Windows 7 - Grouping Printer Objects

When I install a Popup Package on a Windows 7 client machine I notice that the printers are grouped and not displaying individually.

How do I undo this grouping in Printers & Faxes?

Below is the information one of our customers has put together for us to share as this is not a Pharos caused issue and is controlled soley by the Windows 7 Operating System.

Pharos takes no responsibility for any of these changes to your system should you attempt one of the solutions below.

In working with Microsoft we were unable to find a fix address this behavior; however, we did find several indirect solutions (some of which are more usable than others in my opinion). A summary of these indirect solutions are below.

The behavior was documented by Microsoft and one workaround was documented in the following Microsoft KB Article:

http://support.microsoft.com/kb/2015694

A blog post was also created by the technician I was working with:

http://blogs.technet.com/askperf/archive/2010/03/02/windows-7-where-are-my-printers.aspx

A variant on this resolution (first link) would change the 5 listed steps to the following (my preference):

1. Open the registry editor (Regedit.exe) and navigate to:  

   HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Explorer\Control Panel \NameSpace

2. Right click on NameSpace and choose 'New Key'

3. Name this new key {2227a280-3aea-1069-a2de-08002b30309d}   (be sure to include the brackets)

4. In the right pane, edit the value of 'Default' as 'Printers'

5. Close Registry Editor and refresh the Control Panel

   1. Note that the View will need to be switched from Category to either Small Icons or Large Icons to see the new icon.

I'm fairly certain that step 4) has no impact in both scenarios.  The KB method will place an icon on your desktop to an alternate printers interface/UI via the registry.  The method above will place a similar icon in your Control Panel (my preference) via the registry.  Neither icon appeared to be delete-able for the end user (prevents accidental deletion); however, it means that a method to undo the above should also be provided to the end user.  Both methods are scriptable.

Here is a portion of a batch file I put together quickly to add the functionality above (Control Panel Icon) into place:

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

@echo off

ver | find "6.1." >nul
if %errorlevel%==1 echo Windows version does not appear to be Windows 7.  No changes will be made.
if %errorlevel%==1 goto BYPASS

reg query "HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Software\Microsoft\Windows NT\CurrentVersion" /v "ProductName" | find "Windows 7" >nul
if %errorlevel%==1 echo Windows version does not appear to be Windows 7.  No changes will be made.
if %errorlevel%==1 goto BYPASS
if %errorlevel%==0 echo Windows version appears to be Windows 7.

reg query "HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Explorer\ControlPanel\NameSpace\{2227a280-3aea-1069-a2de-08002b30309d}" >nul
if %errorlevel%==0 echo Key already exists.
if %errorlevel%==0 goto BYPASS
if %errorlevel%==1 echo Key does not exist.

reg add "HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Explorer\ControlPanel\NameSpace\{2227a280-3aea-1069-a2de-08002b30309d}" /ve /t REG_SZ /d "Printers"  >nul
if %errorlevel%==1 echo Problem adding key.
if %errorlevel%==0 echo Key added.

:BYPASS
echo Done.
pause
exit

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Here is a portion of a batch file I put together quickly to remove the same functionality:

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

ver | find "6.1." >nul
if %errorlevel%==1 echo Windows version does not appear to be Windows 7.  No changes will be made.
if %errorlevel%==1 goto BYPASS

reg query "HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Software\Microsoft\Windows NT\CurrentVersion" /v "ProductName" | find "Windows 7" >nul
if %errorlevel%==1 echo Windows version does not appear to be Windows 7.  No changes will be made.
if %errorlevel%==1 goto BYPASS
if %errorlevel%==0 echo Windows version appears to be Windows 7.

reg query "HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Explorer\ControlPanel\NameSpace\{2227a280-3aea-1069-a2de-08002b30309d}" >nul
if %errorlevel%==1 echo Key does not exist.
if %errorlevel%==1 goto BYPASS
if %errorlevel%==0 echo Key exists.

reg delete "HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Explorer\ControlPanel\NameSpace\{2227a280-3aea-1069-a2de-08002b30309d}" /f >nul
if %errorlevel%==1 echo Problem removing key.
if %errorlevel%==0 echo Key removed.

:BYPASS
echo Done.
pause
exit

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

The above scripts have not been tested and their functionality validated with previous versions of the Windows Operating systems which is why they tried to restrict the functionality of the script to Windows 7.

Another method with which would place a delete-able icon on the desktop (would show awkward file extension if user's system was configured to do so) is below.

1. Create a folder on the desktop

2. Name this folder as 'Printers.{2227A280-3AEA-1069-A2DE-08002B30309D}'

We were unable to find a good method of placing any of these icons into the Start Menu (e.g. institutional specific program files group).  I believe the rename folder version above allowed you to customize the folder name to something other than 'Printers' and worked in at least one non-Windows 7 Windows operating system.

The customer did not not test the Server 2008 R2 (or non-R2) terminal services environment to see if this problem persisted into that operating system.

Hopefully this information is useful and if you do attempt any of these steps Pharos is not responsible for changes you make to your system.

Should you have further questions on this please contact Microsoft and open a support case with them.