Re: Printers disappearing

hi Terence,

I'll try to answer all your questions. The problem is slightly
misunderstood.

First, the method originally used worked ok. But there seemed to be a
problem with publishing in the directory, and then printers started to
disappear one by one. The problem occurred over the last weekend.

The method used was not the recommended SBS2003 wizard and Connect
Computer (client) as the end user wasn't familiar with that.

Instead, the method used was similar to what you mentioned in suggestion 2.
At the SBS server, AddPrinter locally, create a new TCP port, install the
printer drivers, then share the printer, List in Directory.

When the printer is listed in directory, using AddPrinter wizard, network,
FindDirecotory, FindNow shows a list of printers at the bottom of the
window.

When printers are listed, they can be added when this procedure is done at
the PC clients. But now FindNow shows nothing. And the already installed
printers started to disappear one by one.
Removing the share and resharing with List in Directory doesn't change the
situation.

However, the printers do appear when browsing in WindowsExplorer under
the network, entire network, Windows network, domainname, server.

Instead of using your method in Suggestion2, as a workaround, the admin
has used AddPrinter, network, Browse network (instead of FindDirectory)
and added the printers that way.

My question is, why don't printers appear in the directory and where they
used the work, what could've happened to cause the directory to not work
now.

When Finding other objects in AD for other functions, such as Find user,
that appears to still work. Eg. when setting user permissions in Explorer,
typing "Ever" and clicking on check names resolves to "Everyone".
So some parts of AD are still working.

Any ideas?
Eugene Tan

===============================
"Terence Liu [MSFT]" <v-terliu@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote in message
news:cuixHsnTHHA.3604@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
Hello Eugene,

Thank you for posting here.

According to your description, I understand that you add a sharing printer
via AddPrinter wizard, but you cannot find the sharing printer in
directory. If I have misunderstood the problem, please don't hesitate to
let me know.

Based on my research, since the AddPrinter wizard do not make your sharing
printer work fine, I recommend you add the share printer through methods,
and the steps will help us to narrow down this issue.

Suggestion 1: The SBS Way:

In SBS 2003 environment, the client printer is installed by the SBS 2003
client setup procedure. During the client setup procedure, SBS 2003 adds a
printer published in Active Directory to client computers running Windows
XP pro or Windows 2000 Pro. This printer becomes the default printer for
the client computer, unless a local printer is attached to the client
computer or more than one printer exists in Active Directory.

The following conditions must exist for Active Directory search of
published printers on SBS

1. The printer must be shared

2. The box indicating to List in the Directory must be selected from the
sharing tab of the printer's properties

3. DNS must be configured correctly and running (i.e. Listeners, point to
itself for DNS name resolution)

4. The clients must contain the SBS servers IP as the DNS server

5. After change the printers in SBS, you have to log off and log on one
time in every client and make sure the clients run this logon script.

Suggestion 2: Another way:

If the issue persists, I suggest we try to add the printer manually:

To do this, please go to the SBS 2003 server, open ''Printers and Faxes''
in ''Control panel''. Double-click the printer which you want to share in
the network. In the printer properties window, click ''Sharing'' tab and
then select ''Share this printer''. Type the share name, check ''List in
the directory'' box and click ''OK''. Go to the client computer, click
''Start''-->''Run'', type ''\\ <SBS server name>'' (without the quotation
marks) and press Enter. You will see the shared printer. Double-click it;
the client computer will automatically connect to the shared printer and
install the necessary printer driver.

If the issue persists, I suggest we try the following steps to see if we
can resolve this issue:

1. Try to install the printer on another machine then test this issue, is
it fine?

2. Please install latest Antivirus software on the SBS and clients then do
a full scan.

3. Do a clean boot on SBS and test this issue:

To clean boot the problematic computer, please use the steps below:

a. Click Start, click Run, and then in the Open box, type "MSCONFIG"
(without the quotation marks). Click OK.

b. In the System Configuration Utility (MSConfig) window, click to select
the Selective Startup button.

c. Click to clear the check mark from the "Load startup items" below
Selective Startup.

d. Click the Services tab, click to check the "Hide All Microsoft
Services"
box, and remove all the check marks from the remained Non-Microsoft
Services. Please note that the Exchange services could be marked as
non-Microsoft. Please do not disable those services.

e. Click OK to close the MSConfig window. Click Yes when you are asked to
restart your computer in order to enable the changes.

f. After restarting, please check whether this issue will reoccur.

4. Make sure that your printer appears on the Windows Hardware
Compatibility List (HCL)

To view the latest Windows HCL, visit the following Microsoft Web site:
http://www.microsoft.com/hwdq/hcl/

5. Do you have any firewall between SBS and clients? Please disable the
firewall between them.

If the issue persists, please kindly help me collect some information for
further investigation:

1. Do you get any error message when the connection disappeared?

2. Can you find domain user accounts (in Find Directory) When the
connection disappeared?

3. Do you install ISA on SBS?

4. Can you ping SBS from client when the connection disappeared?

5. Please gather MPS report on SBS and problematic client

a. Visit
http://download.microsoft.com/download/b/b/1/bb139fcb-4aac-4fe5-a579-30b0bd9
15706/MPSRPT_NETWORK.EXE. to download the file.

b. Run the MPSRPT_NETWORK.EXE on the server box.

c. Wait for 10~15 minutes.

d. Open Windows explorer, navigate to
%SYSTEMROOT%\MPSReports\Network\Reports\cab\

e. Send the .cab file directly to me at v-terliu@xxxxxxxxxxxxx

Hope these steps will give you some help.

Thanks and have a nice day!

Best regards,

Terence Liu(MSFT)

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--------------------
| From: "Eugene Tan" <TechHelp-at.insights.com.sg@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
| Subject: Printers disappearing
| Date: Sat, 10 Feb 2007 23:27:05 +0800
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|
| hi,
|
| I've a strange problem which escapes me. At a customer's SBS2k3,
| printers were installed via AddPrinter (not Mgmt console) and then
| shared AND List in Directory, from the SBS. Settings configured
| here are pushed down to the PC clients when users AddPrinter
| from Network and Find in Directory.
|
| This was working well, and clicking on Find Now (in Find Directory)
| produced a list of printers that were shared and "List in Directory".
|
| Well, suddenly printers started disappearing from the list of printers
| at PCs, so users suddenly couldn't print. And now, tyring to Find in
| Directory produces a blank list.
| The printers at the server are still there, still shared and basically
no
| settings changed. Unshare and reshare doesn't work.
|
| At the PCs, if searching and then installing via the network browser,
| that works and stays, but configuration info isn't passed down.
|
| Any ideas what happened and why isn't it being published/listed in
| the (active) directory?
|
| TIA,
| Eugene Tan
|
|
|



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