Install network printers on Windows XP

Description

This script is used to create an installer that my Windows XP Pro users can run using the "Run As..." feature to install all network printers in all our locations without having to call me.

Installing a network printer from the command-line can be performed remotely by using the "rundll32 printui.dll,PrintUIEntry" command. This command can be run from one PC pushing the install of new printers onto client PCs. However, network printers require a change to the registry that cannot be done remotely (unless done manually via regedit) and then restarting a Windows service. This install gets around this by running on the local machine with Admin rights.

Installing network printers requires three steps:

  1) add TCP/IP ports to Registry,
  2) restart Print Spooler to use new ports
  3) Install printers (drivers and entries into Printers Folder)

Additional Resources

  https://engineering.purdue.edu/ECN/Resources/KnowledgeBase/Docs/20040216090320
  http://www.robvanderwoude.com/2kprintcontrol.html
  http://techsupt.winbatch.com/webcgi/webbatch.exe?techsupt/tsleft.web+Newsletter~Archives+News~2005.6~Jun~-~Printer~Tips~and~Tricks.txt