Manage
Printers and plotters
Office printers and the A0 plotter installed straight on the devices that need them, by team, with the settings your people are used to, and no print server to keep alive.
The printer is there. The print server isn’t.
Printing is the part of IT everyone notices the moment it stops. A classic print server made it work, and also kept a domain controller and a machine in a corner alive long after everything else had moved to Microsoft 365. We deploy printers differently: each device gets the printers its team uses, installed directly with the manufacturer’s driver and a direct network connection, through the same device management that runs everything else. The large-format plotter that prints A0 and A1 plans comes along the same way, with every driver feature intact. There is no print server to maintain, and running the deployment twice changes nothing.
What we set up
Every printer on the right devices, by team.
A small catalogue decides who gets which printer; a script on every device makes it so and only changes what’s different.
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Drivers from a central store
Each manufacturer’s driver package sits in a protected store, checked against its fingerprint, and devices download only the packages they need.
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Printers by team
A small catalogue maps teams to printers: the structural team gets its plotter, the front office doesn’t. A new printer or a team change is an entry in the catalogue.
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Default settings included
The settings people are used to, paper size, colour, duplex, are exported once from the old print server and applied to the new printers, so nothing changes on the day.
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Secure release kept where it lives
Where printing is released with a PIN or a card at the copier, that stays as it is: it runs on the copier itself, not on the server that goes.
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Runs through device management
A script runs on every device, compares what’s installed with the catalogue and only changes what’s different. Each device reports OK or failed, so the device list is the rollout dashboard.
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Old connections removed last
The connections to the old print server go only once the new printers are confirmed on that device. The old queues are paused for a few days before the print server role is removed, so anything missed surfaces while it’s easy to undo.
On record
In your documentation and the monthly report.
- Every printer and plotter, its driver and which team uses it
- The catalogue: who gets which printer, with its default settings
- Each device’s rollout state, as it reported it
- The date the old print server was retired
What usually goes wrong with printing.
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The server nobody wants to touch
The print server is the last reason a domain controller is still running. It gets no updates because nobody dares, and when it fails, nobody prints.
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The plotter that cloud printing drops
Microsoft’s cloud printing suits office printers and, by Microsoft’s own account, not plotters: roll sizes and large-format settings don’t make it through. Firms find out on the day the A0 plan won’t print.
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Two systems fighting
Printers still deployed by group policy while a new rollout starts. Each undoes the other, and the people in between get a different printer every morning.
Also under Manage
- Service desk Every request lands with an engineer who can fix it, and stays with them until it’s fixed.
- Devices and workstations Every laptop and workstation built the same way, kept current and watched centrally.
- Microsoft 365 Accounts, licences, Teams, SharePoint and Entra ID, administered in your own tenant.
- Joiners and leavers The right access on day one, gone on the last day, by script, so nothing is forgotten.
- Licences and vendors Microsoft licences sized to your people, and one call for every vendor your IT depends on.
- The first 30 days Access secured, what we find documented, every system on the monitoring, then a welcome review.
Questions we get
We have a large-format plotter. Does that work without a print server?
Yes. The plotter is installed directly on the devices that need it, with the manufacturer’s own driver and a direct network connection, so every large-format feature stays. Our guide explains why Microsoft’s cloud printing doesn’t cover plotters and what we do instead.
What happens to our print settings?
They’re exported once from the old print server and applied to the new printers: paper size, colour, duplex, the lot. On the day of the switch your people print as they did the day before.
How do you switch without stopping anyone printing?
One team pilots first, old and new side by side. Then the rest, device by device, each reporting back. The old connections are removed only where every new printer is confirmed, and the old queues stay paused for a few days before the server role goes.
Who do we call when a printer breaks?
Us. We deal with your printer supplier and its service contract, so a jam that needs a technician is one request to our service desk, not a call to a hotline.
Start
What still runs on your print server?
In a first call we go through which printers and plotters your teams use, what the old print server still does, and how we’d switch without stopping anyone printing.
- No first level
- No surprises
- Pilot before you buy