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Establishing a naming convention for printers

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Applies To: Windows Server 2003, Windows Server 2003 R2, Windows Server 2003 with SP1, Windows Server 2003 with SP2

Establishing a naming convention for printers

Setting a standard for printer names is a well-accepted practice, and many organizations establish it early in their printing planning. However, in the Windows Server 2003 family environment, the printer location tracking feature shifts the importance of naming standards from printer names to location names. When printer location tracking is enabled, setting a solid location name standard is imperative to its successful implementation. The feature also allows for much more liberty in naming printers. For more information about setting printer location names, see Establishing a naming convention for printer locations.

However, printer location tracking is not suited for every organization, and it is disabled by default. If you do not enable printer location tracking, then you should carefully plan your organization's naming standard for printers. You need to create a simple, easy-to-implement naming standard that fits your own printer deployment plan.

For example, if you have two identical printers in the mail room, your naming convention needs to provide a way to identify each of the printers, perhaps by adding a number at the end of each printer name. You also want a naming standard that provides users with information about the printer. Therefore, to continue with the previous example, you might name the printers Printer-01, and Printer-02. The naming standard might also tell users what kind of printed output to expect. You could call a color laser printer ColorLaser-01, and a color inkjet printer ColorInk-01.

If you do not enable printer location tracking, consider adding the printer location as part of your printer naming standard. However, remember that printers are likely to move, which will require you to change their names.

For other considerations and issues with setting printer names, see Choosing a printer name.