Solved Connecting to shared printer how to fix errors 0x00000709 & 0x0000011b

[spapakons]

Connecting to shared printer how to fix errors 0x00000709 & 0x0000011b

Hello!

As I said in the thread "Who is still using Windows 7", we have several computers at work still running Windows 7. Yesterday I installed several updates in one having a shared printer (host) and as a result the other computers could not print to that printer. Removing the printer from the other computers and trying to install it again displayed error code 0x0000011b while another related error is code 0x00000709. Both errors are about insufficient access rights. This is because some of the security updates changed the way (protocol) the shared printer communicates with other computers on the network from RPC over TCP to RPC over named pipes. Of course other computers are not aware of this new method and fail to connect to the shared printer. This is not a Windows 7 issue, I have seen the same in Windows 10 and 11 as well.

How to fix it:

On the computer sharing the printer (host) open the Registry Editor (press WIN+R and execute regedit) and navigate to

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Software\Policies\Microsoft\Windows NT\Printers\RPC
(right-click on key Windows NT create missing key Printers and then right-click on key Printers and create the key RPC)

Then click on the key RPC and right-click at the right side and select to create a new DWORD (32-bit) value named RpcUseNamedPipeProtocol. Then right-click on the value, select Modify and set its data to 0 (should be already 0).

Similarly navigate to

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\System\CurrentControlSet\Control\Print

Create a new DWORD (32-bit) value named RpcAuthnLevelPrivacyEnabled and set its data to 0.

Restart your computer or the Print Spooler service.

That's it. You don't need to do it at the other computers (unless they are hosts themselves), just connect to the shared printer as usual.

PS: I hate when Microsoft "knows better" and changes things without warning and introduces bugs. Thankfully there are forums like Sevenforums to find a solution.