Fix Banner Page Printing Despite Group Policy Suppression on Windows 11

You have configured Group Policy to suppress banner pages on a shared printer in Windows 11, but a separator page still prints before every job. This wastes paper and slows down workflows. The root cause is typically a conflict between the Group Policy setting and a locally configured separator page on the print server or client. This article explains why the policy fails and provides a step-by-step fix to enforce banner page suppression.

Why Group Policy Fails to Suppress Banner Pages on Windows 11

Windows 11 includes a Group Policy setting named Do not allow installation of printers using kernel-mode drivers located under Computer Configuration > Administrative Templates > Printers. Despite its name, this policy does not suppress banner or separator pages. The correct policy for suppressing banner pages is Do not allow installation of printers using kernel-mode drivers — but that policy is actually unrelated to separator pages. The real setting for banner suppression is the Separator page option in the printer’s Advanced tab within Print Server Properties.

When a network printer is shared from a Windows print server, the server’s local separator page setting takes precedence over Group Policy. If an administrator previously configured a separator page file — such as PCL.SEP or SYSPRINT.SEP — on the print server, that file will print before every job regardless of any Group Policy configured to suppress it. The Group Policy Do not allow installation of printers using kernel-mode drivers has no effect on separator pages. The conflict arises because Group Policy and local print server settings operate independently.

The Technical Root Cause

The print spooler on Windows 11 reads the SeparatorFile registry value under the printer’s key in HKLM\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Control\Print\Printers\. If this value exists and points to a valid separator page file, the spooler inserts that page before every print job. Group Policy does not modify this registry value. Even if you set the policy to disable separator pages, the local registry entry remains active and causes the banner to print.

Steps to Remove the Local Separator Page and Enforce Group Policy

Follow these steps on the Windows 11 print server that hosts the shared printer. You need local Administrator rights on that server.

1. Open Print Management
   Press Windows + R, type printmanagement.msc, and press Enter. This opens the Print Management console. Alternatively, you can open Settings > Bluetooth & devices > Printers & scanners, select the printer, and click Print server properties.
2. Locate the target printer
   In Print Management, expand Print Servers, select your server name, and then click Printers. Find the shared printer that is still printing banner pages.
3. Open printer properties
   Right-click the printer and select Properties. Go to the Advanced tab. Look at the Separator page field at the bottom of the dialog.
4. Check the current separator page setting
   If the Separator page field shows a file path — for example, C:\Windows\System32\PCL.SEP — a local separator page is configured. This file overrides any Group Policy suppression.
5. Remove the separator page
   Click the Separator page button, then click None. Click OK to close the dialog. This clears the local separator page assignment.
6. Verify the registry change
   Press Windows + R, type regedit, and press Enter. Navigate to HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Control\Print\Printers\. Confirm that the SeparatorFile value no longer exists. If it still exists, right-click it and select Delete.
7. Restart the print spooler
   Open Command Prompt as Administrator and run net stop spooler followed by net start spooler. This clears any cached separator page data.
8. Test a print job
   Send a test page from a client computer. The banner page should no longer print. If it still appears, continue to the next section.

If Banner Pages Still Print After Removing the Local Separator Page

Group Policy Is Not Applying to the Printer

Verify that the correct Group Policy is applied. The relevant policy is Do not allow installation of printers using kernel-mode drivers under Computer Configuration > Administrative Templates > Printers. However, as noted earlier, this policy does not control separator pages. The actual policy for suppressing banner pages is the Separator page setting in the printer’s Advanced tab. If you removed the local separator page via the steps above, the banner should stop. If it continues, check whether the printer is being re-created with a default separator page from a deployment script or a third-party print management tool.

Print Server Has a Default Separator Page Configured

On the print server, open Print Server Properties from the Print Management console. Go to the Advanced tab and check the Separator page drop-down. If a separator page is set here, it applies to all printers on that server. Change it to None and click OK. Then restart the print spooler again.

Client-Side Separator Page Is Configured

On the Windows 11 client computer, open Settings > Bluetooth & devices > Printers & scanners. Select the shared printer, click Printer properties, go to the Advanced tab, and verify the Separator page field is set to None. If a separator page is configured locally on the client, it will print even if the server has none.

Third-Party Print Management Software Overrides Settings

Software such as PaperCut, PrinterLogic, or HP Universal Print Driver may enforce its own separator page settings. Check the software’s configuration for banner suppression. Disable any separator page rules in the third-party tool and then repeat the steps above.

Local Separator Page vs Group Policy Suppression: Control Mechanism Comparison

Item	Local Separator Page	Group Policy Suppression
Configuration location	Printer Properties > Advanced > Separator page	Group Policy Management Editor > Computer Configuration > Administrative Templates > Printers
Registry key affected	HKLM\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Control\Print\Printers\\SeparatorFile	No direct registry key; policy sets a flag in the policy store
Scope	Single printer or all printers on a server via Print Server Properties	All printers on computers that receive the policy
Precedence	Overrides Group Policy if both are configured	Only applies if no local separator page exists
Ease of removal	Remove via UI or delete registry value	Set policy to Not Configured or Disabled

You can now suppress banner pages on Windows 11 by removing the local separator page from the print server and verifying that no client-side or third-party settings interfere. Next, consider auditing all shared printers on your network for hidden separator page configurations using PowerShell commands such as Get-Printer | Select-Object Name, SeparatorPageFile. This command lists every printer and its separator page file, making it easy to find and fix all instances at once.