HOW TO - Deploy HP Universal Print Driver w/ Intune

 

synopsis: Deploying HP Printers with HP Universal Print Driver via Intune - .win32 app using a customized HP Driver package

Intro:

   There is much documentation on the process to deploy .inf driver packages through Intune. The HP Universal Print Driver offers some nuances as it's packaged for every printer type. Not every .inf files that is installed is needed. This article outlines the process of creating a custom HP driver with HP PARK. (Print Administrator Resource Kit.) This driver kit lets you package the .inf, along with the printer information required for deployment. Ie; Name, PrinterPort, and IPAddress. This article focuses on the HP Park tool, and assumes familiarity with Intune app deployments.

Quick Run Down:

1.) Grab the Driver Package, and HP Park Software.

2.) Use HP Park to create an '.exe' package.

        3.) Use the Intune Content Prep Tool to package into a .win32 app

        4.) Create an Intune App deployment with the .win file to deploy to endpoints.

Tech Stack and Cost:

Intune - Business Premium , M365 E3/E5 , Security and Mobility E3 / E5.  - 1 License per user.

HP PARK - Free

        Win32 Content Prep Tool - Free

1.) Grabbing the Driver Package and HP PARK.

The drivers and resource kit are available on the https://support.hp.com site. When searching for your printer model, navigate through the 'All Software and Drivers' section, to 'Driver-Universal Print Driver' and download the HP Universal Print Driver for Windows PCL6. Then navigate down to the 'Utility-Universal Print Driver' section, and download the HP Print Administrator Resource Kit.

Once downloaded, extract both the folders to individually named folders. 

2.) Using HP Park to create an '.exe' package.

In the newly extracted folder, launch the driver deployment utility tool located in ./driver deployment utility/hpbddu.exe' 
a.) Then starting from the top, "Select Driver", and then select the largest in kb file in the universal print driver folder. (The other print driver files appear to be other connection types like USB. This is most I've dealt with print drivers and know nothing about them.)

b.) Choose the 'pre-configure' this driver, and select the existing .cfg file in the driver folder. (You can create your own configuration files with the other utility tool included in HP PARK.
c.)Under Install Type - Select 'Create Network Port and Install the driver'. Then fill in the required information for your printer.
i.) IP address of the printer
ii.) PortName - this is internal to the machine and will not be visible to end users. It should be unique on the system though and if one already exist with that name, a conflict may occur.

                iii.) The Printer Name, this is what the printer's name will be to the end user.

        d.) Save As… - Specify the Output package. (Create a new 'Package_In' folder and choose this as the target location.

e.) 'Create Package' to finish the wizard.

You should see '3' files in the 'Package_In' folder.

 3.) Use the Intune Content Prep Tool to package into a .win32 app.

You can download the tool here; https://github.com/Microsoft/Microsoft-Win32-Content-Prep-Tool and save it to the same folder that 'Package_In' exist.

    Run the utility, reference the options below:

 

4.) Create an Intune App deployment with the .win file to deploy to endpoints.

Create a new App, specifying the install.wim file that was created in the previous step. For the program's install command, use 'install.exe' and detection rule is similar to other printer deployments.

For this deployment I used 

Registry

"HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Control\Print\Printers\HP LaserJet p4015"

Value

"Name"

Detection Method

"Value exists"