Prune printers that are not automatically republished
Verified with Windows 11 25H2 — updated on July 30, 2026
Supported on: At least Windows 2000
Path in the GPO console
Computer Configuration\Administrative Templates\Printers Description
Determines whether the pruning service on a domain controller prunes printer objects that are not automatically republished whenever the host computer does not respond,just as it does with Windows 2000 printers. This setting applies to printers running operating systems other than Windows 2000 and to Windows 2000 printers published outside their forest. The Windows pruning service prunes printer objects from Active Directory when the computer that published them does not respond to contact requests. Computers running Windows 2000 Professional detect and republish deleted printer objects when they rejoin the network. However, because non-Windows 2000 computers and computers in other domains cannot republish printers in Active Directory automatically, by default, the system never prunes their printer objects. You can enable this setting to change the default behavior. To use this setting, select one of the following options from the "Prune non-republishing printers" box: -- "Never" specifies that printer objects that are not automatically republished are never pruned. "Never" is the default. -- "Only if Print Server is found" prunes printer objects that are not automatically republished only when the print server responds, but the printer is unavailable. -- "Whenever printer is not found" prunes printer objects that are not automatically republished whenever the host computer does not respond, just as it does with Windows 2000 printers. Note: This setting applies to printers published by using Active Directory Users and Computers or Pubprn.vbs. It does not apply to printers published by using Printers in Control Panel. Tip: If you disable automatic pruning, remember to delete printer objects manually whenever you remove a printer or print server.
Registry
Software\Policies\Microsoft\Windows NT\Printers MDM / Intune (CSP)
./Device/Vendor/MSFT/Policy/Config/ADMX_Printing2/PruneDownlevel 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: Prune printers that are not automatically republished
; State: Enabled
; Supported on: At least Windows 2000
[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Software\Policies\Microsoft\Windows NT\Printers]
"PruneDownlevel"=dword:00000000More formats (PowerShell, Intune, SCCM)
PowerShell
# Exported from gporais.com
# Policy: Prune printers that are not automatically republished
# State: Enabled
# Supported on: At least Windows 2000
$path = 'HKLM:\Software\Policies\Microsoft\Windows NT\Printers'
New-Item -Path $path -Force | Out-Null
Set-ItemProperty -Path $path -Name 'PruneDownlevel' -Value 0 -Type DWordIntune XML
OMA-URI: ./Device/Vendor/MSFT/Policy/Config/ADMX_Printing2/PruneDownlevel
Data type: String
Value:
<enabled/>
<data id="PruneDownlevelTitle" value="0"/>Intune Remediation
# === Detection script ===
# Exported from gporais.com
# Policy: Prune printers that are not automatically republished
# State: Enabled
# Supported on: At least Windows 2000
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
}
$checks = @(
(Test-RegistryValue -Path 'HKLM:\Software\Policies\Microsoft\Windows NT\Printers' -Name 'PruneDownlevel' -Expected 0 -Kind DWord)
)
if ($checks -notcontains $false) {
Write-Output 'Compliant'
exit 0
}
Write-Output 'Non-compliant'
exit 1
# === Remediation script ===
# Exported from gporais.com
# Policy: Prune printers that are not automatically republished
# State: Enabled
# Supported on: At least Windows 2000
$path = 'HKLM:\Software\Policies\Microsoft\Windows NT\Printers'
New-Item -Path $path -Force | Out-Null
Set-ItemProperty -Path $path -Name 'PruneDownlevel' -Value 0 -Type DWordSCCM scripts
# Exported from gporais.com
# Policy: Prune printers that are not automatically republished
# State: Enabled
# Supported on: At least Windows 2000
# 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: Prune printers that are not automatically republished
# State: Enabled
# Supported on: At least Windows 2000
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
}
$checks = @(
(Test-RegistryValue -Path 'HKLM:\Software\Policies\Microsoft\Windows NT\Printers' -Name 'PruneDownlevel' -Expected 0 -Kind DWord)
)
if ($checks -notcontains $false) {
Write-Output 'Compliant'
exit 0
}
Write-Output 'Non-compliant'
exit 1
# === Remediation script ===
# Exported from gporais.com
# Policy: Prune printers that are not automatically republished
# State: Enabled
# Supported on: At least Windows 2000
$path = 'HKLM:\Software\Policies\Microsoft\Windows NT\Printers'
New-Item -Path $path -Force | Out-Null
Set-ItemProperty -Path $path -Name 'PruneDownlevel' -Value 0 -Type DWordBuilding a multi-setting collection? Add this setting and generate combined .reg / PowerShell / GPO scripts.