Printing with non-standard printers on Remote-Desktop?

Question

I'm trying to help a relative who uses Remote-Desktop to work from home sometimes...he has (well, had) an old HP 870Cse on the local (client) computer at home that he could print to from the RDP session. This printer has finally broken (after about 17 years) and the other/newer printers aren't recognised by the RDP server.

Microsoft makes it sound like everything is all automatic...

http://support.microsoft.com/kb/312135

But what's the catch? Is it just that the drivers aren't built into the XP server/host computer?

Could I just set up a "close enough" driver (like generic/text-only) that's built-in on XP and works with minimal features or would the server see that it's not really a match to the drivers?

Any help is welcome - the helpdesk there says local/client printers won't work and the old one that was working shouldn't have because they "don't have the drivers installed".

Answer 1

Is he connecting to another PC at work or a Terminal Server?

Also, if its an All In One printer, its a b*tch to make those work, but you can still try.

If its a PC, then at work, install the same printer he has at home onto the work PC.  Do an Add Printer, just choose lpt1 for the port, and have it install, dont print test page.  This will get the driver for his home printer onto the work PC, and you can then delete the printer from the work PC, the key is that we know have the same driver as at home and printing should work then.

If its a Terminal Server, the same above would apply, but Terminal Servers in general are very picky about printer drivers.  If its an HP LaserJet or DeskJet at home, that will give you the most success on the Termianl Server, do the same steps, Add Printer, choose LPT1 and have the driver available, this installs the driver then and once done, you can delete the printer.  

If its not a HP LaserJet or DeskJet, then on the Terminal Server, see if he/they can implement the following, Ive had very good success with this:

This is done in the gpedit.msc on the Terminal Server itself or if there is a Group Policy applied to the Terminal Server, it can be done there as well.

Printer Redirection

Policy settings in this node control printer configuration for Terminal Services sessions.

The full path of this node in the Group Policy Management Console is:

Computer Configuration\Policies\Administrative Templates\Windows Components\Terminal Services\Terminal Server\Printer Redirection

Set to Default to PCL if one is not found  If no suitable printer driver can be found, default to the Printer Control Language (PCL) fallback printer driver.