Priveon Labs Security Blog

HP's universal Print driver can help ease managing drivers for printers in a big way. It can help keep the server's driver repository cleaner, it helps to make setting a Print server up much easier, and it gives more management options.

That being said, there is one option, the "Status Notification Pop-up" which some IT professionals would prefer their users not be bothered with. This is a pop-up that shows up on any client's PC which uses the printer when they print, or if the printer has an issue like low toner, out of paper, etc.

In the printer's settings itself there is an option to disable the notifications. However once you change the setting, apply it, and close the properties page, the setting is not saved. There is a way to not only disable this option (on all existing and future printers,) but also grey it out so it cannot be changed.

This will work whether you have already installed and configured all of your printers or not. If you have already set them up, don't worry, any settings inside the printer's driver that you've changed will not be reverted back to defaults.

First you need the UPD (Universal Print Drivers',) Install.exe file. Open command prompt and get to the directory you have the install.exe file in. We'll just go with "folder" as our example for now:

C:\Folder

Now you can type install.exe /gdssnp /ni

The /gdssnp will make a registry change to disable the SNP, while the /ni will make it so the actual printer install doesn't happen but the other steps along the way will.

Running this command will also make it so any new printers created will not use it.

The whole process can take upwards of 45 minutes. There is a point to where you will think it's locked up, but just give it time. It should finish.

If you run the installer with the /gdssnp switch like we've discussed, it will make the following registry change to every existing printer using the driver:

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Control\Print\Printers\<PrinterName>\PrinterDriverData

If you prefer, you can go through and manually change the registry entry for every printer. But that could be a tedius and long process if you have a lot of printers.

There are several other switches you can run the UPD installer with, making managing and setting up the print server much easier, including (but definitely not limited to,):

• /q         Quite mode, no prompts
• /nd        Does not set the printer as default
• /dst        Disables the Services tab
• /dos        Disables the Online Support option
• /dssnp        Disables the Status Notification Pop-up for the printer you are currently installing.

The full list and other options can be found easily in HP's support documents. Just go to HP's website and search for Universal Print Driver.