RE: client printers not getting connected - not a driver problem

Thanks for responding, Patrick. First, let me try to do a better job
explaining what I'm seeing. I'm trying to connect to the server from a
workstation that has these printers installed:
HP LaserJet 4
HP LaserJet 5
HP LaserJet 2200
HP LaserJet 1320

I just ran the cleanspl program on the server, so it had no printer drivers
installed. After I connected to it from my workstation for the first
time, I opened the Printers and Faxes applet on the server, opened Server
Properties, and opened the Drivers tab, and it showed that it had loaded
drivers for the LaserJet 4, 5 and 2200, but not for the 1320. I'm assuming
that's because it had native drivers available for the first three but not
the fourth. If I look in the System event log, I see an 1111 error for the
1320 telling me that the driver was unavailable, and that's the only error I
see. If I open Printers and Faxes on the server, NONE of the printers
show up, not even the ones for which it loaded a driver. If I open
Wordpad and try to print, none of the printers show up in there either. I
have checked the settings on the client and on the server that determine
whether client printers are supposed to get connected, and I set up a
LaserJet 4 on LPT1 on the server, and that one is visible in Printers and
Faxes.

Now, to answer your questions:
1. Which model printers are not being autocreated?
The models of the printers I'm using are given above, none of them are
auto-created

2. Are those printers PLC or PS printers, or do they use LIDIL or some
other host based printing method? If the latter, they will not print on the
TS regardless of driver availablility.
One of them is plugged into the lpt port on my workstation. I'm accessing
the rest through shares on a Windows print server. No lidil or anything
like that.

3. Are you using any method to map printer drivers for unsupported printers
to known good built-in printer drivers, or are you installing the
manufacturer's printer driver any time you get a new printer? If the latter,
your terminla server is going to be very unstable and have printer spooler
problems, as many, many non-MSFT rivers are not TS Compatible.

There were several manufacturers drivers installed, but I ran cleanspl and I
think it got rid of all those. This particular server isn't in our
production environment yet. We have several other terminal servers in our
production environment, and we found out the hard way that the drivers
provided by the manufacturers could cause problems.


4. What event ID is logged for these printer autocreation failures, i.e.
1111 or 1106?
1111

5. Is the printer spooler ever stopping or restarting?
No

6. What RDP Client are clients using?
5.1.2600.1106

7. Are you sure that the name of the client printer driver is "exactly" the
same as that of the one on the TS?
yes

8. Have you considered trying the Terminal Server Fallback Printer Driver
that exists in 2003 SP1, or investing in a real universal printer like
Provision Networks Print-IT, triCerat Simplify Printing or ThinPrint RDP
.Print Server Engine?
We're testing driver mapping to see if that'll work for us. If not, we'll
start evaluating third party solutions.


Thanks.


From

"Patrick Rouse" wrote:

I'm not following this statement:

"But the client's printers aren't visible either in the Printers and Faxes
applet or from the applications on the server. "

If the client's printer is not autocreated, why would it appear in the
printers control panel applet?

Let's check the basics

1. Which model printers are not being autocreated?
2. Are those printers PLC or PS printers, or do they use LIDIL or some
other host based printing method? If the latter, they will not print on the
TS regardless of driver availablility.
3. Are you using any method to map printer drivers for unsupported printers
to known good built-in printer drivers, or are you installing the
manufacturer's printer driver any time you get a new printer? If the latter,
your terminla server is going to be very unstable and have printer spooler
problems, as many, many non-MSFT rivers are not TS Compatible.
4. What event ID is logged for these printer autocreation failures, i.e.
1111 or 1106?
5. Is the printer spooler ever stopping or restarting?
6. What RDP Client are clients using?
7. Are you sure that the name of the client printer driver is "exactly" the
same as that of the one on the TS?
8. Have you considered trying the Terminal Server Fallback Printer Driver
that exists in 2003 SP1, or investing in a real universal printer like
Provision Networks Print-IT, triCerat Simplify Printing or ThinPrint RDP
.Print Server Engine?

http://www.sessioncomputing.com/printing.htm


--
Patrick Rouse
Microsoft MVP - Terminal Server
http://www.sessioncomputing.com


"paul2626" wrote:

I have a Windows 2003 server with service pack 1 installed that isn't
connecting client printers properly. It's not a driver issue, when I
connect to the server from a workstation that has several printers installed,
it loads the native drivers for some of them, and it logs the "unknown
driver" error for the rest. But the client's printers aren't visible either
in the Printers and Faxes applet or from the applications on the server.
I've checked the settings that control whether client printers get connected
on the server and on the client. Printers that are installed locally on the
server are visible and working properly. I've tried rebooting a couple of
times and restarting the spooler just for the heck of it. If anyone can
tell me how to fix this I'd really appreciate it.
.

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