How to share printers via Group Policy (GPO)
One of the great advantages of installing and using “Active Directory Domain Services” is the ability to share a printer with just a few clicks and you can share it with a group of computers or even users.
In this tutorial, i will explain step by step how you can share installed printer to a group located in your active directory, follow the below steps to guarantee a successful result
1. From your Server Manager, click on “Add roles and features”.
2. Skip the intro page by clicking Next, and on the followed page make sure to select “Role-based or feature-based installation”.
3. Select your server from the server pool and then click Next.
4. Make sure to select “Print and Document services” and then click Next.
5. On the features page, click Next without selection anything.
6. Click Next twice, till you reach the confirmation page of the installation and press Install.
7. The role now is being installed on your Windows Server.
8. From “Tools” drop menu, click on “Print Management”.
9. Select the printer that you want to share and right-click on it and press on “Manage Sharing”.
10. Make sure to check “Share this printer” and then click Apply.
11. Right-click on the selected printer and click “Deploy with group policy” like the below screenshot.
12. On this page click Browse.
13. Select your default GPO so printer installs with all the users in your network, and then press OK.
14. After you add the GPO, make sure to check “The computers that this GPO applies to (per machine)” so the printer installs with all the computers there, and then press OK.
15. Now once all the computers restart, the selected printer will be shared and all the computer will be able to print through it.
