CODEWITHSUNDEEP
powershellcsvprintingforeach
Blake
Blake

Reputation: 39

Installing network printers from CSV

I wrote a script to backup a users profile to a network share. My boss wants it to backup and restore network printers too. This script includes the following line of PowerShell...

Get-WMIObject -class Win32_Printer -computer $env:computername | Select Name | Export-CSV -path '\\share\printer_export.csv'

this exports all of the printers to a CSV. The values look like this.

#TYPE Selected.System.Management.ManagementObject
Name
Snagit 10
Microsoft XPS Document Writer
\\\server\printer1
\\\server\printer2
\\\server\printer3

I wrote another script to copy the users profile from the backup to the currently logged on computer. This includes the following powershell.

$PrinterList=IMPORT-CSV \\share\printer_export.csv
FOREACH ($Printer in $PrinterList) {
    Invoke-Expression 'rundll32 printui.dll PrintUIEntry /in /q /n $Printer'
}

the $Printer variable should return the value \\\server\printer1 thus installing the printers from the command line... but nothing happens. Where did I go wrong?

ALSO, how can I get it to ignore any line of the CSV that does not start with "\"?

the answer below fixed the problem.

Here is the full script. It currently backs up the users profile, signatures, taskbar icons, outlook pst, chrome bookmarks, itunes mobile backups, advanced color reg settings, desktop wallpaper, exports printers to csv

REM CLOSE OUTLOOK
cscript "\\server\outlook.vbs"

REM BACKUP USERS PROFILE
xcopy "%userprofile%" "\\server\%username%\%username%" /e /y /i

REM BACKUP SIGNATURES
xcopy "%appdata%\microsoft\signatures" "\\server\%username%\Signatures" /e /y /i

REM BACKUP PINNED TASKBAR ITEMS
xcopy "%AppData%\Microsoft\Internet Explorer\Quick Launch\User Pinned\TaskBar" "\\server\%username%\TaskBar" /e /y /i

REM BACKUP OUTLOOK ARCHIVES PST OUTLOOK MUST BE CLOSED
xcopy "C:\Users\%username%\AppData\Local\Microsoft\Outlook\*.pst" "\\server\%username%\Outlook" /y /i

REM BACKUP CHROME BOOKMARKS
xcopy "C:\Users\%username%\AppData\Local\Google\Chrome\User Data\Default" "\\server\%username%\Chrome" /e /y /i

REM BACKUP iTUNES MOBILE BACKUPS
xcopy "C:\Users\%username%\AppData\Roaming\Apple Computer\MobileSync" "\\server\%username%\MobileSync" /e /y /i

REM BACKUP ADVANCED COLOR SETTINGS
REG EXPORT "HKCU\Control Panel\Colors" "\\server\%username%\Wallpaper\Colors1.reg" /y

REM BACKUP ADVANCED COLOR SETTINGS
REG EXPORT "HKCU\Control Panel\Desktop\Colors" "\\server\%username%\Wallpaper\Colors2.reg" /y

REM BACKUP DESKTOP BG SETTINGS
REG EXPORT "HKCU\Control Panel\Desktop\WindowMetrics" "\\server\%username%\Wallpaper\WindowMetrics_Backup.reg" /y

REM START WALLPAPER BACKUP SCRIPT
Powershell.exe -executionpolicy remotesigned -File "wallpaper.ps1"

REM ASSIGNES VALUE OF CURRENT WALLPAPER TO A VARIABLE
$wallpaper = (Get-ItemProperty 'hkcu:\control panel\desktop\' -Name Wallpaper).Wallpaper

REM COPIES THE VARIABLE TO THE USERS BACKUP
xcopy $wallpaper "\\server\$env:username\Wallpaper\"

REM EXPORTS ALL CURRENTLY INSTALLED PRINTERS TO CSV
Get-WMIObject -class Win32_Printer -computer $env:computername | Select Name | Export-CSV -path '\\server\$env:username\printer_export.csv'

Here is the Restoration script. After I image a PC I run this script to put everything back.

REM CLOSES OUTLOOK
cscript "\\itmdtren\z$\backup scripts\outlook.vbs"

REM RESTORE USERS PROFILE DATA
xcopy "\\server\%username%\%username%" "%userprofile%" /e /y /i

REM RESTORE SIGS
xcopy "\\server\%username%\Signatures" "%appdata%\microsoft\signatures" /e /y /i

REM RESTORE TASKBAR ICONS, THIS LINE NOT USED
REM xcopy "\\server\%username%\TaskBar" "%AppData%\Microsoft\Internet Explorer\Quick Launch\User Pinned\TaskBar" /e /y /i

REM RETORE OUTLOOK ARCHIVES PST
xcopy "\\server\%username%\Outlook\*.pst" "C:\Users\%username%\Documents\Outlook Files" /y /i

REM RETORE CHROME BOOKMARKS AND USER DEFAULT DATA
xcopy "\\server\%username%\Chrome" "C:\Users\%username%\AppData\Local\Google\Chrome\User Data\Default" /e /y /i

REM RESTORE iTUNES BACKUPS
xcopy "\\server\%username%\MobileSync" "C:\Users\%username%\AppData\Roaming\Apple Computer\MobileSync" /e /y /i

REM RESTORE ADVANCED BACKGROUND COLOR SETTINGS
REG import "\\itmdtren\z$\backup\%username%\Wallpaper\Colors1.reg"
REG import "\\itmdtren\z$\backup\%username%\Wallpaper\Colors2.reg"
REG import "\\itmdtren\z$\backup\%username%\Wallpaper\WindowMetrics_Backup.reg"

REM RESTORE USERS WALLPAPER USING wallpaperchanger.exe found here http://sg20.com/techblog/2011/06/23/wallpaper-changer-command-line-utility/
REM launches exe from the server, points at the wallpaper folder, randomly selects image, converts to bmp and copies it to the users theme folder then sets as wallpaper

"\\server\WallpaperChanger.exe" "\\server\%username%\Wallpaper" 2 "C:\Users\%username%\AppData\Roaming\Microsoft\Windows\Themes"

Powershell.exe -executionpolicy Unrestricted -File "PRINT.ps1"

# PRINT.ps1 looks like this
$PrinterList=IMPORT-CSV \\server\$env:username\printer_export.csv

FOREACH ($Printer in $PrinterList) {
Invoke-Expression 'rundll32 printui.dll PrintUIEntry /in /q /n $($Printer.Name)'

}

REM REFRESH USER SYSTEM PARAMETERS
RUNDLL32.EXE user32.dll,UpdatePerUserSystemParameters

Upvotes: 0

Views: 1809

Answers (1)

TheMadTechnician
TheMadTechnician

Reputation: 36332

Both questions are pretty simple... Where you went wrong is that when you import the CSV it created an array of objects. Each object has one property, Name. When you reference that object you need to specify the property that you want to use, so you Invoke-Expression line should be:

Invoke-Expression 'rundll32 printui.dll PrintUIEntry /in /q /n $($Printer.Name)'

That will expand the name, and it should work as expected at that point. As for getting it to skip entries that don't start with "\" you can do something like:

FOREACH ($Printer in ($PrinterList | Where{$_.Name -like "\*"})) {

That only passes entries that start with a "\" into the ForEach loop.

Upvotes: 3

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