How to Copy Printers From One Profile to Another

By Ruri Ranbe

Instead of manually configuring the printer settings on each computer in your company or department, use Printui.dll to import a copy of a device's profile to the appropriate workstations. Printui.dll is an executable that automates the installation, removal and setup of printers on a PC. Access the program from Command Prompt to backup the hardware configuration to a DAT, or data, file and then use the MS-DOS "move" command to transfer the file to the target location.

Back Up the Profile

Sign on to the primary computer. Press "Windows-X" and then select "Command Prompt (Admin)" from the context menu. Click "Yes," if prompted, to continue.

Press "Windows-X" again and then click "Control Panel." Select "View Devices and Printers" from under Hardware and Sound.

Right-click the target printer and then choose "Printer Properties" from the context menu. Press "Ctrl-C" to copy the printer name.

Return to Command Prompt. Input the following command into the console:

printui.exe /Ss /n "[Printer]" /a "[File].dat"

For "[Printer]," right-click inside the console and then choose "Paste" from the context menu to paste the printer name. Replace "[File]" with a name for the backup.

Press "Enter" to export the printer settings. Type the following into the console:

move /y [File].dat [Destination]

Replace "[Destination]" with the file path associated with a removable drive or network drive.

Import the Profile

Sign on to the target computer. Open an elevated Command Prompt and input the following commands into the console, pressing "Enter" after each:

cd\

Replace "Drive" with the letter assigned to the drive containing the DAT file (such as "D:") and replace "[Destination]" with the full file path linking to the file.

Type the following into CMD:

printui.exe /Sr /n "[Printer]" /a "[File].dat"

Replace "[Printer]" with the printer name and "[File]" with the file name.

Press "Enter" to import the printer settings.

Tips

If you want to move the DAT file to network drive in Command Prompt, before executing the "move" command, type "net use z: [computer][destination]" (without the quotations) into CMD. Replace "[computer]" with the name of the server or PC and "[destination]" with the name of the share folder. Press "Enter" to associate the network drive with the letter "z:".

For Windows Vista and earlier, use "rundll32 printui.dll,PrintUIEntry" instead of "printui.exe."

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