. However, if for some reason the log off script didn’t run last then it stops and does not change printer settings and doesn’t remove any existing printers.