Server 2008: Default Printer Setup using GPO

1. 1. Enable Loopback Processing in Windows Server 2008. I am unable to find following:
   • In the Group Policy Microsoft Management Console (MMC), click Computer Configuration.
   • Locate Administrative Templates, click System, click Group Policy, and then enable the Loopback Policy option.
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3. 2.On my Windows Server 2008 R2 Server (you can do this on a Windows Server 2008 server as well), I navigate to the Printer extension under User Configuration. (User Configuration\Preferences\Printers). Right click on ‘Printers’  and select ‘ New’, then choose a type of printer you’d like to add. I’m choosing Shared Printer, but you can manage TCP/IP and Local Printers with GP Preferences as well. Now the configuration dialog to find and optionally map the printer: I’m just going to browse for the printer I want by clicking on the ‘…’ button next to the Share Path cell. Ah ha! Familiar browser window. Searching the directory yields 2 shared printers; one that’s already shared to my client, and one that’s not. I select the Epson, which populates the Share Path field with its full address. And now that I have the full address of the shared printer, the option to “set this printer as default…” is enabled. I can also select “only if a local printer is not present” if I want, but I don’t want to. 3. Item Level Targeting This is the good part! Once you have created a shared printer to deploy there is a tab on the properties of that called “Common” , if you click on that and place a tick in the “Item Level Targeting” and click on the Targeting Button a whole new world opens up! 4. Many possibilities Click on the New Item and just have a look at the possibilities there. The one I was interested in was the Organisational Units option. Because what I want to happen is if a computer is in a specific OU install and make printer X the default. 5. OU selection With this option I was able to achieve just that. Just select the OU that the Computer should belong to by using the Browse Button and select the Computer in OU radio box.