WINDOWS 2000 PROFESSIONAL

FINE-TUNE PRINTER PERMISSIONS

By default, when you share a printer in Windows 2000 Professional, all users have at least some access to the printer. All users can print to the printer, and members of the Power Users group can print documents, manage documents, and manage the printer. These latter two permissions enable users to manage individual documents in the print queue and manage the queue and printer itself.

In a small network, the default permissions are usually sufficient. But in a larger network or one where you need to further restrict access to printers, you'll probably want to fine-tune the printer permissions.

You can configure printer permissions via the printer's properties. Open the Printers folder, right-click the printer, and choose Properties. The Security tab lists the groups that have printer permissions. To view the permissions for a group, click the group, and Windows lists the permissions in the Permission section.

To prevent all users from being able to print, remove the Everyone group from the list. And unless you want users to be able to manage the printer and documents, remove the Power Users group.

Add groups as needed, and select permissions for the group to control access. Keep in mind that you can set each of the three printer permissions to either Allow or Deny. Setting a permission to Deny prevents a member of that group from using the permission, even if membership in another group allows the permission.