Deploying a Shared Printer with Group Policy Preferences

Part 3: Deploying a Shared Printer with Group Policy Preferences

1. Introduction

In this part of the Active Directory and Group Policy lab series, I will deploy a shared printer to a user by using Group Policy Preferences.

In the previous parts, I configured user-based Group Policy settings and department-based network drive mapping. In this part, I will continue with another user-based Group Policy scenario, but this time the goal is to automatically add a shared printer when the user signs in.

This lab does not use a physical printer. Instead, I created a test printer on the Domain Controller, shared it, and deployed it to the Buchhaltung department user with Group Policy Preferences.

In this scenario, when Frieda Fleissig signs in to the Windows 11 client, the following printer connection should be available:

\\DC\PRN_Buchhaltung

This part focuses on:

Shared Printer
Group Policy Preferences
User-based Printer Deployment
Security Group Targeting
Item-Level Targeting
PowerShell verification
gpresult verification

2. Lab Environment

The lab environment is running on Hyper-V and consists of an Active Directory domain.

Domain name:

GFNLAB.Test

Domain Controller name:

DC

The Domain Controller has the following services and tools installed:

Active Directory Domain Services
DNS
Group Policy Management Console
Active Directory Users and Computers
Print Management / Devices and Printers

The test will be performed on a Windows 11 client that is already joined to the domain.

Test user:

Frieda Fleissig

User location in Active Directory:

GFNLAB.Test → Buchhaltung → Benutzer

In this part, the printer deployment will be applied only to the Buchhaltung department.

3. Goal

The goal of this lab is to automatically deploy a shared printer to Buchhaltung users when they sign in to the Windows 11 client.

Target printer share path:

\\DC\PRN_Buchhaltung

Security group:

GG_Buchhaltung

GPO name:

Buchhaltung_Printer_Deployment

Target OU:

GFNLAB.Test → Buchhaltung → Benutzer

With this setup, only users who are members of GG_Buchhaltung should receive the Buchhaltung printer connection.

4. Creating a Test Printer on the Domain Controller

Since this lab does not use a physical printer, I created a test printer on the Domain Controller.

In the Add Printer wizard, I selected a local printer option. For the port, I used the test port:

FILE:

For the printer driver, I selected:

Generic / Text Only

Printer name:

PRN_Buchhaltung

This printer is not connected to a real physical device. It is used only to test the printer deployment scenario in the lab environment.

5. Sharing the Printer

After creating the printer, I opened the printer properties and checked the sharing settings.

On the Sharing tab, I enabled printer sharing.

Share name:

PRN_Buchhaltung

After this step, the printer UNC path became:

\\DC\PRN_Buchhaltung

This path will be used later in Group Policy Preferences.

6. Verifying the Printer Share Path

To verify that the printer was visible over the network, I opened the following path on the Domain Controller:

\\DC

In the list of shared resources, I verified that the following printer was visible:

PRN_Buchhaltung

This step confirms that the printer is shared and available over the network.

7. Creating a New GPO for Printer Deployment

For this part, I did not use the existing GPOs from the previous labs. Instead, I created a separate GPO for printer deployment.

New GPO name:

Buchhaltung_Printer_Deployment

Because this is a user-based setting, I linked the GPO to the OU where the user account is located.

Linked OU:

GFNLAB.Test → Buchhaltung → Benutzer

This allows users in the Buchhaltung Benutzer OU to receive the printer deployment policy.

8. Adding a Shared Printer with Group Policy Preferences

After creating the GPO, I edited it in Group Policy Management Editor.

I navigated to:

User Configuration
→ Preferences
→ Control Panel Settings
→ Printers

Then I created a new shared printer item.

The printer deployment settings were configured as follows:

Action: Update
Share path: \\DC\PRN_Buchhaltung
Set this printer as the default printer: Disabled

I did not set this printer as the default printer in this lab. This avoids changing the user’s existing default printer configuration.

I used the Update action because it creates the printer connection if it does not exist and updates it if it already exists.

9. Configuring Item-Level Targeting

To apply the printer deployment only to Buchhaltung users, I configured Item-Level Targeting.

In the Shared Printer Properties window, I opened the Common tab and enabled:

Item-level targeting

In the Targeting Editor, I added a Security Group condition.

Target security group:

GG_Buchhaltung

The targeting logic is:

User is a member of GG_Buchhaltung → Printer connection is applied
User is not a member of GG_Buchhaltung → Printer connection is not applied

With this configuration, the printer deployment is controlled by the user’s security group membership.

10. Updating Group Policy on the Windows 11 Client

After completing the GPO configuration, I tested the result on the Windows 11 client with the Frieda Fleissig user.

First, I manually refreshed Group Policy:

gpupdate /force

After the command completed, I signed out and signed back in with the same user.

This step is useful for applying user-based Group Policy Preferences settings correctly.

11. Verifying the Printer Connection with PowerShell

The printer list in Windows 11 Settings may not always show the deployed network printer immediately. Because of that, I verified the printer connection with PowerShell.

On the Windows 11 client, I ran the following command:

Get-Printer | Where-Object {$_.Name -like "*Buchhaltung*"}

The output showed the following printer connection:

\\DC\PRN_Buchhaltung

This confirms that the shared printer was successfully added to the Windows 11 client for the user.

12. Verifying the Applied GPO with gpresult

Finally, I verified that the printer deployment GPO was applied to the user by using gpresult.

On the Windows 11 client, I ran:

gpresult /r

In the User Settings section, the following GPO should appear under the applied Group Policy Objects:

Buchhaltung_Printer_Deployment

This confirms that the printer deployment policy was successfully applied to the Frieda Fleissig user.

13. Conclusion

In this part, I deployed a shared printer by using Group Policy Preferences.

No physical printer was used in this lab. Instead, I created a Generic / Text Only test printer on the Domain Controller, shared it, and deployed it to the user with Group Policy Preferences.

Final configuration:

Printer Name: PRN_Buchhaltung
Printer Share Path: \\DC\PRN_Buchhaltung
Security Group: GG_Buchhaltung
GPO: Buchhaltung_Printer_Deployment
Target OU: GFNLAB.Test → Buchhaltung → Benutzer

With this setup, Frieda Fleissig, as a member of GG_Buchhaltung, received the Buchhaltung printer connection after signing in to the Windows 11 client.

This method can be expanded for other departments such as Verkauf, Lager, or GF by creating separate printer shares, security groups, and Group Policy Preferences printer settings.

In this part, I focused on printer deployment. This adds another common Group Policy Preferences use case to the lab series, separate from the network drive mapping scenario in the previous part.