HP Printing Issue Over RDP

What kind of driver are you using? Have you tried using a PCL6 driver?

I believe that is what is installed but what is the best way to verify?

Go into the controlpanel, "View devices and printers"
Rightclick your printer, Printer properties, then go to the "Advanced" tab

In there you should be able to see which driver thats being used
Pr1nter.png

I have seen that in connection with Acrobat DC. Do you see this for any application you print from?
For me it was solved by simply updating Acrobat DC to a newer build.

I believe the user is trying to print out of QB so probably it is PDF related.  I believe they are using Enterprise 2017.

Martin: It is installed via the INF data and only say HP Officejet 6830 driver (not PCL5/6 or PS) after extracting the EXE file as the installer won't install on Server 2016.  Gotta love HP.

Please find out whether it happens only on pdf files and if so, what pdf viewer they use and have them update it eventually.

McKnife: No.  Just tried to print from notepad and is still giving the smeared output.

Martin: The driver per your question (and example) just says HP Officejet Pro 6830.

Good.

Let's look at the driver more closely. Your server will not need a driver for it, since 2016 uses easyprint, instead. So if you really wanted to update the driver, you need to do it at the client side, not at the server side.

McKnife: Before I installed the driver, the redirected printer (HP 6830) was not available.  Should I try to remove the driver?  If so, how would you recommend removing it?

Before you installed the driver at the server, the printer was not available? Hm, do you administer the server? I mean, you would know if you disabled the easy print feature, wouldn't you? Please verify if easy print is in use or not. If not, this GPO would be active at the server:
"Use Terminal Services Easy Print printer driver first"

This policy setting is located in the following node of the Local Group Policy Editor:

Computer Configuration\Administrative Templates\Windows Components\Terminal Services\Terminal Server\Printer Redirection
would be set to disabled.

See if it is disabled by running rsop.msc on an elevated command line at the server and then checking the aforementioned GPO location in the rsop.msc results.

McKnife: I don't have Terminal Services under Computer Configuration\Administrative Templates\Windows Components?

Sorry, that path changed over the years. It is
Computer Configuration\Administrative Templates\Windows Components\Remote Desktop services\Remote Desktop Session Host\Printer Redirection (rest is the same).

I will check that in a few minutes.  Do you think it could be a mismatch of drivers between the Windows 10 and the server?  The server has driver version 14.040.0.3447.

Server don't use the driver by default. They use easy print. So look it up (whether the policy says that easy print is in use) and we'll carry on.

McKnife: The state of every option in that folder is not configured.

Ok, that means, your server uses easy print and not the driver that you provided. You can change the policy to disabled now, restart the remote desktop service (or reboot the server) and re-establish and rdp connection and see if it works differently, then.

McKnife: So a possibly redundant question.  I had the driver (saw it in print management) and it showed up as a redirected printer.  When I removed it (the HP driver) it didn't work.  Wouldn't that mean that it was using the HP driver and not easy print?

What print management, at the server? If at the client, no wonder.

McKnife: I have checked the versions on the client and the server and they match.  I have disabled use easy print first and rebooted server and tried to print again and had same issue.

And I have confirmed via RSOP that it (try easy print first) is disabled.

Ok, different approach. Let's see if any redirected printer works as expected. Use a virtual printer "Microsoft print to PDF" and see if it works when redirected or if it produces a PDF that shows anomalies as well. I guess it will work. If so, please try another printer if one is available to try with.

How does a Windows test page print (from Printer Properties > Print Test Page).

Is the page that is shown in your image a page of text? In that case there could be a font problem. Not that I've ever seen fonts printed like this, but there is a first time for everything ;-) In that case, what is the font, and is the driver set to download fonts, or use hardware fonts?

I give up.  I am going to try to use HP ePrint and see if that works.  McKnife, just for shits and giggles I will try your last suggestion as I am beyond frustrated at this point.