How to have a printer displayed in Windows 7 network printer list

[darkmagex]

We have a directory with about 30 printers.

When searching the initial add a printer, for some reason Windows only displays maybe 15 of them. All of them can be seen if you go to "Printer i want isn't listed" and install it from the old XP style directory search.

I google'd high an low and can't find what the requirements are for 7 to put a printer in that initial search list. Anyone have any ideas?

 

[VinDSL]

I don't run Winders, but...

Maybe those printers have been orphaned, retired, or whatever MS calls it, e.g. drivers are no longer available in 7.

Put another way, 7 can 'see' them, but can't use them...

Are they older printers, by any chance?

 

[Nothinman]

I believe there's an option to show them in the directory or not when sharing the printer, but I don't know how to change that after the fact.

 

[RebateMonger]

Are we talking "Active Directory" here? Or does "directory" in this case mean something else?

 

[darkmagex]

RebateMonger: active directory
Nothinman: The 'List in Directory' option is set, and show up in the active directory printer listing.
VinDSL: The printers work fine when installed through the old XP style printer directory on Windows 7.

The issue is in Windows 7 Microsoft added a screen BEFORE the active directory "search for printers". It seems to randomly go out and search for printers and display them. There is a button "my printer isnt in this list" that if you click it you can get to the old style XP directory.

I can't find any documentation anywhere as to how Windows populates this new list.

This isn't mine, but an example of what it looks like.

 

[GeekDrew]

I believe that this thread will help:

http://social.technet.microsoft.com...g/thread/4c6f03f2-ae40-4e5c-9546-0b5046a1975a

 

[VinDSL]

We have a directory with about 30 printers.

I believe that this thread will help:

http://social.technet.microsoft.com...g/thread/4c6f03f2-ae40-4e5c-9546-0b5046a1975a

Aha!

So, 7 defaults to only showing "maybe 15 of them" in the directory, regardless of how many printers you have. And, the OP needs to patch the problem, via the group policies, and set the value to display 30 printers.

Makes sense! Typical MS claptrap.... like having to hack the values in the XP registry to turn on the num lock, at the login screen. Blah!

Sounds like another one for Annoyances.org...

 

[GeekDrew]

Aha!

So, 7 defaults to only showing "maybe 15 of them" in the directory, regardless of how many printers you have. And, the OP needs to patch the problem, via the group policies, and set the value to display 30 printers.

Makes sense! Typical MS claptrap.... like having to hack the values in the XP registry to turn on the num lock, at the login screen. Blah!

Sounds like another one for Annoyances.org...

Setting a preference via group policy isn't patching anything... group policy is nothing more than a way to declare preferences in a scope varying from local machine to global enterprise.

If that screen is actually scanning a network and communicating with printers, it makes sense that it wouldn't run indefinitely.

 

[darkmagex]

There's actually 2 GPO settings, one specifically for domains and one for unmanaged.

Interestingly if your not on a domain it will scan way longer than on a domain. If you are on a domain by default it will only return the first 20 directory records. So it isn't scanning the network, it's just pulling from the printer list in AD. No idea what the reasoning is for artificially limiting the number to 20.

Unmanaged GPO Defaults
If this setting is not configured, the Add Printer wizard will display the default number of printers of each type:
TCP/IP printers: 50
Web Services printers: 50
Bluetooth printers: 10
Shared printers: 50

Managed GPO Defaults
If this setting is not configured, the Add Printer wizard will display the default number of printers of each type:
Directory printers: 20
TCP/IP printers: 0
Web Services printers: 0
Bluetooth printers: 10
Shared printers: 0