Terminal Services and Printing

Microsoft Corporation
Published: January 2003

Abstract

Microsoft Windows 2000 and Windows Server 2003 Terminal Services provides access to Windows–based
applications, including both legacy software and the latest applications for client computers. Terminal Services
also provides remote access to your desktop and installed applications. This document helps you take
advantage of the printing features in Terminal Services.
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Contents
Contents................................................................................................................. .......................3

Introduction to Terminal Services........................................................................ .......................1

Providing Client Access to Local Printers....................................................................... ...........2

Automatic Printer Redirection................................................................................. ....................3

Manual Printer Redirection................................................................................. .........................4

Related Links.............................................................................................................................. ...5

Introduction to Terminal Services
With Terminal Services technology you can execute Microsoft Windows–based applications on a remote
Windows 2000 or Windows Server 2003-based server. Using terminal emulation software, Terminal
Services provides remote access to a server, so that data storage, processing, and all application execution
that is run through a client can occur on a server.

A client device can be another computer, (non-server or otherwise), a PocketPC® terminal, Terminal
Service-enabled Smartphone, or any Windows-based Terminal (WBT). You can gain access to Terminal
Services over a TCP/IP connection, such as a dial-up, Ethernet, wireless networking, or VPN (virtual private
networking) connection.

Terminal Services is a standard feature of the Windows 2000, Windows XP, and Windows Server 2003
operating systems.

Terminal Services and Printing (Version 1) 1

Providing Client Access to Local Printers
Terminal Services provides printer redirection, which routes printing jobs from a terminal server to a printer
attached to a client computer or to a network printer that is available to the client computer.

You can disable printer redirection by using Terminal Services Group Policies or on a per-connection basis
by using the Terminal Services Configuration feature.

There are two ways to provide client access to local printers:

• Automatic printer redirection. This works through Remote Desktop Connection.

• Manual printer redirection. Use this option for 16-bit clients, Windows-based terminals, and local
printers that require older drivers.

Please note that in Terminal Services:

• Bidirectional printing is not supported.

• Redirected printers are available for use with applications running on the server. Redirected printers
appear in the Printers folder in Control Panel.

• Clients see only their own redirected printers in the Printers dialog box.

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Automatic Printer Redirection
When you use Remote Desktop Connection to a Terminal Server, printer redirection is automatic as long as
the local printer uses a driver that is installed on the server.

When a client connects to Terminal Services, local printers attached to line printer port (LPT),
communications port (COM), and universal serial bus (USB) ports that are installed on the client computer
are automatically detected and a local queue is created on the server. The client computer printer settings
for the default printer and some properties (such as printing on both sides of the page) are used by the
server.

When a client disconnects or ends the session, the printer queue is deleted and any incomplete or pending
print jobs are lost. Information about the client's local printers and settings are saved on the client computer.
During subsequent logon sessions, the printer queue is created using the information stored on the client
computer.

If a printer driver is not found on the server, an event is logged and the client printer is not created. To make
the printer available, the driver must be manually installed on the server.

Note: Print administrators can see all redirected printers, both on the server and those redirected from their
session while normal users can see normal printers on the server and only their own redirected printers.

Please note that in Windows 2000 Service Pack 2 and Windows Server 2003, a fix was added for cases
where redirected printing was not working automatically. Issues had one of the following symptoms:

• The Terminal Services client enumerated its local printers and sent information (such as the printer and
print driver name) to the server. However if a corresponding driver on the server did not exist, the
installation failed.

• If you used an Original Equipment Manufacturer (OEM) driver with a name that did not exactly match
the name in the Ntprint.inf file, Windows did not install the driver.

This issue was resolved in Windows 2000 Service Pack 2 and Windows Server 2003, but the resolution
also requires some registry value changes. For more information, see Knowledge Base article Q275495,
“Printer Redirection or Upgrade May Not Work Because of Signed Ntprint.inf File.”

Terminal Services and Printing (Version 1) 3

Manual Printer Redirection
You can redirect printers attached to LPT and COM ports on the client's local computer manually for use
with Terminal Services clients.

Note: Terminal Services does not support manual redirection of printers connected through USB ports.

To redirect a client printer manually, contact your administrator and provide the name of your computer (or
IP address for a Windows-based Terminal). The client must be connected to the terminal server during
manual redirection.

The administrator uses the Add Printers option in Control Panel Printers to add a printer manually. The
administrator uses the client computer name to select the printer port from the list of available ports in the
Add Printer wizard. Ports for all clients currently connected to the server appear in the Port list. Terminal
Services client ports are listed as follows:

Port Description

TS computername:Portx (where Port is the type of port and x is the port number)

When a client disconnects or ends a session, the printer queue is deleted, and any incomplete or pending
print jobs are lost. Information about client local printers and settings are saved on the client computer.
During subsequent logon sessions, the printer queue is created using the information stored on the client
computer.

When automatic redirection for 32-bit client printers fails, an event is logged. Typically, the logged event
contains information about why the redirection failed and if applicable which server-side driver is missing.
When a client disconnects or logs off the printer queue is deleted and incomplete or pending print jobs are
lost. After the initial manual redirection, printers are automatically redirected during subsequent logon
sessions.

Terminal Services and Printing (Version 1) 4

Related Links
For more information about deployment of Terminal Services, refer to Chapter 16, “Deploying Terminal
Services”, in the Windows 2000 Server Deployment Planning Guide at
http://www.microsoft.com/windows2000/techinfo/reskit/dpg/default.asp.

For the latest information about Windows 2000 Server, see the Windows 2000 Server Web site at
http://www.microsoft.com/windows2000/server.

For the latest information about Windows Server 2003, see the Windows Server 2003 Web site at
http://www.microsoft.com/windowsserver2003/default.mspx.

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