To set up location-based printing, you configure the LBP Setting UI group policy setting. The group policy setting is a name translation table that maps printers to remote desktops. You use each row in the table to identify a specific printer and define a set of translation rules for that printer. The translation rules determine whether the printer is mapped to the remote desktop for a particular client system.

When a user connects to a remote desktop, VMware Horizon compares the client system to the translation rules associated with each printer in the table. If the client system meets all of the translation rules set for a printer, or if a printer has no associated translation rules, VMware Horizon maps the printer to the remote desktop during the user's session.

You can define translation rules based on the client system's IP address, name, and MAC address, and on the user's name and group. You can specify one translation rule, or a combination of several translation rules, for a specific printer.

If you defined translation rules in a previous VMware Horizon release, and those rules are in an XML file, you can import the XML file into the LBP Setting UI group policy setting.

The information used to map the printer to the remote desktop is stored in the LBPSettingData registry entry on the remote desktop under HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Policies\VMware, Inc.\VMware VDM\PrintRedir.

Prerequisites

  • Verify that the Microsoft MMC and the Group Policy Object Editor snap-in are available on your Active Directory server.
  • Install the vmware-print-lbpsettingui.dll file on your Active Directory server. See Install the Location-Based Printing User Interface.
  • Become familiar with the name translation table syntax. See Location-Based Printing Translation Table Syntax.
  • Create a GPO for the location-based group policy setting and link it to the OU that contains your remote desktops. See Create GPOs for Horizon Group Policies for an example of how to create GPOs for Horizon group policies.
  • Because print jobs are sent directly from the remote desktop to the printer, verify that the required printer drivers are installed on your remote desktops.

Procedure

  1. On your Active Directory server, open the Group Policy Management Editor.
  2. Expand Computer Configuration, open the Software Settings folder, and select LBP Setting UI.
    Computer-specific policies apply to all remote desktops, regardless of who connects to the remote desktop.
  3. In the Policy pane, double-click Configure AutoConnect.
  4. Select Enabled to enable the group policy setting.
    Note: Clicking Disabled deletes all table entries. As a precaution, save your configuration so that you can import it later.
  5. Add the printers that you want to map to remote desktops and define their associated translation rules.
    Alternatively, if you have an existing configuration in an XML file, click the Import configuration from existing file data button to import the XML file.
  6. To save your changes, click OK.