tech blog

-Chris Madge, MCP

There comes a time in every system administrator’s life when a domain controller dies unexpectedly or perhaps brute force removed from the domain this leaves a lot of orphans in the Active Directory Schema. It is now up to you to remove the printers and element manually. Microsoft has developed a group policy process to “autoprune” the printers. This is detailed here (http://www.microsoft.com/kb/234270). While this is a Microsoft Best Practice, it does take time to take effect and can be done a lot quicker. This article will simply outline the steps needed to remove specifically the printers.
Remove the Printers
4. To remove the printers
5. Start -> Run -> adsiedit.msc -> OK
6. Locate the CN=Computers item in the left hand window
7. Expand the CN=Computers Unit by clicking the plus sign
8. Locate the demoted domain controller and select it.
9. The right hand window should contain the printer queues
10. Select all the printer queues and delete the printers
11. Once the printer queues are deleted you need to make sure they are gone from Active Directory
12. Click Start -> Printers and Faxes
13. Add a printer
14. A network printer – > Next
15. Find a printer in the directory
16. Do not enter anything in the fields and click Find Now
17. Maximize the screen
18. Look in the Server Name Column to ensure that all printer queues from the demoted server are gone
19. Celebrate your successes by grabbing a brew at your local watering hole