Ten Printing Rules With Citrix XenApp

1. Since Presentation Server 4.0 (CPS 4.0) use the Citrix Universal Printer Driver based on EMF for client printers, especially with Windows Clients.
   User Policy\ICA\Printing\Universal Printing = Use universal printing only
   • Presentation Server 4.0 Printing Enhancements
     http://support.citrix.com/article/CTX108170
2. Client network printer (network printer connected to the client) should also be mapped by EMF and the print output should go through the client in indirect mode.
   User Policy\ICA\Client Printers\Direct connections to print server = Disabled

3. Print server should always be located in the same network as the XenApp server, especially when the printers are in a WAN location, branch office. This is when not going through the ICA connection (see point 2)
4. Once Citrix has released the Universal Print Server (UPS), which is expected by the end of 2011, only use the UPS to connect to printers located on the print server.
5. Set Microsoft group policies to disallow Point-To-Print (P2P), to use print isolation, disallow kernel-mode drivers and render jobs on the print server.
   Computer Configuration\Policies\Administrative Templates\Printers
   • Always render print jobs on the server
   • Execute print drivers in isolated processes
   • Point to Print Restrictions (set to localhost)
   • Disallow installation of printers using kernel-mode drivers
     See also
   • How to Restrict Print Drivers From Being Installed on XenApp Servers Hosted on Windows Server 2008/R2
     http://support.citrix.com/article/CTX128786
   • How to Restrict Print Drivers from Being Installed on XenApp Servers
     http://support.citrix.com/article/CTX120618
6. Set Citrix user policies to avoid unwanted in-box printer driver.
   User Policy\ICA\Printing\Automatic installation of in-box printer drivers = Disabled

   —– if you cannot use Citrix universal print driver —-
   

7. Always use Microsoft native printer driver first, that come with the operating system.
   • How to Distinguish Native/Inbox Print Drivers from Non-native/Manufacturer Ones in Windows Server 2008 R2
     http://support.citrix.com/article/CTX126093
8. When you use 3rd party printer driver (HP, Lexmark, Xerox etc.), test them first with StressPrinters and make sure the spooler doesn’t crash.
   • Understand and use StressPrinters
     http://bit.ly/StressPrinters
9. Do not use 3rd party printer driver with print monitors, try to get drivers without monitors or disable/remove them.
10. Out of experience, avoid PCL6 printer driver if you have to use 3rd party printer driver.

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