Scripting connection to printer terminal services client

[Rondog]

Got a weird one, user connecting to terminal server only maps some of their printers not all of them. User rings me: "My HP printer is missing again" I then login to the server as an admin, install a local printer on port TS00x pick the HP driver and then it appears for the user and it will print fine. But unfortunately I have to do this every morning after the user connects. It does not hold the connection permanently.

One option is to leave the session connected forever (painful if I want to reboot the server).

Or script the connection to the printer automatically on logon. How would I accomplish the latter?

Thanks folks.

$50 donation to AOA if I can get it solved.

[Aedan]

Usually with the logon script set against the user's account...

[Rondog]

Thats what I would like to do. But I do not know the command to type to connect to a redirected printer. Any insight?

[Aedan]

Just reading between the lines - you're having to re-establish the connection between the server and the printer each time around? Does that mean it affects all users who use the printer in question?

If you were simply mapping a printer through to a server, then you'd just use the AddWindowsPrinterConnection method on wshnetwork like:

Option Explicit
Dim strPrinterUNC, objNet
On Error Resume Next
strPrinterUNC="\\server\printer"
set objNet= CreateObject("Wscript.Network")
objNet.AddWindowsPrinterConnection strPrinterUNC
If Err.Number <> 0 Then wscript.echo "Printer mapping failed with " & Err.Number

[Rondog]

The problem I am facing though is that the client is a remote user using a mobile Internet card. They are not apart of the same local network. So \\server does not work.

[Aedan]

Over a VPN? If so, then I suspect you also have issues with the way that name resolution is configured. Windows does permit NetBIOS name lookups to occur over DNS - avoiding the issues that the old broadcast style lookups have. There isn't any reason why you can't use UNC (\\server) style lookups across different networks as long as you have name lookups sorted.

[Gizmo]

Aidan's right; if your client is running over a VPN and the VPN and network name resolution are properly configured, then you should be able to ping the server by either NetBIOS or DNS name and it should work just fine, meaning that you should also be able to map network resources using \\servername\resourcename format.

If you can't, then you need to investigate the name resolution configuration.

If you have a configuration where they are logging onto the VPN AFTER they log onto the local workstation (like they run the Cisco VPN client when the login), well that's gonna be a bit different problem because you aren't going to have a connection to the server at the point where the logon script runs.

[Rondog]

No VPN, terminal server user only. Port 3389 is open to the firewall.

Remote user starts PC, logs into local account, runs Remote Desktop Connection, types in the public IP of the Internet connection that has the server running. Connects. Which is where my problem lies, a remote user not apart of the local network with no VPN connectivity. Which means, no DNS so \\server doesnt exist (as far as the remote workstation is concerned anyway).

[Rondog]

Sorry for the double post.

I have expressed to the customer they should go down the path a Netgear FVS318 at each end. But they arent really interested in spending $500 so 1 remote user in a TS session can print to their local printer.