Re: MVPs and Terminal Services

Hal,

Keep in mind that Windows Server 2003 is almost three years old, so I would
not expect it to support all printers sold today. Maybe SP1 added some?

However, there are several free things you can do to support a lot of the
printers sold today.

Have you tried:
1) Fallback printer driver: enable it in your security GPO, set it to show
both PCL and PS
2) Printer mapping with Printer Redirection Wizard
3) Printer mapping manually

I hope that helps.

Gregg Hill (not an MVP! Be gentle!)


"Hal Berenson" <hberenson@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote in message
news:%23Fc$QnIRGHA.5896@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
The need for third party software is indeed annoying (and a real financial
problem in many cases). The printing one is certainly a big issue, and it
would be accurate to portray that printing in TS (as delivered from
Microsoft) just doesn't work right. I've pointed out to multiple senior
Microsoft executives that no printer currently sold is supported by
Windows Server 2003 (and that use of third-party drivers in a TS
environment is widely frowned upon). You should see the shock in their
eyes. And that catch-22 with 3rd party software needing client installs
is a nightmare in our environment (much easier in single-company shop that
has some control over the clients). I have no problem hearing bad news
like this, I just want to hear it as "that won't work and here's why". My
"complaint" is that sometimes responses either explicitly say, or can be
read as, "why would anyone want to do THAT?" with no actual attempt to
answer the question or explain the current state of the world.

--
Hal Berenson, President
PredictableIT, LLC
http://www.predictableit.com



"Patrick Rouse" <PatrickRouse@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote in message
news:7D6B6E6D-1C1A-4C78-B8FB-24696FD7EFD0@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
Cool. So what is the actual kind of response that you're questioning.
Althought there are a lot of things that can be done on terminal server
with
a lot of manual tweaks and baby-sitting, I often recommend a 3rd party
solution as an alternative, i.e. with printing. It's very common that
people
get upset that we recommend that they spend more money than they already
have
on adding features they're requesting. I point out that they should
inform
the client of the actual features and limitations so the client isn't
p!ssed
off when a 3rd pary add-on is proposed, or you tell them that what they
want
can't be done for what they're paying Delivering TS Hosted apps via the
internet to an uncontrolled client environment can be very difficult w/o
3rd
party apps, but 3rd party can also apps introduce the need to install
client
software (caveat)
--
Patrick Rouse
Microsoft MVP - Terminal Server
http://www.sessioncomputing.com


"Hal Berenson" wrote:

Note that I'm not dismissing all the great things that the TS MVPs do
here
(and in other forums), nor forgetting that this is a volunteer effort.
I'm
just trying to raise awareness that often the first response to a
question
that is on the outer boundaries of TS use is well...I already covered
that.

I'm a former MVP myself, and still answer questions in forums where I
have a
lot of expertise. And before that I was at Microsoft, a big supporter
of
the MVP program, and a very active participant in newsgroups. So the
feedback isn't coming from out of the blue. I've seen products where
there
weren't enough experts (MVPs or otherwise) to handle the questions, and
others where the experts really weren't deep enough to answer, but this
is
the first one where the experts seem to dismiss my use of the product.
That's frustrating.

Yes, Patrick's first answer to a recent question triggered the post.
But
only because I basically had stopped asking questions here (largely for
the
reason give in this post) and the first one back started the same way.
But
Patrick wasn't the target per se. If I had a problem specifically with
his
responses I'd have sent him mail, not posted something publicly. I
started
this thread after Patrick's first reponse to my question but before his
second. His second was the kind of response I was looking for. And
much
thanks to Patrick for it.

So I'm not trying to seem (nor am I) ungrateful for the help that the TS
MVPs are providing. I'm just trying to raise awareness on one specific
"knee jerk" reaction I see (and experience personally).

--
Hal Berenson, President
PredictableIT, LLC
http://www.predictableit.com



"Jeff Pitsch" <jeff@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote in message
news:eVQqN8GRGHA.4572@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
Do you really want a response to this because I'm sure I could come
with a
doozy considering the amount of help that is given out for free by
everyone here (not just MVP's).

Jeff Pitsch
Microsoft MVP - Terminal Services
http://www.sbcgatekeeper.com
Your Terminal Services Security Website

"Hal Berenson" <hberenson@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote in message
news:uoRMchGRGHA.4792@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
Ok, this is officially a rant.

Every time a TS MVP answers a question it is heavily tinted with the
apparent view that TS is only used by organizations with large IT
budgets
to provide very limited access to very small and specific application
set
in a very constrainted environment. Now granted this may be the
typical
use of TS, but it is not the only use. There are some of us trying
to
use TS as a general purpose desktop-replacement computing
environment.
Consequently the answers we get to our questions are frequently not
answers at all, but rather just responses that are dismissive about
what
we are trying to accomplish. I'll go as far as to say I often find
them
condescending and occasionally even insulting.

So please, if you think that what someone is trying to do with TS
doesn't
make sense ask what they are trying to accomplish and why it is
important
before suggesting they do something other than solve their problem.

--
Hal Berenson, President
PredictableIT, LLC
http://www.predictableit.com













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