Prevent a user from printing

[bbarnhart]

Is there any way to prevent a user from printing? I've got a child who keeps printing. Thanks

 

[andy.barron]

remove the printer from the list in Printer Setup Utility for that user

 

[bbarnhart]

Will that remove the printer for the other users?

 

[bbarnhart]

I tried it and it removed the printer for all users.

Any other suggestions? My 3 year old keeps printing things.

 

[andy.barron]

Thats strange, I'm sure I have done this before...

When you add the printer back, does it appear on all users also?

 

[andy.barron]

If the answer to the last question is yes, is it possible to pause the printer for that user maybe?

 

[kolax]

Haha, what is your kid printing?

I had a look around Parental Controls, nothing controls printing. Maybe a feature request to Apple?

Do you give your kid time limits? Just turn the printer off during those limits? Hassle, but it'll do for now I guess.

 

[iPhil]

Haha, what is your kid printing?

I had a look around Parental Controls, nothing controls printing. Maybe a feature request to Apple?

Do you give your kid time limits? Just turn the printer off during those limits? Hassle, but it'll do for now I guess.

Look Here:

 

[kolax]

Nothing there prevents someone from printing.

That is only for configuring a printer.

 

[bbarnhart]

He's logging into noggin.com, which is fine, but then we walk out of the room and he brings up noggin's paint app, fills it with blue and then prints it off.

I'll do some more checking. Thanks everyone

 

[anderkh]

My son keeps doing the same thing. Have you figured out a solution?

 

[26139]

Uh...

Um...lock the computer when you're away from it?

 

[bbarnhart]

Haven't found anything yet. It looked like it was possible by only allowing certain apps to run and disallowing the PrinterProxy app. But, printing still works. Maybe I need to log them off and try again.

He's now moved on to printing noggin.com sudoku. Every time I pick up something I printed there 12 pages of very easy sudoku waiting.

 

[jeffwright]

Mac OS X so easy a 3 year old can use it. Sorry couldn't resist. I would recommend disconnecting the usb cable to the printer. Most USB printers will just turn themselves back on if you just use the power button.
Kind of a pain but maybe after they don't get any response after a couple weeks they will stop clicking on the magic button which produces paper....

 

[John01021988]

Let me find a way you can stop this, Ill reply back when I find a solution.

 

[kymac]

you could take all the paper out of the printer.. and then cancel all the jobs when you get back..

 

[Jak3]

You have to modify the users priveliges to my understanding, same way they do it in schools.

So make a user profile that is an admin, this one is yours, set a password so the kids can't get on it.

Make a second user profile that is a guest, this one is the kids, no password so they can get on it.

From the admin profile, set user priveleges, guest (or whatever you wanna call it...make it the kid's name, they love that) and remove printing.

At least, that's how you would do it in XP I believe, I've never had to do it and OSX can't be that different when it comes to stuff like this, maybe different names is all.

 

[tw002]

RE: prevent a user from printing

Download Workgroup Manager from Apple: http://www.apple.com/downloads/macosx/apple/macosx_updates/serveradmintools105.html

This program allows much much more advanced management of users, and is designed for OS X server. Careful though, you can easily mess up your accounts with a wrong click ...

Open WGM, and for address enter 'localhost', then put in your admin account details. Ignore the warning messages. Click the account you wish to control in the sidebar, then click the preferences icon in the toolbar. Click printing, then check the box labelled 'require admin password' at the bottom of the page.

Now if your son tries to print, it will require an admin password, meaning he can still print, so long as you are there.

 

[nonodename]

Use CUPS!

This has been bugging me for ages, and my kids using lots of paper, ink and toner. I finally figured out a way to prevent my kids printing tonight in 10.5.7:

• Set up a separate account for your child - you might want to enable parental controls
• Make a note of the shortname you assign the account
• Go into the CUPS control panel http://localhost:631
• Click the 'Administration' tab
• Click 'Manage Printers'
• For each printer you have set up, click the 'Set Allowed Users' button
• Type the short name of the user (multiples separated by commas) into the text field and click the 'Prevent these users from printing' radio button.
• Click the 'Set Allowed Users' button to save changes
• Now test by logging in as the user. When you try and print, no printer is selected and printers can't be added!

 

[vanc]

This has been bugging me for ages, and my kids using lots of paper, ink and toner. I finally figured out a way to prevent my kids printing tonight in 10.5.7:

• Set up a separate account for your child - you might want to enable parental controls
• Make a note of the shortname you assign the account
• Go into the CUPS control panel http://localhost:631
• Click the 'Administration' tab
• Click 'Manage Printers'
• For each printer you have set up, click the 'Set Allowed Users' button
• Type the short name of the user (multiples separated by commas) into the text field and click the 'Prevent these users from printing' radio button.
• Click the 'Set Allowed Users' button to save changes
• Now test by logging in as the user. When you try and print, no printer is selected and printers can't be added!

Great findings. Should benefit every parent.

 

[bbarnhart]

Thanks nonodename, I will do that. There has been much less printing by the kids, but it still happens. Last week somebody printing out an entire page of purple.