hi all,
I have an issue that is frustrating me immensely. A client cannot print to a local printer when in a remote desktop / terminal services session.
The local PC is a new Dell Vostro 1500 laptop with Vista Business. It has connected to it a HP Laserjet P1006 and Dell 984 multifunction, both USB printers. Both printers work locally. It's internet connection is a Telstra Mobile Wireless adapter, this is a connection up to 3Mbps/sec which gives the laptop a public facing IP address (no NAT).
The remote PC is a new Dell Vostro running Vista Business. Both the printers have been previously installed on the machine to ensure drivers are present for the remote session. The internet connection for the remote PC is ADSL2 via a Netgear DG834G modem/router.
When the laptop initiates the remote session, it connects and the printers appear on the remote machine, as you would expect (ie. "Laserjet P1006 on LAPTOP"). The properties of the printer can be brought up as well.
However when you print to either printer, the job queues, but nothing happens. Checking the queue status shows 4kb of the job has been sent but nothing else happens. Minimising the remote session and checking the print queue locally shows a remote desktop session print job in the queue, but again doing nothing.
If you then disconnect the session and then reconnect, an additional printer appears inthe printer list of the form "Laserjet P1006 on LAPTOP (Copy 1)". If you disconnect and reconnect a Copy3 is created. You can't vidw the printer properties for any of these copies .
Trying to eliminate different things I popped an XP Pro box in as the remote machine, and exactly the same thing happens when connecting from the laptop.
I also connected from a different PC (my office PC running Vista Business) and two of my local printers came through into the remote session and I could print to both, so I'm surmising it's something to do with the laptop and/or the 3G wireless broadband connection.
Other strange things happen when trying to overcome the problem. Attempting to delete the job in the queue (at either end) fails, and if you try and logout after attempting to dlete the job in the remote queue it takes about 5-8 minutes to log off the session. Sometimes when the session is logged off, the local printer then starts to get repeated remote jobs put into its print queue, up to several hundred before I killed the spooler and deleted them. None of them actually print though.
I'm about to test the Laserjet P1006 on my own laptop which runs XP and Vista to eliminate the printer itself as the problem (unlikely as the same issue occurs with two different printers).
I also want to get the laptop onto a different internet connection to see if that has any effect but it's tricky as its in use by my client
Needless to say I have disabled all firewall software on both PCs during this testing, and eanbled all available sharing options.
Does anyone have any pointers as to where I could continue to troubleshoot?
thanks
nathan
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