add printer to local computer using ManagementClass

Question

I see references and hints that programmatically one can add a networked printer to a local computer using the ManagementClass and such. However I have not been able to find any actual tutorials on doing just this.

has anyone actually used the ManagementClass to do this?

I am doing this:

var connectionOption = new ConnectionOption();
var mgmScope = new ManagementScope("root\cimv2",connectionOptions);

var printerClass = new ManagementClass(mgmScope, new ManagementPath("Win32_Printer"),null);
var printerObj = printerClass.CreateInstance();

printerObj["DeviceID"] = prnName;     //
printerObj["DriverName"] = drvName;   // full path to driver
printerObj["PortName"] = "myTestPort:";

var options = new PutOptions {Type = PutType.UpdateOrCreate};
printerObj.Put(options);   

All this does is create an error "Generic Failure"

I cant figure out what I am missing..... any help or thoughts about this would be appreciated.

I think I need to better explain what I am trying to do... when the printers needed are not tied to a print server, I need to: create a tcpip raw port, connect a printer via tcp/ip, install drivers, optionally set default.

I was hoping WMI could basically take care of all of this but it doesnt appear to be the case.

thanks!

Answer 1

I wanted to add answer as there is another way and Microsoft recommends using Microsoft.Management.Infrastructure now over System.Management.

Here is link to Microsoft documentation: https://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/microsoft.management.infrastructure.aspx

Please note that you have to add reference in c# project to the Microsoft.Management.Infrastructure dll: Where the Microsoft.Management.Infrastructure

You may also need to configure winrm as well on machine https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/desktop/winrm/installation-and-configuration-for-windows-remote-management

Here is sample code for adding a printer to local machine from a print server using c#

using System;
using System.Collections.Generic;
using System.Linq;
using System.Text;
using System.Threading.Tasks;
using Microsoft.Management.Infrastructure;
using Microsoft.Management.Infrastructure.Generic;
using Microsoft.Management.Infrastructure.Options;


namespace MMITest
{
class Program
{
    static void Main(string[] args)
    {
        using (var session = CimSession.Create("localhost"))
        {
            using (var cimMethodParameters = new CimMethodParametersCollection())
            {
                cimMethodParameters.Add(CimMethodParameter.Create("Name", @"\\PrintServerName\PrinterName", CimFlags.Parameter));
                session.InvokeMethod(@"root\cimv2", "Win32_Printer", "AddPrinterConnection", cimMethodParameters);
            }
        }

        Console.ReadLine();
    }
}

}

Answer 2

I spent almost the week on that issue! My target is a bit more complicated, I want to wrap the C# code in a WCF service called by a SharePoint Add-In, and this WCF service should call remotely the client to install the printers. Thus I tried hard with WMI. In the mean time, I managed to use rundll32 solution (which requires first to create the port), and also did a powershell variant, really the simplest:

$printerPort = "IP_"+ $printerIP
$printerName = "Xerox WorkCentre 6605DN PCL6"
Add-PrinterPort -Name $printerPort -PrinterHostAddress $printerIP
Add-PrinterDriver -Name $printerName
Add-Printer -Name $printerName -DriverName $printerName -PortName $printerPort

The really tricky part is to know the name of the printer, it should match the string in the INF file!

But back to C# solution: I created a class with printerName, printerIP and managementScope as attributes. And driverName = printerName

    private string PrinterPortName
    {
        get {  return "IP_" + printerIP; }
    }

    private void CreateManagementScope(string computerName)
    {
        var wmiConnectionOptions = new ConnectionOptions();
        wmiConnectionOptions.Impersonation = ImpersonationLevel.Impersonate;
        wmiConnectionOptions.Authentication = AuthenticationLevel.Default;
        wmiConnectionOptions.EnablePrivileges = true; // required to load/install the driver.
        // Supposed equivalent to VBScript objWMIService.Security_.Privileges.AddAsString "SeLoadDriverPrivilege", True 

        string path = "\\\\" + computerName + "\\root\\cimv2";
        managementScope = new ManagementScope(path, wmiConnectionOptions);
        managementScope.Connect();
    }

    private bool CheckPrinterPort()
    {
        //Query system for Operating System information
        ObjectQuery query = new ObjectQuery("SELECT * FROM Win32_TCPIPPrinterPort");
        ManagementObjectSearcher searcher = new ManagementObjectSearcher(managementScope, query);

        ManagementObjectCollection queryCollection = searcher.Get();
        foreach (ManagementObject m in queryCollection)
        {
            if (m["Name"].ToString() == PrinterPortName)
                return true;
        }
        return false;
    }

    private bool CreatePrinterPort()
    {
        if (CheckPrinterPort())
            return true;

        var printerPortClass = new ManagementClass(managementScope, new ManagementPath("Win32_TCPIPPrinterPort"), new ObjectGetOptions());
        printerPortClass.Get();
        var newPrinterPort = printerPortClass.CreateInstance();
        newPrinterPort.SetPropertyValue("Name", PrinterPortName);
        newPrinterPort.SetPropertyValue("Protocol", 1);
        newPrinterPort.SetPropertyValue("HostAddress", printerIP);
        newPrinterPort.SetPropertyValue("PortNumber", 9100);    // default=9100
        newPrinterPort.SetPropertyValue("SNMPEnabled", false);  // true?
        newPrinterPort.Put();
        return true;
    }

    private bool CreatePrinterDriver(string printerDriverFolderPath)
    {
        var endResult = false;
        // Inspired from https://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/aa384771%28v=vs.85%29.aspx?f=255&MSPPError=-2147217396
        // and http://microsoft.public.win32.programmer.wmi.narkive.com/y5GB15iF/adding-printer-driver-using-system-management
        string printerDriverInfPath = IOUtils.FindInfFile(printerDriverFolderPath);
        var printerDriverClass = new ManagementClass(managementScope, new ManagementPath("Win32_PrinterDriver"), new ObjectGetOptions());            
        var printerDriver = printerDriverClass.CreateInstance();
        printerDriver.SetPropertyValue("Name", driverName);
        printerDriver.SetPropertyValue("FilePath", printerDriverFolderPath);
        printerDriver.SetPropertyValue("InfName", printerDriverInfPath);

        // Obtain in-parameters for the method
        using (ManagementBaseObject inParams = printerDriverClass.GetMethodParameters("AddPrinterDriver"))
        {
            inParams["DriverInfo"] = printerDriver;
            // Execute the method and obtain the return values.            

            using (ManagementBaseObject result = printerDriverClass.InvokeMethod("AddPrinterDriver", inParams, null))
            {
                // result["ReturnValue"]
                uint errorCode = (uint)result.Properties["ReturnValue"].Value;  // or directly result["ReturnValue"]
                // https://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/windows/desktop/ms681386(v=vs.85).aspx
                switch (errorCode)
                {
                    case 0:
                        //Trace.TraceInformation("Successfully connected printer.");
                        endResult = true;
                        break;
                    case 5:
                        Trace.TraceError("Access Denied.");
                        break;
                    case 123:
                        Trace.TraceError("The filename, directory name, or volume label syntax is incorrect.");
                        break;
                    case 1801:
                        Trace.TraceError("Invalid Printer Name.");
                        break;
                    case 1930:
                        Trace.TraceError("Incompatible Printer Driver.");
                        break;
                    case 3019:
                        Trace.TraceError("The specified printer driver was not found on the system and needs to be downloaded.");
                        break;
                }
            }
        }
        return endResult;
    }

    private bool CreatePrinter()
    {
        var printerClass = new ManagementClass(managementScope, new ManagementPath("Win32_Printer"), new ObjectGetOptions());
        printerClass.Get();
        var printer = printerClass.CreateInstance();
        printer.SetPropertyValue("DriverName", driverName);
        printer.SetPropertyValue("PortName", PrinterPortName);
        printer.SetPropertyValue("Name", printerName);
        printer.SetPropertyValue("DeviceID", printerName);
        printer.SetPropertyValue("Location", "Front Office");
        printer.SetPropertyValue("Network", true);
        printer.SetPropertyValue("Shared", false);
        printer.Put();
        return true;
    }


    private void InstallPrinterWMI(string printerDriverPath)
    {
        bool printePortCreated = false, printeDriverCreated = false, printeCreated = false;
        try
        {                
            printePortCreated = CreatePrinterPort();
            printeDriverCreated = CreatePrinterDriver(printerDriverPath);
            printeCreated = CreatePrinter();
        }
        catch (ManagementException err)
        {
            if (printePortCreated)
            {
                // RemovePort
            }
            Console.WriteLine("An error occurred while trying to execute the WMI method: " + err.Message);
        }
    }

finally install the driver. I still need further tests if its works on a clean Windows. Did many install/uninstall of the driver during my tests

Answer 3

In order to do this I ended up having to do a 2 stepper...

first build up a command line to fire off:

rundll32.exe printui.dll,PrintUIEntry /if /b "test" /f x2DSPYP.inf /r 10.5.43.32 /m "845 PS"

Then spawn it:

    public static string ShellProcessCommandLine(string cmdLineArgs,string path)
    {
        var sb = new StringBuilder();
        var pSpawn = new Process
        {
            StartInfo =
                {
                    WorkingDirectory = path, 
                    FileName = "cmd.exe", 
                    CreateNoWindow = true,
                    Arguments = cmdLineArgs,
                    RedirectStandardInput = true,
                    RedirectStandardOutput = true,
                    UseShellExecute = false
                }
        };
        pSpawn.OutputDataReceived += (sender, args) => sb.AppendLine(args.Data);
        pSpawn.Start();
        pSpawn.BeginOutputReadLine();
        pSpawn.WaitForExit();

        return sb.ToString();
    }

This seems to work... not the ideal method but for those printers not on a print server it seems to do the job.

Answer 4

The WMI Win32_Printer class provides a method called AddPrinterConnection to add a network printer to the list of local printers. The code below shows how to connect a network printer using the Win32_Printer class.

Please note, that under certain conditions the AddPrinterConnection fails to connect the remote printer. In the example below I've listed the most common error cases.

using (ManagementClass win32Printer = new ManagementClass("Win32_Printer"))
{
  using (ManagementBaseObject inputParam =
     win32Printer.GetMethodParameters("AddPrinterConnection"))
  {
    // Replace <server_name> and <printer_name> with the actual server and
    // printer names.
    inputParam.SetPropertyValue("Name", "\\\\<server_name>\\<printer_name>");

    using (ManagementBaseObject result = 
        (ManagementBaseObject)win32Printer.InvokeMethod("AddPrinterConnection", inputParam, null))
    {
      uint errorCode = (uint)result.Properties["returnValue"].Value;

      switch (errorCode)
      {
        case 0:
          Console.Out.WriteLine("Successfully connected printer.");
          break;
        case 5:
          Console.Out.WriteLine("Access Denied.");
          break;
        case 123:
          Console.Out.WriteLine("The filename, directory name, or volume label syntax is incorrect.");
          break;
        case 1801:
          Console.Out.WriteLine("Invalid Printer Name.");
          break;
        case 1930:
          Console.Out.WriteLine("Incompatible Printer Driver.");
          break;
        case 3019:
          Console.Out.WriteLine("The specified printer driver was not found on the system and needs to be downloaded.");
          break;
      }
    }
  }
}