Always render print jobs on the server
Verified with Windows 11 25H2 — updated on July 30, 2026
Supported on: At least Windows Vista
Path in the GPO console
Computer Configuration\Administrative Templates\Printers Description
When printing through a print server, determines whether the print spooler on the client will process print jobs itself, or pass them on to the server to do the work. This policy setting only effects printing to a Windows print server. If you enable this policy setting on a client machine, the client spooler will not process print jobs before sending them to the print server. This decreases the workload on the client at the expense of increasing the load on the server. If you disable this policy setting on a client machine, the client itself will process print jobs into printer device commands. These commands will then be sent to the print server, and the server will simply pass the commands to the printer. This increases the workload of the client while decreasing the load on the server. If you do not enable this policy setting, the behavior is the same as disabling it. Note: This policy does not determine whether offline printing will be available to the client. The client print spooler can always queue print jobs when not connected to the print server. Upon reconnecting to the server, the client will submit any pending print jobs. Note: Some printer drivers require a custom print processor. In some cases the custom print processor may not be installed on the client machine, such as when the print server does not support transferring print processors during point-and-print. In the case of a print processor mismatch, the client spooler will always send jobs to the print server for rendering. Disabling the above policy setting does not override this behavior. Note: In cases where the client print driver does not match the server print driver (mismatched connection), the client will always process the print job, regardless of the setting of this policy.
Registry
Software\Policies\Microsoft\Windows NT\Printers Value name: ForceCSREMFDespooling
Enabled: ForceCSREMFDespooling = 1
Disabled: ForceCSREMFDespooling = 0
MDM / Intune (CSP)
./Device/Vendor/MSFT/Policy/Config/ADMX_Printing/EMFDespooling Microsoft Learn documentation Mapping data: Microsoft Learn (CC BY 4.0)
Export Builder
BETAConfigure the state, scope and options, then generate .reg, PowerShell, Intune and SCCM outputs — or add the setting to a multi-setting collection.
These exports write the registry — this is not a managed GPO. ⓘ
.reg file
Windows Registry Editor Version 5.00
; Exported from gporais.com
; Policy: Always render print jobs on the server
; State: Enabled
; Supported on: At least Windows Vista
[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Software\Policies\Microsoft\Windows NT\Printers]
"ForceCSREMFDespooling"=dword:00000001More formats (PowerShell, Intune, SCCM)
PowerShell
# Exported from gporais.com
# Policy: Always render print jobs on the server
# State: Enabled
# Supported on: At least Windows Vista
$path = 'HKLM:\Software\Policies\Microsoft\Windows NT\Printers'
New-Item -Path $path -Force | Out-Null
Set-ItemProperty -Path $path -Name 'ForceCSREMFDespooling' -Value 1 -Type DWordIntune XML
OMA-URI: ./Device/Vendor/MSFT/Policy/Config/ADMX_Printing/EMFDespooling
Data type: String
Value:
<enabled/>Intune Remediation
# === Detection script ===
# Exported from gporais.com
# Policy: Always render print jobs on the server
# State: Enabled
# Supported on: At least Windows Vista
function Test-RegistryValue {
param(
[Parameter(Mandatory = $true)][string]$Path,
[Parameter(Mandatory = $true)][string]$Name,
[object]$Expected,
[ValidateSet('String', 'DWord', 'MultiString')][string]$Kind = 'String',
[switch]$Absent
)
try {
$item = Get-ItemProperty -LiteralPath $Path -Name $Name -ErrorAction Stop
} catch {
return $Absent.IsPresent
}
if ($Absent.IsPresent) { return $false }
$actual = $item.$Name
if ($Kind -eq 'DWord') { return ([int64]$actual) -eq ([int64]$Expected) }
if ($Kind -eq 'MultiString') {
$actualValues = @($actual)
$expectedValues = @($Expected)
if ($actualValues.Count -ne $expectedValues.Count) { return $false }
for ($i = 0; $i -lt $expectedValues.Count; $i++) {
if ([string]$actualValues[$i] -ne [string]$expectedValues[$i]) { return $false }
}
return $true
}
return [string]$actual -eq [string]$Expected
}
$checks = @(
(Test-RegistryValue -Path 'HKLM:\Software\Policies\Microsoft\Windows NT\Printers' -Name 'ForceCSREMFDespooling' -Expected 1 -Kind DWord)
)
if ($checks -notcontains $false) {
Write-Output 'Compliant'
exit 0
}
Write-Output 'Non-compliant'
exit 1
# === Remediation script ===
# Exported from gporais.com
# Policy: Always render print jobs on the server
# State: Enabled
# Supported on: At least Windows Vista
$path = 'HKLM:\Software\Policies\Microsoft\Windows NT\Printers'
New-Item -Path $path -Force | Out-Null
Set-ItemProperty -Path $path -Name 'ForceCSREMFDespooling' -Value 1 -Type DWordSCCM scripts
# Exported from gporais.com
# Policy: Always render print jobs on the server
# State: Enabled
# Supported on: At least Windows Vista
# SCCM Configuration Item guidance:
# Create a Configuration Item of type "Setting: Script".
# Discovery script: use the Detection script below.
# Remediation script: use the Remediation script below.
# Compliance rule: the Discovery script output equals 'Compliant'.
# === Detection script ===
# Exported from gporais.com
# Policy: Always render print jobs on the server
# State: Enabled
# Supported on: At least Windows Vista
function Test-RegistryValue {
param(
[Parameter(Mandatory = $true)][string]$Path,
[Parameter(Mandatory = $true)][string]$Name,
[object]$Expected,
[ValidateSet('String', 'DWord', 'MultiString')][string]$Kind = 'String',
[switch]$Absent
)
try {
$item = Get-ItemProperty -LiteralPath $Path -Name $Name -ErrorAction Stop
} catch {
return $Absent.IsPresent
}
if ($Absent.IsPresent) { return $false }
$actual = $item.$Name
if ($Kind -eq 'DWord') { return ([int64]$actual) -eq ([int64]$Expected) }
if ($Kind -eq 'MultiString') {
$actualValues = @($actual)
$expectedValues = @($Expected)
if ($actualValues.Count -ne $expectedValues.Count) { return $false }
for ($i = 0; $i -lt $expectedValues.Count; $i++) {
if ([string]$actualValues[$i] -ne [string]$expectedValues[$i]) { return $false }
}
return $true
}
return [string]$actual -eq [string]$Expected
}
$checks = @(
(Test-RegistryValue -Path 'HKLM:\Software\Policies\Microsoft\Windows NT\Printers' -Name 'ForceCSREMFDespooling' -Expected 1 -Kind DWord)
)
if ($checks -notcontains $false) {
Write-Output 'Compliant'
exit 0
}
Write-Output 'Non-compliant'
exit 1
# === Remediation script ===
# Exported from gporais.com
# Policy: Always render print jobs on the server
# State: Enabled
# Supported on: At least Windows Vista
$path = 'HKLM:\Software\Policies\Microsoft\Windows NT\Printers'
New-Item -Path $path -Force | Out-Null
Set-ItemProperty -Path $path -Name 'ForceCSREMFDespooling' -Value 1 -Type DWordBuilding a multi-setting collection? Add this setting and generate combined .reg / PowerShell / GPO scripts.