Transfer Print Settings to New Computer

Question

I just bought a new Unibody 17" MBP and want to transfer the Printers and Printer Settings from my old MBP to my new one without having to reinstall them all manually.
How can this be achieved?

Answer 1

Not easily...
When a user creates a printer queue, a reference to the queue - called a printer proxy - will exist in the users ~/Library/Printers folder. However, simply copying this folder contents to the new Mac may not enough to get you printing.
The system files associated with the printer queues reside in a number of hidden folders, some of which the administrator has no default write access to, where files, plugins and information about your printer queue/s exist.
Also, depending on the brand/model of printer/s you have installed, the files used when adding a printer queue are often copied to ./Library/Printers/vendorname or ./Library/Printers/PPDs/Contents/Resources/en.lproj (for English language files) by the relevant printer installer software. Simply copying these directories to the new Mac will also not create the printer queues for you, but it will give you the files for the printer queue proxies in ~/Library/Printers.
Other directories where files associated with the existing printer queues are ~/Library/Preferences and ./Library/Receipts.
So, unless there is a utility available that can easily copy the printer files you need, you may be better off adding the driver software and printer queues again.