How to disable Remote Desktop printer redirection on Windows Server 2008
You may notice that when connecting via Remote Desktop, the print drivers installed on the client (workstation or laptop) get installed on the server as well. This is due to the RDP printer redirection being enabled.
In Windows Server 2003 it was easy to disable printer redirection from Administrative Tools → Terminal Services. Since Windows Server 2008 and 2008 R2 use roles, the MMC snap-in to disable Remote Desktop printer redirection is not installed by default, and you usually don’t want to enable a whole role just to turn off a setting.
Solution 1: Group Policy
Open the local policy editor (gpedit.msc) or the relevant Active Directory GPO and enable:
Computer Configuration → Administrative Templates → Windows Components → Remote Desktop Services → Remote Desktop Session Host → Printer Redirection → Do not allow client printer redirection
Solution 2: Registry
Set the following value to 1 (DWORD):
HKLM\SOFTWARE\Policies\Microsoft\Windows NT\Terminal Services
fDisableCpm = 1New Remote Desktop sessions will no longer map the client printers.