Upgrading to Windows 11 might crash GPO provisioned printers, according to users

Organizations relying on Group Policy Object (GPO) provisioned printers have reported challenges following Windows 10 to Windows 11 upgrades in domain environments.

While the printer provisioning system—using Package Point and Print for security reasons—works seamlessly on Windows 10 devices and newly installed Windows 11 computers, upgraded systems are experiencing problems for existing domain users.

According to reports on Reddit, printers fail to appear for users who had previously logged into the upgraded devices, despite GPOs being correctly applied and no related errors showing in Event logs.

However, newly created user accounts on the same devices experience no issues, with printer provisioning working properly.

What to do? Temporary fixes include disjoining and rejoining the device to the domain or deleting the affected user profiles to reset configurations. These workarounds are not ideal for IT administrators managing large-scale deployments because they can be extremely disrupting.

Experts suggest investigating cached profile settings, registry keys related to printers, or any discrepancies in GPO processing during the upgrade process. Administrators are advised to monitor permissions and services such as the print spooler to diagnose the issue’s root.

Microsoft has yet to comment on the problem. Have you encountered any issues with GPO provisioned printers in Windows 11?