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Use the computer policy Allow printers to be published to control whether a print server can publish shared printers in Active Directory. Set it to Enabled or leave it Not configured to permit publication; set it to Disabled to block publication and remove the printer’s List in directory option. If you want a curated directory rather than a complete block, disable Automatically publish new printers in the Active Directory instead.
Choose the behavior you actually need
“Listed in Active Directory” means that a shared printer has a corresponding printer object in Active Directory Domain Services (AD DS). Users can find that object through Windows printer-discovery workflows instead of knowing a path such as \PrintServer\PrinterShare.
Publication is not the same as sharing, browsing, access control, or Point and Print. A printer can be shared and reachable without being published in AD, and hiding it from discovery does not prevent a user who knows its UNC path from connecting when permissions allow.
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|---|---|---|
| Allow shared printers to be published in AD | Allow printers to be published: Enabled or Not configured | The computer may publish queues; actual visibility still depends on sharing, policy application, AD connectivity, and the queue’s publication state. |
| Block all publication from a print server | Allow printers to be published: Disabled | Publication is blocked and List in directory is unavailable. |
| Stop automatic publication but retain manual control | Automatically publish new printers in the Active Directory: Disabled | New queues are not automatically published, but approved queues can still be published manually. |
| Stop legacy network browse announcements | Printer Browsing | Controls announcements used by the older browse mechanism, not AD publication itself. |
| Remove network browsing from the Add Printer Wizard | Display the down level page in the Add Printer wizard (wording can vary by template) | Removes that client-side browse page; it does not block every other connection method. |
| Prevent installation or use | Printer/share permissions, deployment controls, and Point and Print policies | Controls access and driver behavior. These are separate from publication. |
Enable printer publication with Group Policy
- On an administrator workstation or domain controller, run
gpmc.mscto open Group Policy Management. - Create or edit a GPO linked to the OU that contains the computer account of the print server. Linking the policy only to client computers will not configure the publishing server.
- Go to Computer Configuration → Policies → Administrative Templates → Printers.
- Open Allow printers to be published, choose Enabled, and apply the policy.
- Refresh computer policy on the print server, or restart it during an approved maintenance window.
- Confirm that the queue is shared. In the printer’s Properties → Sharing tab, select List in directory when you want to publish that particular queue.
Enabling the policy grants permission to publish; it does not promise that every shared printer will appear immediately. The server must receive the policy, contact AD DS successfully, and have a shared queue whose publication state is enabled.
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Microsoft’s policy documentation and examples are available in Group Policy settings for controlling printers in Active Directory.
Disable publication completely
- Edit the GPO applied to the print server.
- Open Computer Configuration → Policies → Administrative Templates → Printers → Allow printers to be published.
- Set the policy to Disabled, then apply and refresh computer policy on the server.
Microsoft states that this prevents the computer’s shared printers from being published and removes the List in directory option. This stops publication; it should not be treated as an automatic cleanup operation for printer objects that were already created in AD. Inventory and remove obsolete objects separately through your normal AD or print-management process.
Stop automatic publication but publish selected queues manually
For a controlled directory, leave the master publication permission available and set:
Computer Configuration → Policies → Administrative Templates → Printers → Automatically publish new printers in the Active Directory → Disabled
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This prevents new shared printers from being automatically published by the Add Printer Wizard while retaining the ability to publish approved queues manually. The setting is subordinate to Allow printers to be published; if the master policy is disabled, changing automatic publication has no effect.
This approach suits servers that host test, temporary, specialty, or departmental queues that should not all be searchable. The trade-off is ongoing administrative maintenance of the approved directory entries.
Publish a printer manually with pubprn.vbs
Windows Server includes the pubprn script for publishing a printer or a server’s printers to an LDAP container. General syntax is:
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cscript %WINDIR%System32printing_Admin_Scriptsen-USpubprn.vbs \PrintServerLaserPrinter LDAP://CN=Printers,DC=example,DC=comTo publish printers from a server, Microsoft also documents:
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cscript pubprn PrintServer LDAP://CN=Printers,DC=example,DC=comThe script resides under %WINDIR%System32printing_Admin_Scripts<language>; the language folder is not always en-US. Use an LDAP destination that exists in your domain and an account with sufficient rights. See Microsoft’s pubprn command reference for the supported syntax.
Configure the same controls through Intune or another MDM
Microsoft exposes these settings as ADMX-backed Policy CSP controls. They are SyncML/MDM configuration paths, not commands to paste into Command Prompt or PowerShell.
Allow or block publication
- Policy CSP path:
./Device/Vendor/MSFT/Policy/Config/Printers/PublishPrinters - Friendly name: Allow printers to be published
- Registry mapping:
SoftwarePoliciesMicrosoftWindows NTPrinters, valuePublishPrinters - ADMX file:
Printing2.admx
Microsoft lists support beginning with Windows 10 version 1703 for Pro, Enterprise, Education, and IoT Enterprise editions. Check the current Printers Policy CSP for edition and build requirements.
Automatic publication
- Policy CSP path:
./Device/Vendor/MSFT/Policy/Config/ADMX_Printing2/AutoPublishing - Registry mapping:
SoftwarePoliciesMicrosoftWindows NTPrintersWizard, valueAuto Publishing - ADMX file:
Printing2.admx
See Microsoft’s ADMX-backed Printing2 policy documentation when building the MDM payload.
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Troubleshoot missing or unexpected listings
The policy is disabled, but printers still appear
- Verify that the GPO targets the print server’s computer account, not only client OUs.
- Check GPO precedence, inheritance, and enforced settings for a higher-precedence policy that changes the value.
- Confirm that the server has received the new computer policy.
- Determine whether the visible entry is an old AD object, a browse result, or a printer delivered by another management system.
- Inspect and clean stale AD printer objects separately; disabling publication does not necessarily delete them.
List in directory is missing
The most direct cause is that Allow printers to be published is disabled on the computer hosting the shared queue. Other possibilities include an unshared or local-only printer, a policy that has not refreshed, an MDM-applied policy that is not visible in the local editor, or a newer print workflow with different UI. Confirm that you are viewing the shared queue’s Sharing properties.
Printers disappear from AD
AD printer pruning can remove published objects when the publishing computer cannot be contacted. Microsoft documents a default pruning interval of eight hours with two repeated contact attempts for the relevant service settings. Downtime, DNS or firewall failures, a renamed/replaced server, or a recreated queue can all trigger removal. Check server availability, DNS, AD DS connectivity, and firewall rules before changing pruning behavior. If automatic pruning is disabled, administrators must manually remove objects when printers or servers are retired.
Users can still connect after discovery is disabled
Policies that hide AD publication or an Add Printer Wizard browse page do not block a known path such as \PrintServerPrinterShare. Use share and printer permissions, approved-server and Point and Print policies, deployment controls, and network security to restrict actual use. Microsoft notes that the wizard browsing policy does not prevent other tools from browsing or connecting.
Publication is allowed but does not occur automatically
Check that the queue is shared, automatic publication has not been disabled, the server can contact a domain controller, DNS is working, policy has applied, and the account and server have the required rights. Also verify that you are checking AD rather than a different discovery mechanism.
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Design and security considerations
Complete publication disablement is appropriate when printers are deployed exclusively through Group Policy Preferences, Intune, scripts, or a print-management platform, or when the directory is cluttered with obsolete queues. Users lose AD search convenience, and List in directory disappears.
Disable automatic publication instead when users need a curated set of searchable printers. Leave publication enabled when AD discovery, location metadata, and a small, maintained queue inventory are part of your support model. If printers should be assigned by site, department, device, or security group, deliberate deployment is often more predictable than exposing every queue for user selection.
Finally, publication is a discovery feature, not an authorization boundary. A hidden printer is not necessarily an inaccessible printer.
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1Fix the driver behind crashes, sound loss and screen glitches2Clear out junk files and repair common Windows errors3Scan for outdated or missing drivers - takes under a minuteFrequently Asked Questions
Does disabling printer publication delete existing Active Directory printer objects?
Do not assume it does. The policy blocks future publication from the server; review and remove stale printer objects separately using your organization’s AD or print-management process.
Can I stop automatic publication while still publishing selected printers?
Yes. Set Automatically publish new printers in the Active Directory to Disabled while leaving Allow printers to be published enabled, then publish approved queues manually.
Is Active Directory printer listing the same as network browsing?
No. AD publication, legacy Printer Browsing, and the Add Printer Wizard’s browse page are separate controls. A user may still connect with a known UNC path unless permissions prevent it.
The Bottom Line
Use Allow printers to be published to permit or block AD publication from a print server. Use Automatically publish new printers in the Active Directory when you need selective, manual publication instead of a complete block. Treat stale-object cleanup, browsing, and access control as separate administrative tasks.
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