jobs in print queue won't delete

[buffalo9000]

I have a G5 IMac in a student lab connected to an Epson 1800R using firewire.
The problem is that jobs get stuck in the print queue, usually from a previous user. The next person logs in and any old jobs still in the queue sometimes prevent them from printing. Most print jobs are from Photoshop or Illustrator and can be quite large.

The current user can delete the queue but it's not actually deleted. Opening the print utility shows the old job still there. Even network admins cannot delete the job. Only the local admin can permanently delete it.
Giving out the local admin password IS NOT AN OPTION.
All the macs in the lab connect to a windows 2003 AD server and a windows print server for networked printers even the one with the firewire Epson, I have no problems with the networked printers or the same model printers in PC labs.

Is there a way to have any jobs left in the queue automatically delete themselves when a user logs out?

If not,and this is a far less preferable way, is there a way to have network admins have the same right to delete jobs as a local admin?

I have asked this in the forums but didn't get any useful help. I am primarly a PC person so maybe this is something simple and I just don't know about it.
Thank you.

 

[Flying Meat]

Is there a good reason to leave student accounts on the machine?
A logout hook could just remove the user's home folder (which would presumably remove their print jobs)

What happened to the person that manages your mac images?

You can add usernames to the local admin group if you need to. It doesn't matter if they don't have a local user account. As far as the NetInfo database is concerned, entries to the admin group are just strings to match for auth requests.

Check out bombich.com and macenterprise.org for much useful information on deploying/managing Macs in large organizations(bound to AD or not).
In particular, I found this at the bombich.com forums when searching on "print queue":
http://forums.bombich.com/viewtopic.php?t=6312&highlight=print+queue

 

[sirstaunch]

Although Flying Meat's link is just as a good, but by a big coincidence after seeing this post, I found in Macworld's RSS a Mac OS X hint on cancelling the print job

Terminal solution


If you don’t mind using Terminal, you can kill all pending print jobs with one simple command:


cancel -a -

Enter that in Terminal and press Return, and all print jobs should be terminated.


Non-Terminal solution


Opening Terminal takes a bit of time, and when you’re trying to cancel a print job, time is of the essence. So here’s an even simpler solution. Open Script Editor, in /Applications -> Utilities, and enter the following lines:


do shell script "cancel -a -"
display dialog "No more printing jobs" buttons ["OK"] default button 1

Save the script somewhere convenient, such as a folder in your user’s Documents folder. In the Script Editor’s Save dialog, give your program a name (Print Terminator!), and set the File Format pop-up menu to application. After saving the file, locate it in the Finder and the drag it to the sidebar, up to the toolbar, or down into the Dock. Now when you need to quickly kill a print job, just click your new program’s icon in the sidebar, toolbar, or Dock, and you’re done!

Hint taken from here

 

[zo219]

...TinkerTool System, I believe - and there are very likely others - will fix the symbolic links *and* delete the print queue ... The shareware Printer Setup Repair does absolute wonders to the whole priinting system, making one wonder, If Apple was going to give us CUPS, how about something more to take care of it.