Default Printer At First Logon via Group Policy

Deploying a network printer via Group Policy is pretty easy. In Group Policy Management Editor, you go to User Configuration > Preferences > Control Panel Settings > Printers and right click to create a new Shared Printer. Configure the options which are pretty straight forward.

Something doesn’t go right though, if you use the option ‘set this printer as the default printer’. The printer won’t actually be set as default for the first login. As it’s set to Update though, this will get fixed next time Group Policy runs.

However, if you have the Action set to ‘Create’, it only gets one chance to set the default printer – at the time of creation. That fails, and it doesn’t get a chance to set the default printer again.

Why does it fail to set the default printer at first logon? You’ll see an event viewer application error like this:

The user ‘HP Printer’ preference item in the ‘Define Printers {XXX-XXXX-XXXX-XXXX-XXXXXXXXXXXX}’ Group Policy object did not apply because it failed with error code ‘0x80070709 The printer name is invalid.’ This error was suppressed.

There’s a clear Microsoft Support Article that explains why – in summary, Windows isn’t ready yet to change something on the printer between the time it creates the printer, and then tries to make it default as they’re two separate actions.

However, we can work around this by deploying a registry entry that sets the default printer. This 11 year old article is still correct in that it shows the registry value to change:

HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows NT\CurrentVersion\Windows

REG_SZ - Device
Value - \\adamfowlerit\printer,winspool,Ne04:e

Setting this via registry as an ‘Apply once and do not reapply’ with any other logic matching your printer deployment policy, should end up with the printer as a default on first logon.

This is a problem that’s been around for many years, but the first time I’ve hit it!

Also, if you’re wondering what the ‘Ne04’ part means, it seems to be some sort of counter which goes up for each time you install a printer.

8 thoughts on “Default Printer At First Logon via Group Policy

  1. Hi Adam. What version of Windows is this for? Is Group Policy Edit Management Editor the same this as “Local Group Policy Editor” on a Windows 10 domain computer?

    1. Hi Michelle, Windows 10 Enterprise – Local Group Policy editor configures just that single PC’s settings rather than centrally which is what I was referring to, but they are the same settings. Or just change the registry setting mentioned – unless you’re on Windows 10 Home which I believe some of these things are disabled/unavailable, which is why I avoid it for what I do :)

  2. Thanks for the great article, we have server 2019 an win 10 1909 the problem with first login is going on. Have you an idea if have to set default printers first login for 7 different rooms?

    Thanks

    1. Hi Jim,
      You’ll need to work out some way to define when someone’s logging in to an area to know when to set the default – if the rooms are next to each other that cam be difficult. If the computers are static then add them to AD groups to define where they are, if it’s users walking in with laptops youd need a network layer solution, like IP address ranges based on location

  3. This is the problem I’m finding!
    Did you make this registry change through Group Policy or manually on each PC? Also did you use the same policy as you did to create the printer to make the registry change to make the same printer default?

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