Windows 7/cannot connect to 2003 Printer Server

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Description: Windows 7/cannot connect to 2003 Printer Server

Symptom: Windows 7 client, connect to Windows 2003 Printer Server using \\servername or using IPP will get the error messages as following:

· Issue 1:

The error message show “access denied “, but if we add this domain user to local admin group solve the issue, it must be something related to Windows 7 print permission.

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· Issue 2:

If the Printer driver use the old driver, the error message show “ windows cannot connect to the printer…”

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Solution:

Issue 1:

· Set the following policy at Windows 7 clients:
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Computer Configuration | Administrative Templates | Printers | Point and Print Restrictions: Disabled

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Use Windows XP-Level Security

You can use the Point and Print Restrictions group policy setting to provide a Windows Vista client computer with the same level of Point and Print security that it had with Windows XP.

User Experience

Users will not see any additional warning messages when they connect to a shared printer and Point and Print installs a new printer driver or when Point and Print updates the printer driver for an existing connection.

Issue 2:

· After we change the printer driver at Windows 2003 Print Server to use universal driver, client can download the appropriate driver without error.

Reference:

Begin from Windows Vista, there have more restriction at Printer management, Windows 7 will also be the same architecture, please see the following doc:

https://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/cc753269.aspx

The default security settings for Windows 7 and Windows Server 2008 R2 allow users who are not members of the local Administrators group to install only trustworthy printer drivers, such as those provided with Windows or in digitally signed printer-driver packages. This helps to ensure that users do not install untested or unreliable printer drivers or drivers that have been modified to contain malicious code (malware). However, it means that sometimes users cannot install the appropriate driver for a shared printer, even if the driver has been tested and approved in your environment.