Are printer installations user-specific?  No. Install for all users and all users can use the printer (it may need to be made active in each user account. I do this all the time at clients.

If yes then how for each Windows version?  Any version from XP forward.

OK.  What does it mean: "Install for all users"?  That seems to imply a particular process and I'm not aware of that.

Just install the printer and the driver will be there for all users. Nothing special to do.

Fred, tell me if you use print servers and if so how you plan to deploy printers.

If you map a printer to a print server, that is user specific.  I think the key for that is stored in HKCU\Printers\Connections.

So, if UserA has a printer connection to a shared printer on the print server like \\printserver\Printer1. UserB won't see it Printer1 unless they also have that printer mapped.  

Unless it is blocked by policy, users can add a printer mapping by browsing to the UNC path of the print server, such as \\PRINTSERVER. Then, they just need to double click on the printer to add that connection to their profile.  As long as the driver for that printer is on the computer or server in question, non-admin users can map a printer that way.

If an admin installed a printer on a server using the IP address, the Everyone group has rights to print to that printer by default: so everyone will see the printer.  If you remove the Everyone group and add another group, only the members of that other group will see that printer when they log on to the server.

In a former job, we used print mapping scripts that would map printers for people when they logged on to the server. So, each user would only see those printers in their script.  But, some printers were installed directly on the TS using their IPs, such as check printers. Since only payroll people needed access to the check printer, which had MICR toner installed & check stock in the paper tray, we removed the everyone group and added the payroll user group so only people in payroll would see and be able to print to that printer.

Any time locally or any time from a Print Server (network), once a printer has been installed, the driver is there for ALL to use.

From that point for each user, like Office and Adobe, the printer must be added to Devices and Printers. Totally normal. But the driver is there in Print Server Management .

I wasn't talking about the driver: of course the driver would need to be installed for any user to print to a printer from a PC or server.  I was talking about a local installation versus just connecting to a network print share.

For any user (new local or new network) the printer will have to be added.

"Any time locally or any time from a Print Server (network), once a printer has been installed, the driver is there for ALL to use. " - not quite. Double click a shared printer - it will connect for one user, only. Install it via printer deployment (per-computer) or install it via tcp/ip-port (as local), and then it will be there for all. It depends on the method.

In my experience the Driver is always there once installed. The Printer must be re-added of course but I think I said that.

It is always easier and faster for us to add an existing printer than doing a fresh install of a printer.

Sorry, yes, I was misreading parts of it.
The driver is there for all to use, but the visibility of the printer depends on Th way you install it - that's what I meant.

Thanks all!  I should clarify ...  
There are no servers in this situation; but, there are plenty of network printers that can be addressed via TCP/IP.  And, that's how *I* do it - but there are other players.  So that much isn't (right now) guaranteed.

I wasn't so much concerned about the driver.  I was concerned about the visibility of the printer in "Devices and Printers".  At least that's how I understand the issue we're facing:

There is a fairly extensive application that internally has a printer list:
Printer for letters.
Printer for receipts.
Printer for reports.
.... very similar to QuickBooks which most of us are familiar with.  But NOT QuickBooks.
Printers can only be listed in the application if they are visible in Windows (via a pull-down list).  
So, I take that to mean for the current Windows logon at the least...

I have been told that once a printer is listed in the application, it's good for the entire *computer* and is not user-specific.  I'm seeking clarification if this idea was meant to apply to an *application login* with a single Windows logon or ANY Windows logon.  I'm sure you can imagine the difficulty of having a printer listed in your application that would not be visible in Windows.  Maybe they just go back to some default or are blanked out .. I don't know yet.

Thus, the question - which is about visibility across all users.  I think McKnife hit on it.  Yes?
I've not run any experiments because I didn't know where to begin.  We have anecdotal information that says printer visibility varies from user to user and other anecdotal information that says it doesn't vary.  I guess the answer is "it may" depending on the printer install method??

Any application including QB which I use extensively along with Office needs a printer visible in Devices and printers . That will not be automatic ( life is not automatic ). But it is very easily done if the Driver is there.

McKnife:  Thanks!  That's exactly what I do.  Which, it seems "automatically" makes the printer visible for each user profile.  So, if there isn't visibility of a printer for all users , it must have been installed using some other process.  And, it appears, such "other process" exists.  Agree?

So, the conclusion must be this:

We don't want to have printer installations that vary per user profile on a computer.  So, we will only install them according to those steps.  And, if we find printers that *do* vary according to the user profile, then we will remove them and add them back using those steps - if only to meet our stated objective.

And, just to be complete: What about a local printer?  Will installing a local printer make it automatically visible to each user profile?  Or is there some set of steps to accomplish that as well.

Will installing a local printer make it automatically visible to each user profile  <-- No. You must add the printer to Devices and Printers for each profile normally. This statement may not be 100% universal (no such thing) but normally. However adding to Devices and Printers does not mean reinstall because the driver (as has been said  several  times here) is there for all users.

So, for local printers, there is no set of steps at installation that will make the printer visible to all.....

If you need a list of steps, here:

Once installed by one user,
On a different profile,
Open Devices and Printers,
Add Printer,
Add the Printer,
Done.

John Hurst:  The method you propose is antithetical to the objective of never having a difference between user profiles re: which printers are visible.  So, while it may be correct, it's bad news.
It would rely on *~people~* ewwww!

McKnife:  That's more like it.

Now, which assertion is correct folks?  They can't both be...  either you will see a local printer in all user profiles or you will not.  Either there is a method to accomplish "for all user profiles" or none is needed for a local printer.
I guess we shouldn't overlook the possibility that this could be driver-dependent / mfr.-dependent?

Sometimes it works and sometimes it does not. There is no 100% rule. I have tried many printers on many profiles. It depends and no 100% rule.

That has not always worked for me.

akb:  Thanks for the reply.  I don't see a contradiction but that's very possibly in my interpretation.  What I thought John Hurst meant was:  

"If you install the printer using one user profile then the *driver* will be on the computer.  So, if you go to another user profile it's a fairly simple matter to Add the Printer."

That's not the same as saying "if you install a local printer using one user profile then the PRINTER will show up in Devices and Printers in all user profiles with no added effort",

It's one thing to have the driver available on the computer and another to have the printer visible in Devices and Printers and on all the Windows pulldowns in app's.  I'm hoping for the latter.  This objective is driven by the unwary user and what they should have available.  A more skilled user could indeed add a printer if the driver is already there.. yet, I have some doubts about that!!  :-)

Thank you all!

Thanks and good luck with your printers.

All local printers are visible to all users unless you change the default permissions on that printer.

By default, the "Everyone" group will have access to any printer added to a computer.  But, if you remove the "Everyone" group, then typical users will no longer see the printer.

As I said in my previous answer, we did that all the time on our servers at a previous job: we would install some printers directly on the server by IP and then restrict access to some of the printers by removing the "Everyone" group from the security tab and putting another group in its place.  Hasn't anyone else ever done that?  It worked fine for us.  I don't think I ever had done that on client PC, but I would imagine the prinicpal is the same

For example, the Adobe PDF printer was restricted to the "Adobe Pro" group we created in AD and the  check printer was restricted to the Payroll group.

Alicia W.:  Interesting.  Yet, restrictions like that weren't what we had in mind.

For us, it's important that all the printers set up on a computer be visible to all users.  Here's why:

We are using an app with pull-down printer selection (a rather permanent set of selections).
The pull-down in the app is supposed to work for any Windows login.  But, if the printers don't match between logins then what happens to the pulldown and the selected printers?  We'd like to assure ourselves that this isn't going to continue to be an issue.