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vbscript to delete old printers

I have some printers mapped on my domain, but had to rename them because after two years, management says they don't know which printer is which. Of course after renaming them, the mapping does not work. That is the easy part, I wrote a vbscript to remap the printers, but it re adds the printers, but the old ones are still there. I added the remove printer connection to the vbscript, but it does not delete the old printers, obviously because of the name change the script cannot find them. How do I get the script to remove the old ones, and add the new ones. I was thinking I could tell the script to delete the printer icon based on the name of the printer in the printers and faxes folder. Is this possible? If not, can someone give me an example of a script. I have attached the sript I wrote.
logon1.txt

xzay1967

ASKER

Ok, after playing around with some code, I wrote this, it add the new ones, but it does not delete the old ones. When I look in the printer and faxes folder, the old ones show "printer not found on server, unable to connect"

On Error Resume Next
Set WshNetwork = CreateObject("WScript.Network")
Set oPrinters = WshNetwork.EnumPrinterConnections
For i = 0 to oPrinters.Count - 1 Step 2
WScript.Echo oPrinters.Item(i+1)
WshNetwork.RemovePrinterConnection oPrinters.Item(i+1)
 
Next
WshNetwork.AddWindowsPrinterConnection "\\jdr-fp01\managersavin"
WshNetwork.AddWindowsPrinterConnection "\\jdr-fp01\savinwrkroom"
WshNetwork.AddWindowsPrinterConnection "\\jdr-fp01\savinwestend"

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Krys_K

Hi There

try using this code i put below to get a list of all printers. Remove them all then map the ones you want.

You need to add the mapping bit below my bit.
Looking at your code it looks like you know how to do this, but let me know if you need help

Regards
Krystian


	Dim WshShell, wshNetwork
	Dim colPrintersCollection
	Dim iPrinterCount
 
'Create object
	Set WshShell = WScript.CreateObject("WScript.Shell")
	Set wshNetwork = WScript.CreateObject("WScript.Network")
 
' Enumerate the drive mappings 
	Set colPrintersCollection = wshNetWork.EnumPrinterConnections()
 
' This section deletes ALL current drive mappings. You may not
' want to do all of them, For example the Home (H:) Drive.
 
		For iPrinterCount = 0 To colPrintersCollection.Count - 1 Step 2
			wshNetwork.RemovePrinterConnection colPrintersCollection.Item(iPrinterCount), True, True
		Next
 
' Now map your printers

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Krys_K

Sorry ignore this comment in my code

' This section deletes ALL current drive mappings. You may not
' want to do all of them, For example the Home (H:) Drive.

It should have read

' This section deletes ALL current printer mappings.

Krystian

xzay1967

ASKER

Thanks Krys, the problem is after renaming the printers, it killed the mapping. I get a network connection does not exist error when I run the script. When I look at the printer icons in the printers and faxes folder, all the old mapped printers, say "printer not found on server, unable to connect" I was hoping to find a script that can "forcibly" delete these and then map the new ones. I was thinking there might be some way to run a script that simply "see" the icons of the bad printers and then deletes them. As an example the name that shows for one of the bad printers is savin 8035 managers on jdr-fp01, then there is the printer not found message under it.

ASKER CERTIFIED SOLUTION

Krys_K

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xzay1967

ASKER

You read my mind. I have never used scripting to edit registry so I need some help with that part. I found an example which is attached along with two screenshots of the registry entries with printers in it.

On Error Resume Next
 
Const HKEY_CURRENT_USER = &H80000001
 
strComputer = "."
strKeyPath = "Printers"
 
Set objRegistry = GetObject("winmgmts:\\" & _
strComputer & "\root\default:StdRegProv")
 
DeleteSubkeysName HKEY_CURRENT_USER, strKeypath , ",,server001,SW2-PR1
COLOUR"
 
Sub DeleteSubkeysName(HKEY_CURRENT_USER, strKeyPath, strName)
objRegistry.EnumKey HKEY_CURRENT_USER, strKeyPath, arrSubkeys
 
If IsArray(arrSubkeys) Then
For Each strSubkey In arrSubkeys
Wscript.Echo strSubKey
if (strSubkey = strName ) then
Wscript.Echo "Deleting " & strKeyPath & "\" & strSubkey
objRegistry.DeleteKey HKEY_CURRENT_USER, strKeyPath & "\" &
strSubkey
end if
 
DeleteSubkeysName HKEY_CURRENT_USER, strKeyPath & "\" &
strSubkey, strName
Next
End If
End Sub

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reg.txt
ScreenShot067.jpg
under-windowsnt.jpg

xzay1967

ASKER

Oh I forgot to mention, I need the all the savins deleted. Could you please show me where to make the changes to the code. Thanks a lot.

SOLUTION

RobSampson

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xzay1967

ASKER

They say hind sight is 20/20. I do not remember what the old share names are, otherwise I would have started over. With that being said, I guess I have to figure out to get rid of the ghost printers. Can you help with the script I attached based on the screen shots?

RobSampson

Oh nuts! Well that's a problem......

Oh well.....my concern now is then....see how you've got:
DeleteSubkeysName HKEY_CURRENT_USER, strKeypath , ",,server001,SW2-PR1COLOUR"

that would delete a specific printer entry, but you'd still have to know them.

So I've added the ability for wildcards, so you can use:
DeleteSubkeysName HKEY_CURRENT_USER, strKeypath , "*savin*"

But if any new printers have this naming convention, and are attached already when this part runs, it'll get rid of that too....which I guess is fine if you attach the printer after the registry bit anyway...

Also, what about
HKCU\Printers\Settings
entries? Do they exist for the old printers too?

Regards,

Rob.

On Error Resume Next
 
Const HKEY_CURRENT_USER = &H80000001
strComputer = "."
strKeyPath = "Printers\Connections\"
 
Set objRegistry = GetObject("winmgmts:\\" & _
strComputer & "\root\default:StdRegProv")
 
DeleteSubkeysName HKEY_CURRENT_USER, strKeypath , ",,server001,SW2-PR1COLOUR"
DeleteSubkeysName HKEY_CURRENT_USER, strKeypath , "*savin*"
 
strKeyPath = "Software\Microsoft\Windows NT\CurrentVersion\Devices\"
DeleteSubkeysName HKEY_CURRENT_USER, strKeypath , "*savin*"
 
Sub DeleteSubkeysName(HKEY_CURRENT_USER, strKeyPath, strName)
	objRegistry.EnumKey HKEY_CURRENT_USER, strKeyPath, arrSubkeys
 
	If IsArray(arrSubkeys) Then
		For Each strSubkey In arrSubkeys
			Wscript.Echo strSubKey
			If InStr(strName, "*") = 0 Then
				If LCase(strSubkey) = LCase(strName) Then
					Wscript.Echo "Deleting " & strKeyPath & "\" & strSubkey
					objRegistry.DeleteKey HKEY_CURRENT_USER, strKeyPath & "\" & strSubkey
				End If
			ElseIf Left(strName, 1) = "*" And Right(strName, 1) = "*" Then
				If InStr(LCase(strSubkey), LCase(strName)) > 0 Then
					Wscript.Echo "Deleting " & strKeyPath & "\" & strSubkey
					objRegistry.DeleteKey HKEY_CURRENT_USER, strKeyPath & "\" & strSubkey
				End If
			ElseIf Left(strName, 1) = "*" Then
				If Right(LCase(strSubkey), Len(strName) - 1) = Right(LCase(strName), Len(strName) - 1) Then
					Wscript.Echo "Deleting " & strKeyPath & "\" & strSubkey
					objRegistry.DeleteKey HKEY_CURRENT_USER, strKeyPath & "\" & strSubkey
				End If				
			ElseIf Right(strName, 1) = "*" Then
				If Left(LCase(strSubkey), Len(strName) - 1) = Left(LCase(strName), Len(strName) - 1) Then
					Wscript.Echo "Deleting " & strKeyPath & "\" & strSubkey
					objRegistry.DeleteKey HKEY_CURRENT_USER, strKeyPath & "\" & strSubkey
				End If				
			End If
 
			DeleteSubkeysName HKEY_CURRENT_USER, strKeyPath & "\" &	strSubkey, strName
		Next
	End If
End Sub

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RobSampson

Thanks for the grade. I hope you managed to get around your issues here, and that we provided enough info to help you.

Regards,

Rob.