Unable to add printer on Terminal Server
Not sure what started this because at one point this terminal server was working fine; but, here's the background:
Running Remote Desktop Services on Server 2008 R2 (latest updates) on vmware esx 4.1 (64-bit of course).
The problem:
User goes to Devices and Printers and add a printer - they try to add any printer from this one specific location, our Annapolis office (we have 5 locations total) they receive an error stating windows cannot connect to the printer. If I expand the "See Details" it reads "Operation failed with error 0x00000002"
They try to add a printer from any other location - it works perfectly fine! So it must be with the Annapolis server, right?
I've read that this error means that it couldn't find a file - but what does that REALLY mean? And of course, how do I resolve the issue?
Users at the Annapolis office (mind you, this is our biggest office and the most important one so getting printers to work is critical on here) can add the printers, locally, just fine.
The Terminal Server in question is located in a virtual environment at our Datacenter, so it's not local. This never used to be a problem, so I'm wondering if we accidentally made a change to a GPO or something is wrong on the Annapolis server itself.
Any ideas? Thanks!
Running Remote Desktop Services on Server 2008 R2 (latest updates) on vmware esx 4.1 (64-bit of course).
The problem:
User goes to Devices and Printers and add a printer - they try to add any printer from this one specific location, our Annapolis office (we have 5 locations total) they receive an error stating windows cannot connect to the printer. If I expand the "See Details" it reads "Operation failed with error 0x00000002"
They try to add a printer from any other location - it works perfectly fine! So it must be with the Annapolis server, right?
I've read that this error means that it couldn't find a file - but what does that REALLY mean? And of course, how do I resolve the issue?
Users at the Annapolis office (mind you, this is our biggest office and the most important one so getting printers to work is critical on here) can add the printers, locally, just fine.
The Terminal Server in question is located in a virtual environment at our Datacenter, so it's not local. This never used to be a problem, so I'm wondering if we accidentally made a change to a GPO or something is wrong on the Annapolis server itself.
Any ideas? Thanks!
The link posted above is for a forum posting that is a bit chaotic: I'm not sure what the final solution was there. I found a posting with a much more clear solution to the error you're seeing. Try removing the printer from the print server & adding it again.
http://www.geekstogo.com/forum/topic/271080-error-0x00000002-when-adding-network-printer/
Although, we didn't get that exact same error you're seeing (we were adding the mapped network printer using a 3rd part printing software), last year we had issues connecting to some printers on 2003 print servers from our new 2008 terminal servers. We were able to fix it by removing the printer and re-creating it on the print server. We had to do that to about 15 or 20 printers out of about the 100 or more we had installed on two 2003 print servers.
I think there must have been something a bit funky in the registry entry for each of those printers that would not allow some of the 2008 servers to connect to them. But, removing the printer from the print server & re-adding it fixed the problem for us.
I hope this helps.
Alicia
http://www.geekstogo.com/forum/topic/271080-error-0x00000002-when-adding-network-printer/
Although, we didn't get that exact same error you're seeing (we were adding the mapped network printer using a 3rd part printing software), last year we had issues connecting to some printers on 2003 print servers from our new 2008 terminal servers. We were able to fix it by removing the printer and re-creating it on the print server. We had to do that to about 15 or 20 printers out of about the 100 or more we had installed on two 2003 print servers.
I think there must have been something a bit funky in the registry entry for each of those printers that would not allow some of the 2008 servers to connect to them. But, removing the printer from the print server & re-adding it fixed the problem for us.
I hope this helps.
Alicia
ASKER
Here's a bit of a test I had.
I added a brand new printer. According to what you were saying Spike99, this 'should' not have been corrupt. However, I was still not able to add that printer on the Terminal Server; received the same error.
So, that leads me to believe, removing and re-adding the printers isn't going to do any good if a brand new printer isn't even working... right?
I added a brand new printer. According to what you were saying Spike99, this 'should' not have been corrupt. However, I was still not able to add that printer on the Terminal Server; received the same error.
So, that leads me to believe, removing and re-adding the printers isn't going to do any good if a brand new printer isn't even working... right?
Yeah, drat. I thought that might help. Sorry.
Dumb idea -- if you have a standard set of printers -- i.e. HP LJ 5xxx and HP LJ 3xxx, etc on all your TS's.
Go into one of the other ones -- and use the Printer Migration tool (link below) to create a cab file.
Then on the non-functioning TS -- go into the Print Server properties -- delete all the printers, drivers, etc. Then load up the from the print migration tool cab file.
http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/en/details.aspx?familyid=9b9f2925-cbc9-44da-b2c9-ffdbc46b0b17&displaylang=en
Go into one of the other ones -- and use the Printer Migration tool (link below) to create a cab file.
Then on the non-functioning TS -- go into the Print Server properties -- delete all the printers, drivers, etc. Then load up the from the print migration tool cab file.
http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/en/details.aspx?familyid=9b9f2925-cbc9-44da-b2c9-ffdbc46b0b17&displaylang=en
ASKER
Well, I'm not entirely understanding your suggestions jimpen. We only have one TS for starters, and it's only this one particular print server that the TS cannot add printers from. Sounds like an issue on this particular print server, doesn't it?
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Is the print spooler on the TS crashing? There are several things that can cause that (HP & Brother print services, for example).
Stop & disable these services if you find any on either the terminal server or the print server:
Service Process
BrSplSvc brsvc01a.exe (Brother Spooler Service)
HP Port Resolver HPBPRO.exe
HP Status Server HPBOID.exe
Net Driver HPZ12
Pml Driver HPZ12
I would check the system and application event logs for errors.
I would particularly look for any MsiInstaller events in the Application Event log. There is an issue caused by some HP LaserJet print drivers that causes MSIExec.exe to run all the time, which causes performance issues and can lock up the spooler, and you will get lots of events that looks like this:
If you're seeing that, I would follow the instructions in this HP article to replace the bad MSI file with a 0 byte size file:
http://h20000.www2.hp.com/bizsupport/TechSupport/Document.jsp?objectID=c01682861&dimid=1001553288&dicid=alr_mar09&jumpid=em_alerts/us/mar09/all/xbu/emailsubid/mrm/mcc/loc/rbu_category/alerts
Alicia
Stop & disable these services if you find any on either the terminal server or the print server:
Service Process
BrSplSvc brsvc01a.exe (Brother Spooler Service)
HP Port Resolver HPBPRO.exe
HP Status Server HPBOID.exe
Net Driver HPZ12
Pml Driver HPZ12
I would check the system and application event logs for errors.
I would particularly look for any MsiInstaller events in the Application Event log. There is an issue caused by some HP LaserJet print drivers that causes MSIExec.exe to run all the time, which causes performance issues and can lock up the spooler, and you will get lots of events that looks like this:
Event Type: Information
Event Source: MsiInstaller
Event Category: None
Event ID: 11728
Date: 2/16/2010
Time: 4:21:47 PM
User: NT AUTHORITY\SYSTEM
Computer: xxxxxxxx
Description:
Product: 32 Bit HP BiDi Channel Components Installer -- Configuration completed successfully.
Event Source: MsiInstaller
Event Category: None
Event ID: 11728
Date: 2/16/2010
Time: 4:21:47 PM
User: NT AUTHORITY\SYSTEM
Computer: xxxxxxxx
Description:
Product: 32 Bit HP BiDi Channel Components Installer -- Configuration completed successfully.
If you're seeing that, I would follow the instructions in this HP article to replace the bad MSI file with a 0 byte size file:
http://h20000.www2.hp.com/bizsupport/TechSupport/Document.jsp?objectID=c01682861&dimid=1001553288&dicid=alr_mar09&jumpid=em_alerts/us/mar09/all/xbu/emailsubid/mrm/mcc/loc/rbu_category/alerts
Alicia
ASKER
Well the thing is, it wasn't "stopped" the spooler was on and working fine for other locations.
What I'm honestly guessing happened is, we've been having a LOT of trouble with the particular server that we couldn't add a printer from... and the server has crashed (not the terminal server, but the print server) several times, so maybe something got jarred up?
What I'm honestly guessing happened is, we've been having a LOT of trouble with the particular server that we couldn't add a printer from... and the server has crashed (not the terminal server, but the print server) several times, so maybe something got jarred up?
I would have advised checking the file/folders permissions in the %windir%\System32\Spool folder - paticularly if you have taken a hatchet to the folde rin the past to get rid of buggy drivers (I'm very much thinking of the HP Universal Print Driver here... )
Additionally we have seen the Print Spooler service hang (not crash) on our Terminal Servers. We have usually resorted to taskkill to end the process and restart the Print Spooler service.
Since we installed the latest version of the HP UPD (5.2 I believe) we've seen a >90% reduction in calls regarding printing issues on the terminal servers. If you do use the HP UPD I'd recommend ensuring you are running with the latest version. You just need to be careful when updating the HP UPD as they keep re-introducing previously fixed bugs...
Additionally we have seen the Print Spooler service hang (not crash) on our Terminal Servers. We have usually resorted to taskkill to end the process and restart the Print Spooler service.
Since we installed the latest version of the HP UPD (5.2 I believe) we've seen a >90% reduction in calls regarding printing issues on the terminal servers. If you do use the HP UPD I'd recommend ensuring you are running with the latest version. You just need to be careful when updating the HP UPD as they keep re-introducing previously fixed bugs...
ASKER
I don't believe we've ever made any changes to the Spool folder - but in any case, what type of permissions should be setup on this folder?
Hmm, right now we're running the PCL 5 (v5.1) driver. Here's a question - should I go ahead and try updating this driver or should I go with trying to use the PCL 6 instead, or ?
Hmm, right now we're running the PCL 5 (v5.1) driver. Here's a question - should I go ahead and try updating this driver or should I go with trying to use the PCL 6 instead, or ?
This question has been classified as abandoned and is being closed as part of the Cleanup Program. See my comment at the end of the question for more details.
ASKER
Also note the time zone is wrong - we're Eastern (makes no difference but wanted to throw it out there).
See attached screenshot. Thanks!
Capture.PNG