Print Queues Installed by Local Group Policy are Duplicated and Cannot Be Deleted

Question

Hello all,

A little context first: My organization has three 2016 Print Servers each hosting 100+ print queues to Win10 workstations. There are 2 print queues identified that have the issue I am about to describe. Both of these queues are hosted on the same server. Printers are installed via Local Group Policy Editor on the workstation under Computer Configuration. I will focus on 1 of the problem print queues in my problem description.

The Issue: When the print queue is deployed to a computer in the area, the print queue shows up in the control panel multiple times. On some PCs 4 times, on others 6. These are NOT marked as "Printer 1 - Copy 1". They all bear the same name: "Printer 1 on PrintServer1". If you remove the duplicates, they nearly instantly re-install themselves. If you remove the printer from the Local Group Policy editor and perform a gpupdate /force, the printer and its duplicates are removed. However if you then re-deploy the printer it returns with the same number of duplicates (even if you delete the registry.pol file before doing this).

I have deleted and re-created the queue on the print server, but this had no effect.

Looking at the registry on one of the affected PCs, I found that there are maybe 100 registry keys created for the same print queue under HKLM\Software\Microsoft\Windows NT\CurrentVersion\Print\Providers\Client Side Rendering Print Provider\Servers\PrintServer1\Printers. I deleted all these reg keys and rebooted the PC and the duplicates disappeared. However after making a change to the driver on the print queue the duplicates returned and more of these reg keys returned.

My own workstation is in a separate location and has not had printers deployed to it since it was imaged. I deployed these two print queues to my workstation and they are not duplicating.

I am not sure what else I can try if clearing out these reg keys is not a permanent fix. I am looking to understand the root cause.

Thanks!

Answer 1

HI

1.Could you please share the issue picture to us? (please don't include any private information)
2.Do you mean your duplicated print queue only happen on one 2016 printer servers?
3.Which printer policy did you use to deploy issue print to win10 client?
Computer policy
computer Configuration\Policies\windows settings\deployed printers​
computer Configuration\preferences\control pannel settings\printers​

User policy
user Configuration\Policies\windows settings\deployed printers​
user Configuration\preferences\control pannel settings\printers

4.What's your issue the print model?
5.What's printer driver do you use?

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Answer 2

HI

1.Please make sure we install the same update on both normal win10(1809) and issue win10(1809).

2."I deployed these two print queues to my workstation and they are not duplicating."

(1)Please create a system restore point on issue win10 first
https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/create-a-system-restore-point-77e02e2a-3298-c869-9974-ef5658ea3be9

(2)Download PSExec and run the following script in PowerShell as administrator to remove existing obsolete entries: (place pstools in this path: C: \ temp \ PSTools \ Psexec.exe)
Start-Process -FilePath cmd.exe -Verb Runas -ArgumentList '/k C:\temp\PSTools\Psexec.exe -I -s powershell.exe'
Remove-Item -Path "HKLM:\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Enum\SWD\PRINTENUM*" -Recurse
Remove-Item -Path "HKLM:\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Control\DeviceClasses*" -Recurse
Remove-Item -Path "HKLM:\Software\Microsoft\Windows NT\CurrentVersion\Print\Providers\Client Side Rendering Print Provider*" -Recurse
PsExec v2.34
https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/sysinternals/downloads/psexec

(3)Configure the registry key and restart win10, finally we can check the result.
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows NT\CurrentVersion\Print\Providers\Client Side Rendering Print Provider\RemovePrintersAtLogoff
Value = 0

If the above steps can not help you, please check below document again.If all solution not help you, we can recover win10 to previous backup point.

Other document for your reference
Duplicate Printers Showing Up in Windows
https://www.amorales.org/2019/05/duplicate-printers-showing-up-in-windows.html
Please Note: Microsoft provides third-party contact information to help you find technical support. This contact information may change without notice.

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