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Set up default printer through Terminal services

I have some business applications that users access though terminal services, these applications print to default printer. for some reason after accidentaly we deleted all users profiles in the server then recreated them later, these users can't print from the business applications, though they can print from notepad,word,excel, etc.....
I tried to log through TS as a user and setup a printer as a default printer, but it doesn't show the check mark that is the default printer.

any idea on how to solve this problem???

thanks
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Brian Pringle
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When you physically sign on to the console of the server (not a terminal session), is there a default printer listed there?  In order for a user in a terminal session to have a default printer, there has to be at least one printer configured on the console.
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ASKER

If I logon to the server as administrator either through TS or sign on to the console I can set up the printer as the default and can see the check mark next to the printer icon, but if I logon as TS user I can set up the default printer.

so the business applications they look for default printer and they can't see it.
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ASKER

I noticed that even if I add a user to the local administrators group in the terminal server, then I log on as that user and setup the printer as the default printer the check mark doesn't show next to the printer icon.
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ASKER

I still don't understand why when I logon to the server as administrator through TS session I can setup the printer as the default and the check mark shows up next to the printer icon, but if I put a user as a member of local administrators group of the server, this user can setup the default printer.
Are there any Group Policy settings configured for this server that dictate what the default printer should be for the users?  If there is a policy, does that printer exist on this server?
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Brian Pringle
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ASKER

this policy is Not Configured
"Do not set default client printer to be default printer in a session"
but users can't print to their local printers
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ASKER

that's weird, when I logon to TS server as administrator (which is local administartor on the terminal server) then I can set up the default printer and everything works fine, I can print from the applications.

if I put a user as a member of administrators group in the terminal server, then it can 't set up the default printer.

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any updates???
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ASKER

that's amazing this happens just on one server the other server doesn't have this issue.

bot are w2k3 enterprise edition
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ASKER

so can someone tell me how to make a user's default printer shows up ticked on the printers and faxes window??? even when I make a user member of the local admin group the tick next default printer doesn't show up.
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ASKER

I copied the default user folder from another server with the same version and SP and it solved the problem
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mspolter

I also had the same problem. On only one of our many terminal servers, non-administrative users that logged in could not set the default printer. We even had a script that set the default printer and it did not work. I kept getting the following error upon login for the script:

The data area passed to a system call is too small.

I copied over the default user profile from another system with the same OS and service pack. I then deleted each users profile, and when they logged in again, it recreated their profile and worked with no problem. I had such a hard time finding the solution for this problem. I will repeat the error so maybe this solution will show up when the error is entered into a google search.

The data area passed to a system call is too small.

The data area passed to a system call is too small.

The data area passed to a system call is too small.