Removing printer deployed via GPO

Question

Removing printer deployed via GPO

Prabin Bhusal 6

Hello,

I have deployed printer via group policy, Computer Configuration > Policies > Windows Settings > Deployed Printers. We have multiple OUs with Multiple Printer.

When the computer is one OU and is getting deployed printers, when that computer is moved to different OU where no GPO is applied to deploy the printer. Printer from previous GPO is still showing and is not deleted. On GPReport it is showing under Printer Connections but on applied GPO there is no such GPO for the printer connection. Everytime I move the PC to different OU, its piling up the list of the printer and is not allowing me to delete it, even deleted, a restart and it will add the printer

Any suggestion would be really appreciated.

Thanks

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Answer 1

Harry Phan 15,915 Independent Advisor

Hello Prabin,

What’s happening is that when you deploy printers through Group Policy, they get added but aren’t automatically removed when the computer moves to a new OU. That’s why the list keeps piling up: the old printers stay even though the new OU doesn’t push them. The cleaner way to handle this is to use Group Policy Preferences instead of “Deployed Printers,” because Preferences can replace or delete printers when the policy no longer applies. If you don’t want to reconfigure GPOs, another option is a simple startup script that removes printers not tied to the current OU.

Is it helpful? If it is, please hit Accept Answer or give it a thump up! Very appreciate :)

Harry.

Prabin Bhusal 6 Reputation points

2026-02-27T01:07:19.2433333+00:00

Hi Harry,

Thank you for your response. I have been doing this since last few years and it always worked.
I have tested with one of the VM and it worked as well, its happening on some of the devices but not on all devices.
Same GPO, Same OU it work on Device A but not on Device B.

When I run GPResult, the printers that were added on old OU are under winning GPO but not under printer connection.

I cant figure out why its not working on Device A and its random.
Matthew Carter 0 Reputation points

2026-03-06T17:37:06.6366667+00:00

Any luck? I am experiencing the exact same issue. Printers deployed via Group Policy from Computer Configuration\Policies\Windows Settings\Deployed Printers have mysteriously become impossible to remove from my Windows 11 workstations. If I run a GPResult from the problem workstation, it shows the deployed printers as still being deployed by the group policy, even through they've long been removed from that group policy.

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Removing printer deployed via GPO

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