In managed IT environments—particularly those utilizing Roaming Profiles or Remote Desktop Services—administrators often face the challenge of "profile bloat." As users log on and off various workstations, their profiles can become bloated with temporary data, cached files, and printer connections. One specific Group Policy setting designed to mitigate this issue is .
| Approach | Description | When better | |----------|-------------|-------------| | ( net use /delete * /y ) | More flexible, can delete by pattern. | Need conditional deletion (keep some printers). | | GPP printer “Delete all shared printers” | Removes printers at policy refresh, not just logoff. | Need cleanup during session. | | User Group Policy loopback with Replace mode | Replaces entire printer list at every logon. | Combine with removeprintersatlogoff for robustness. | | Set PrinterCleanupTask in Task Scheduler | Runs at logoff via custom task. | When registry policy is blocked by security software. | removeprintersatlogoff
Prevents printers from being removed at logoff. This is often used as a workaround for issues where the default printer is lost upon reconnection or next login. Why use it? | Need conditional deletion (keep some printers)
For standalone machines or specific testing, you can apply this directly via the Registry Editor. Open regedit.exe . | | User Group Policy loopback with Replace