losing printers in citrix
I have a network with about 40 users. Some users login from home via Citrix. Some of those users report that when they come into the office the next day, their network printers are gone. This is a sporadic problem. It doesn't happen every single time they login from home. They say that nothing suspicious happens while connected via Citrix, just that when they come into the office the next day they have no printers. Sometimes, the print spooler service will be stopped on their machine and I have to delete the spl files, restart the service and recreate the printers. I updated all the printer drivers. What could be the cause?
Citrix server:
Windows 2000 service pack 3
member server
Printers:
about 15 printers, all HP, all assigned ip numbers
all shared from another windows 2000 server(DC)
Other servers:
windows 2000 domain controller(where the printers are shared from)
windows 2003 DC and mail server
Thanks,
ilguy
Citrix server:
Windows 2000 service pack 3
member server
Printers:
about 15 printers, all HP, all assigned ip numbers
all shared from another windows 2000 server(DC)
Other servers:
windows 2000 domain controller(where the printers are shared from)
windows 2003 DC and mail server
Thanks,
ilguy
Are you using auto created printers or mapping client printers?
ASKER
OOps..I forgot to mention, we are running Metaframe xp.
I will try your suggestions tomorrow.
Also; I have not installed service pack 4 yet. Has anyone had any good/bad experiences with that?
I will try your suggestions tomorrow.
Also; I have not installed service pack 4 yet. Has anyone had any good/bad experiences with that?
ASKER
I think I need to give more details.
We use roaming profiles.
We only use Citrix for remote users. No one uses it locally in the office.
The issue is not whether the clients get their printers created while in a remote citrix session, but rather that afterwards, when they log in normally at the office, their printers are gone. This creates a problem because then the only printer they have is Ecopy, and when they try to print something, it defaults to ecopy printer, which causes me to have to go over and stop the print spool service and clean out the print spool files, then re-create their printers.
The question I have is, why after loggin on remotely through citrix does it cause the users printers to disappear on their machines in the office?
I have a hunch this is because of the roaming profiles, but I don't know what to do about it.
Hope I haven't confused anyone with my ramblings.
We use roaming profiles.
We only use Citrix for remote users. No one uses it locally in the office.
The issue is not whether the clients get their printers created while in a remote citrix session, but rather that afterwards, when they log in normally at the office, their printers are gone. This creates a problem because then the only printer they have is Ecopy, and when they try to print something, it defaults to ecopy printer, which causes me to have to go over and stop the print spool service and clean out the print spool files, then re-create their printers.
The question I have is, why after loggin on remotely through citrix does it cause the users printers to disappear on their machines in the office?
I have a hunch this is because of the roaming profiles, but I don't know what to do about it.
Hope I haven't confused anyone with my ramblings.
are you using TS roaming profiles or just roaming profiles ?
ASKER
We have an additional server that all profiles are stored on.
I'm not sure how to tell if we are using TS roaming profiles or not. I don't know how to turn off roaming profiles on TS. I think that may be the answer to the problem, however. I found somewhere in group policy that you could configure the location of roaming profiles in TS. Should I just enable that option and tell it to store them on the citrix server? Is this the only option for TS profiles to configure?
I'm not sure how to tell if we are using TS roaming profiles or not. I don't know how to turn off roaming profiles on TS. I think that may be the answer to the problem, however. I found somewhere in group policy that you could configure the location of roaming profiles in TS. Should I just enable that option and tell it to store them on the citrix server? Is this the only option for TS profiles to configure?
ASKER CERTIFIED SOLUTION
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ASKER
Wow, I have been in there a thousand times and never noticed the ts profile path box.
Only the normal profile path is set, to a different server than Citrix. I think if I set the profile path to the citrix server in the ts profile box, it should take care of it. I mean, that's the only way that their printers could be getting screwed up, right?
And yes, they need roaming profiles because they log onto different machines all the time and are very picky. Besides, if a pc has a problem, just swap it out with newly re-imaged one and you're in business - no setup required.
Only the normal profile path is set, to a different server than Citrix. I think if I set the profile path to the citrix server in the ts profile box, it should take care of it. I mean, that's the only way that their printers could be getting screwed up, right?
And yes, they need roaming profiles because they log onto different machines all the time and are very picky. Besides, if a pc has a problem, just swap it out with newly re-imaged one and you're in business - no setup required.
I would not set up your TS roaming profiles on your citrix server, put them somewhere safer.
ALso, you aren't asking about this, but MS recommends you not have Exchange on a DC.
ALso, you aren't asking about this, but MS recommends you not have Exchange on a DC.
put the TS profiles on a shared network resource rather than the Citrix server. If this is on another windows box then you can use group policy to add the admin group in as having permissions to the profiles.
TS profs are notorious for "corrupting" the most common is when a user logs off and back in too quickly as the system is trying to write and read the profile at the samr time.
Do you have the roaming profiles set to only run against certain OUs?
Darren
TS profs are notorious for "corrupting" the most common is when a user logs off and back in too quickly as the system is trying to write and read the profile at the samr time.
Do you have the roaming profiles set to only run against certain OUs?
Darren
ASKER
All users have roaming profiles, set up in their user account properties.
I will try relocating the citrix profiles on a different box. I will test it out over the weekend.
I will try relocating the citrix profiles on a different box. I will test it out over the weekend.
ASKER
I set a different location for ts roaming profiles and have not had a printer problem since. This also cured a long standing problem with Worldox.
The only weird thing is, when I try to set the ts profile location via group policy, it doesn't work. It only works if I go into the user profile and specify it in there. It's not a big deal as I only have around 45 users, and only about 20 of those use Citrix.
Thanks for the good info everyone.
The only weird thing is, when I try to set the ts profile location via group policy, it doesn't work. It only works if I go into the user profile and specify it in there. It's not a big deal as I only have around 45 users, and only about 20 of those use Citrix.
Thanks for the good info everyone.
no problem glad to help
Good to hear your prob is solved. Sorry didn't get back earlier... too many projs going on.
As for GPO, some of those system level ones only affect new Profiles. For those that already existed, the only way I know of is to either do it the way you did, for import a registry hack (or use TweakUI)
Job well done!
-Silly-
As for GPO, some of those system level ones only affect new Profiles. For those that already existed, the only way I know of is to either do it the way you did, for import a registry hack (or use TweakUI)
Job well done!
-Silly-
Have you look at this:
http://support.citrix.com/kb/entry!default.jspa?categoryID=118&entryID=2055&fromSearchPage=true
I recently had issue with my printers not auto-generate also and I had to replace that file on all my servers to make it work again. Nothing was changed that caused the process to break.
-Silly-