Completely disable printing in Google Chrome

Question

How can I disable printing in Google Chrome? My searches gave back results for disabling print preview, which does not do what I want - complete and utter disabling of Chrome's ability to open any kind of print dialogue, or print anything on a local or cloud printer.

EDIT: My problem is this. There are no printers available at the moment, so I want to prevent Chrome from triggering its or system print dialogue. I could remove virtual printers (PDF Architect, Microsoft XPS, etc), but I'd lose printing functionality in programs which rely on them.

Solution

I want to disable Chrome's ability to open any kind of print dialogue, or print anything.

This can be done using Chrome Policies for Users:

You can enable or disable printing. When printing is disabled, a user won’t be able to print from the Chrome menu, extensions, JavaScript applications, etc.

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Set Chrome policies for users

Google Chrome user policies are not available for devices enrolled with a single-app kiosk license.

As a Chrome administrator for your organization, you can set policies for how people use their Google Account on a Chrome device, an Android device, or the Chrome browser. These policies are cloud-managed, so they apply when signing in from a personal or public device. The policies don't apply to users signed in as guests or with a Google Account outside of your organization (such as a personal Gmail account).

You can also set device-level policies on corporate-managed Windows®, Mac®, and Linux® computers.

Android apps can run on Chrome OS on supported device models only. We are constantly adding support for new devices. To allow your users to run Android apps, you must enable Android apps on supported Chrome devices in your organization.

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Turn on Chrome Management

For Chrome user policies to work on Windows, Mac, or Linux computers, Chrome Management must be turned on in your Admin console.

• Sign in to the Google Admin console.
• From the Admin console dashboard, go to Apps > Additional Google Services.
• Next to Chrome Management, click Settings .

• Choose ON for everyone, ON for some organizations or OFF.

• For more detailed steps, see Turn Chrome Management on or off.

Note: If you purchased Chrome licenses, Chrome policies apply to users who sign in to a managed Chrome device, even if Chrome Management is turned off.

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Set up user policies

Before you begin: To turn the service on or off for select groups of users, put their accounts in an organizational unit.

• Sign in to the Google Admin console.
• From the Admin console dashboard, go to Device management.
• On the left, click Chrome management.
• Click User settings.

• On the left, select the organization to which you want the settings to apply to.

  Important: Make sure Chrome Management is turned on for this organization.

• Make the settings you want. A lightbulb marks settings that don't apply to all devices (click the lightbulb for details).

  Tip: Quickly find a setting on the User settings page by typing in Search settings at the top. At the bottom, click Save.

  Settings typically take effect in minutes. But they might take up to an hour to apply for everyone.

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Printing

You can enable or disable printing. When printing is disabled, a user won’t be able to print from the Chrome menu, extensions, JavaScript applications, etc.

This policy has no effect on Android apps running on Chrome OS.

Source Chrome Policies for Users

Comments

[DavidPostill]

This sounds like an XY problem. What are you trying to achieve by disabling printing?

[FiddlingAway]

@DavidPostill I don't want those using browsers to be able to print anything. There are no printers available, and I don't want the print option to be available as well, or any browser or system dialogues to be triggered. If that's even possible, that is.

[DavidPostill]

You could try disabling the print spooler service

[FiddlingAway]

Yeah, I've thought about it, but it brings into play a few problems - printing is occasionally needed in some other applications, so that's a no go. In a nutshell, everything else may print, Chrome may not.

[alecail]

Not a XY problem. Some people just want to have only the menu options they use. I would also like to remove Save As, Send To, and Cast, because those are options that I never use.

[FiddlingAway]

This seems to be working. Kind of an overkill, but as long as it gets the job done, I'm not complaining (much :) ). Thanks.