If you’ve been around Windows servers long enough, I’m sure you’ve seen tasks you’ve grown accustom to in one version being changed to a location with no real reason in mind and have asked yourself many times “Why did you move that Microsoft?”. Print Management in Windows Server 2008 is no exception. Every time I open the Server Management console, I feel like I’m working on a Small Business Server and I find it takes more clicks to execute on the tasks that I need to do. For instance, it takes five clicks just to get to the place to install your printer drivers. Oh yea, I almost forgot - you have to install the role first!
Aside from that fact that you can scan your network for printers and the print drivers will be installed automatically if it’s a well-known printer model (which I think is time-saving), this doesn’t help if your print server is x64 and you have x86 clients that need x86 drivers because once the x64 drivers are installed, you can’t add the x86 drivers after the fact (at least I haven’t found a way yet). This pretty much defeats the network scan feature, so I take back what I said about time-saving.
So, if you are running your print server on an x64 platform and you have x86 clients that will be using your print server, make sure you deselect the x64 checkbox and select the x86 checkbox on the first screen after the welcome screen in the “Add Printer Driver” wizard. This will save you a lot of time.
In all fairness to Microsoft though, the ability to view the print jobs and view the printer administration web page after selecting the ‘Printers’ tab in the management console is very useful.
- Brian Pastre, Premier IT, Inc.