Configuring Print Server Properties

Windows Server 2003 allows you to control global settings for print servers by using the Print Server Properties dialog box. You can access this dialog box by doing the following:

1. Access the Printers And Faxes folder on the print server.

2. In the Printers And Faxes window, select Server Properties from the File menu. Or right-click in an open area of the window and select Server Properties on the shortcut menu.

The sections that follow examine some of the print server properties that you can configure.

Locating the Spool Folder and Enabling Printing on NTFS

The Spool folder holds a copy of all documents in the printer spool. By default, this folder is located at %SystemRoot% \system32\spool\PRINTERS. On the NTFS file system (NTFS), all users who access the printer must have Change permission on this directory. If they don't, they won't be able to print documents.

To check the permission on this directory if you're experiencing problems, follow these steps:

1. Access the Printers And Faxes folder on the print server.

2. In the Printers And Faxes window, from the File menu, select Server Properties.

3. Select the Advanced tab. The location of the Spool folder is shown in the Spool Folder field. Note this location.

4. Right-click the Spool folder in Windows Explorer, and then, from the pop-up menu, select Properties.

5. Select the Security tab. Now you can verify that the permissions are set appropriately.

Managing High Volume Printing

Printers used in corporate environments can print hundreds or thousands of documents daily. This heavy load puts a high burden on print servers, which can cause printing delays, document corruption, and other problems. To alleviate some of this burden , you should do the following:

• Use network-attached printers rather than printers attached through serial, parallel, USB, or IR ports. Network-attached printers use less system resources (namely CPU time) than other printers do.

• Dedicate the print server to handle print services only. If the print server is handling other network duties , it might not be very responsive to print requests and management. To increase responsiveness, you can move other network duties to other servers.

• Move the Spool folder to a drive dedicated to printing. By default, the Spool folder is on the same file system as the operating system. To further improve disk input/output (I/O), use a drive that has a separate controller.

Logging Printer Events

You can use the Print Server Properties dialog box to configure the logging of printer events. Access this dialog box and then select the Advanced tab. Use the check boxes provided to determine which spooler events are logged.

Removing Print Job Completion and Notification

Print servers can notify users when a document has finished printing. By default, this feature is turned off, since it can become annoying. If you want to activate or remove notification, access the Advanced tab of the Print Server Properties dialog box. Then select or clear the check box labeled Notify When Remote Documents Are Printed. You might also want to select or clear the check box labeled Notify Computer, Not User , When Remote Documents Are Printed.