Ramblings, ideas, problems, and solutions

Tag: install

  • A simpler way to get your apps

    Every so often, I reinstall my computers. One of the biggest hassles of this, is installing all the software I use. I recently discovered a simpler way to do so; Ninite. You simply go to the website, check the boxes for what software you need, then download the installer.
     
    Having downloaded the installer, you start it, then leave it to its business. It automatically downloads and installs all the software you have specified. That’s it. You’re done!
     
    The list of software isn’t terribly long yet, but they are adding new software all the time.

  • Installing printers using a batch script

    Part of my job is installing printers for users. Now, I could just go on mapping the printserver and finding the printer from there, but that takes a lot of time, as we have some 100 plus printers per printserver. Instead, I spent an hour creating batch scripts, and have since used them to install printers.
     
    The command we need is an extension of the rundll32 command. The basic command is this: rundll32 printui.dll,PrintUIEntry. Now, just this will not really help you. You need to define some switches and operators. First off, you might want to know what switches and operators are available to you. To find them, simply open the “run” dialog box, and enter the command rundll32 printui.dll,PrintUIEntry /?. This will yield an information box looking something like this:
     
    Information box containing shitloads of information
     
    The command I usually use looks something like this:
     
    rundll32 printui.dll,PrintUIEntry /in /q /n "\\PRINTSERVER\PRINTER"
     
    The switches I use are:
    /in – Adds a network printer connection
    /q – Runs in quiet mode
    /n – Defines what printer to add
     
    There are many possibilities with this script, and I have never seen it fail.