Print Management Console in R2: what sets the default printer?

[Nick Walton]

Hi,
I've recently installed my first Windows Server R2 server and have used the new "Print Management Console" to deploy several printers to the client computers. However, I cannot figure out what is controlling the default printer that users end up with. It doesn't seem to be alphabetical order of the name of the printers. It doesn't seem to be the order in which the Group Policies are applied which deploy the printers (I tried having one policy per printer so that I could change the order of the policies and therefore the printers). I am not even convinced any more that local printers take precedence over network printers.

Does anyone know what ends up determining what is the default printer seen by users? There doesn't seem to be any documentation out there so I would really appreciate it if anyone has figured this out or has access to the answer.

Thanks,

Nick.

[Nick Walton]

Does no-one really know anything about this?

Come on you experts on the forum - at least give me your best guess! I will then try out your proposal and report back.

Thanks in anticipation,

Nick.

[Igor Karasik]

Nick,
unfortunately I think you cannot set default printer with PMC
http://www.vistabase.co.uk/kb/inbuiltapps/print-management-console-faq-part-2
"Are there any updates on printer deployment? E.g. setting the default printer.
The â default printerâ feature is a pretty common request - weâ re looking into adding it for Vista."