Solved Word 2010 suddenly lost all printers and won't add them back

Kareng

New member
Local time
4:23 PM
Messages
3
While I was printing a document on Word 2010 Monday (using a Dell studio s15z laptop), and the printer just stopped mid-job. Troubleshooting, I turned it off, rebooted the laptop -- and now Word has no printers, it has even lost the option to print to a pdf file through Adobe Acrobat. When I try to add a printer I get "The Active Domain Directory Services is currently unavailable". I can still see the printers in "Devices and Printers" and just downloaded a new driver for the printer I have here at work (an HP Laserjet 1018). I print via USB cable, not a network, and can still see other printers (available via network, which I don't use) when I try to add a device via the control panel. But Word sees nothing and refused to 'add'. What gives? (updating Adobe Acrobat didn't help either)
 

My Computer My Computer

At a glance

Windows 7 Home Premium 64 bit
Computer Manufacturer/Model Number
Dell studio s15z
OS
Windows 7 Home Premium 64 bit
Addendum. I have a new tab labelled Acrobat and can indeed print to a pdf via that tab. So perhaps this is a driver issue after all?
 

My Computer My Computer

At a glance

Windows 7 Home Premium 64 bit
Computer Manufacturer/Model Number
Dell studio s15z
OS
Windows 7 Home Premium 64 bit
Go into Devices and Printers and check which is your default printer. If you want to change it, just right-click the required printer icon and choose "Set as default printer".
 

My Computer My Computer

At a glance

Windows 7 Ultimate SP1 64-BitIntel Core i7 870 @ 2.93GHz8Gb Dual-Channel DDR3 @ 664MHznVidia GeForce GTX 460 1024MB dedicated RAM
Computer Manufacturer/Model Number
HP Pavilion Elite 495UK
OS
Windows 7 Ultimate SP1 64-Bit
CPU
Intel Core i7 870 @ 2.93GHz
Motherboard
MSI 2A9C (CPU1)
Memory
8Gb Dual-Channel DDR3 @ 664MHz
Graphics Card(s)
nVidia GeForce GTX 460 1024MB dedicated RAM
Sound Card
Realtek HD Audio
Monitor(s) Displays
HP2310i
Screen Resolution
1920 x 1080
Hard Drives
1x1954GB Hitachi HDS22020ALA 330 (RAID), 1x1954GB Hitachi External for backup and storage
PSU
460W
Case
HP Elite
Cooling
Air cooled
Keyboard
Logitech K750 solar-powered keyboard
Mouse
Logitech Wireless M180 mouse
Internet Speed
2Mb
Other Info
Pure Avanti Flow Internet Radio with iPod Dock, 64Gb iPod, HP USB Speakers, Sony MDR-V500 Headphones, Sony Vaio F-Series Laptop
Actually, HP had a general driver fix program that solved the issue, even though a driver specific to my printer did not. Great job HP! Problem solved.
 

My Computer My Computer

At a glance

Windows 7 Home Premium 64 bit
Computer Manufacturer/Model Number
Dell studio s15z
OS
Windows 7 Home Premium 64 bit
Back
Top