Migrating Printers From Windows 2003 to Windows 2008 Server

Migrating Printers From Windows 2003 to Windows 2008 Server | As an IT consultant, I am always tasked with installing or migrating existing Windows 2003 network into a new Windows 2008 network. In any setup whether it be a small setup or larger network, you will most definitely need to migrate printers. It can either be on its own individual server if in a larger network, or on the domain controller itself such as a SBS Server.

In Windows 2000 to Windows 2003 Server printer migration was used with a tool called Printmig, but this does not apply to Windows 2008, it has been simplified.

Here are the steps:

1. Click on Server Manager

2. Find Roles Summary and click Add Roles

3. Checkmark the box for Print Services and use the wizard to install

4. After it finishes installing, Click Start > Administrative Tools > Print Management

5. Locate Print Servers by expanding the tree and click on Add/Remove Servers

6. Input the name of the print server you want to move the printers from and select Add to List, then click Apply

7. Right Click on that printer in the tree and choose Export Printers to a File and save that file

8. Once the export is finished, right click on your new server in the tree

9. Choose Import Printer from a File, and choose the exported file that you've just saved

10. Click through the Import wizard and you should be now complete

This is a very simple task and is a bit easier than previous version of Windows Servers as it is built into the system. I've tried using Printmig and tried to migrate Server 2003 version to Windows 2008 and it does not work! Do not make mistake I did, it will not work.

A Huge thing to keep in mind is that you may run into big issues if you're migrating from 32bit OS to 64bit OS, as the drivers will not match. If you're migrating just a print server, it may be a good idea to stick with the same bit version, ie. Windows 2003 32bit to Windows 2008 32bit server migration.

This also only applies to Windows 2003 to Windows 2008, any lower version of Windows before Windows 2003 will not work.