Automate Network Printers Installation with con2prt

As the network grows larger the management of network printers becomes more cumbersome, or that’s the case in the company I’m working for. for that reason I took on the project to find a way to manage our network printers easier, and more efficient. what else can be more easier and efficient than a script? and for network printers installation, con2port is the guy for the job.

the first thing you need to do is to download the con2rpt.exe software from Microsoft “http://download.microsoft.com/download/2/6/0/260afc88-2253-45f8-9781-546cff07edd9/zak.exe” that includes a whole set of tools, but the file you need is in the t\i386\tools directory. copy the con2prt.exe program to your computer C:\ root, that will make the command line typing easier.



as you can see, I copied the con2prt.exe program to c:\tools directory. once you have done that, go to Start then RUN and type CMD and hit Enter. once at the command prompt, type the CD command and the name of the directory to switch to:



that command above, will switch from the C:\ directory to Tools directory where cont2prt program resides.

con2prt.exe is a very simple program with a few commands just enough to do the job we are looking for.

to delete all existing printer connections use the command Con2prt /F or to connect to a printer use the command con2prt \C and then the name of the printer you want to connect to. to make the printer the default use the command con2prt \CD and then the name of the printer you want to connect to.

for example to map a network printer name HRprinter on the print server named printserv, you will type the command: “con2prt \C \\printserv\HRprinter” to make the printer the default printer type the command: “con2prt \CD \\printserv\HRprinter”

as you can see, the use of con2prt is very useful but simple at the same time.

now to put the program in production, copy the con2prt program from your local computer to a network shared drive,and execute the commands using a batch file. for example, if the con2prt program is on a shared folder on the server called printserv\scripts the command you need to enter on the batch file will look like: “\\printserv\scripts\con2prt \C \\printserv\HRprinter”

then after you finish including all the printers on the batch file, set it up as a logon script to load printers automatically on all the computers on the network. by now you should have completed the automation of the network printers installation
Files to Download
zak