Mass distribute printer configurations to Mac users

We recently upgraded our office’s printers and I found myself faced with the prospect of updating the printer configurations of each-and-every Mac in the office. In the past, I’ve done it via “SneakerNet” but decided it was time to figure out how to do it remotely. Fortunately, it turns out to not be too difficult.

These instructions presume you have Apple Remote Desktop (ARD) installed (which any self-respecting Mac admin should have)…

1. Install the new printer driver to all systems
   Download the correct driver installer to your administrative system and then run that installer on all of your client Macs using ARD.
2. Remove the old printer definition from all of your client Macs
   Use ARD to execute the command line command:

   lpadmin -x <printerName>

3. Create an updated printer definition on all of your client Macs
   Use ARD to execute the UNIX command:

   lpadmin -p <printerName> -L <printerLocation> -E -v lpd://<printerIPaddress> -P "/Library/Printers/PPDs/Contents/Resources/<printerDefinition>.gz" -o printer-is-shared=false

   • Note that, if you use a print server, that <printerIPaddress> would want to be <printSvrIPaddress>/<queueName>