Printer Ports keep disappearing!

[nizmoz]

Not sure what is going on, but 75% of the time when a user logs into any of our machines that have Windows 7 the ports disappear and they can't print. The spooler is running. If I restart it, it seems to fix it, or reboot sometimes it will fix it. I have been fighting this for over 2 months and can't figure it out.

I have loaded the latest drivers I can get for the printers. I also turned off the Print services under Windows features. I adjusted the Print and Point info in gpedit.msc. What else am I missing here? This is causing major issues at my work that people are starting to get frustrated. There has to be a fix for this. Any ideas?

These printers are mapped on a Win2003 server to the network and only these Windows 7 systems have this issue.

This morning I removed the drivers from the script and server, reinstalled newer drivers and generic ones that work for HP and Samsung with Win7, and still have the same issue. The Ports on the printers that are listed with all the IPs disappear. Print Spooler still is running and the printers are still listed.

 

[patwhatsthat]

just a shot in the dark because I haven't personally experienced this particular problem. But perhaps, the spool service is starting before certain network resources become available and as a consequence the network printers are not available in a timely manner. You might try on one of the Win7 machines checking how the network services are starting and or perhaps adjust the print spool service to a delayed start. Again just a shot in the dark

 

[nizmoz]

Where is the order setup on which services start? I am unfamiliar with this part. Thanks!

 

[patwhatsthat]

click start (or whatever we are now calling the Win7 Orb on extreme left of your taskbar) click run, type services.msc the services are listed and the startup types can be examined by double clicking on them individually. The drop down arrow will allow you to adjust how the services start.

 

[nizmoz]

click start (or whatever we are now calling the Win7 Orb on extreme left of your taskbar) click run, type services.msc the services are listed and the startup types can be examined by double clicking on them individually. The drop down arrow will allow you to adjust how the services start.

I can see a delayed start. Just not sure how long it will wait as the login script runs the printer scripts.

 

[patwhatsthat]

me either, but trying it on one of the Win7 machines shouldn't hurt you can always set it back to automatic. Did you say in your original post, that restarting the print spooler service always fixes the problem. I know that you said rebooting will sometimes fix it.

 

[nizmoz]

Well, I tried it on my PC, and while I was on it, the ports disappeared after having these printers on it. I restarted the Print Spooler, and the ports came back and it was okay. Now why is Print Spooler shuting down on it's own?!

 

[patwhatsthat]

Usually this problem is associated with some third party applications and the list is pretty long. Some involve third party VPN solutions, some involve third party remote control, some even applications that put their own proprietary printer onto your system. Is there anything like this running in your environment?

 

[nizmoz]

Nope, as these machines are all clean installs. And its every machine that has Win7 not just a few.

 

[patwhatsthat]

do me a favor and check your event viewer and the event viewer on the 2003 server, both application and system events and see if we can get some insight there. And one more thing, is this a domain or workgroup environment.

 

[nizmoz]

do me a favor and check your event viewer and the event viewer on the 2003 server, both application and system events and see if we can get some insight there. And one more thing, is this a domain or workgroup environment.

Already done that. They both do not show anything as Print Spooler still shows it's running when I restart it.

Domain. I now brought in a contractor to assist me with this. They also have one other customer that has the same problem on his Win7 machines and we haven't found a way to resolve it. What we did yesterday to try, is move those printers to our Win08 server we just installed 2 weeks ago. So far I haven't heard one complaint and my own PC hasn't disconnected like it was either since then.

 

[spader]

Try this. We had the same issue and had to go to Microsoft PS to get it sorted out.
Windows 7 Printer Ports disappear when connecting to a Server 2003/R2 Print Server
Problem
The Win7 laptops could not print after returning to work in the morning.

Cause
The Win7 client was trying to communicate with the printer server via the Asynchronous RPC protocol. This protocol is a new protocol only supported in Windows 2008 and Windows 2008 R2 printer serves. Because your printer server is Windows 2003, it does not support this Asynchronous RPC protocol so the Win7 client failed to communicate with it.

Solution
To resolve the problem, we configured the following registry value in the GPO:

Registry full path: HKLM\Software\Policies\Microsoft\Windows NT\Printers\EnabledProtocols
Type: DWORD
Data: 6

This will disallow the use of the Asynchronous RPC protocol on the client, so the client will always try to communicate with the normal RPC protocol and therefore the problem should not happen again.

 

[jdickson289]

Hi Everyone,
My name is John Dickson and I work on the Performance Team specializing in printing support at Microsoft.

We may have found a resolution to this issue. Starting in Windows Vista and in Windows 7 we introduced Asynchronous RPC which speeds up communication to a Windows 2008/2008 R2 Server. Windows Server 2003 doesn't support this new protocol and when Windows 7 tries to communicate using Async RPC, this is most likely causing the temporary loss of communication.

The result is the blank driver tab and port tab.

The work around is to disable Async RPC by adding the following registry key on the Windows 7/Vista clients:

HKLM\Software\Policies\Microsoft\Windows NT\Printers\EnabledProtocols
Type: DWORD
Data: 6

Moving your print servers to Server 2008/2008 R2 resolves the issue also as they support Asynchronous RPC.

We will be posting a public facing article on this issue soon.

 

[hayou]

I have tried this with no success. The ports on the printer settings keeps disappearing. I am however printing to a windows server 2003 R2 64bit. I am wanting to deploy 7 to my other users but will need a fix prior to then. Come on MS.

 

[edalera]

same here, ive added Reg key and got the same problem 30min later, My client are win7 to a win2003 domain... any ideas to fix this?

 

[eduncan01]

Hi Everyone,

I don't know if people are still having issues with this, but thought I would share what worked for me.
Regarding Registry full path: HKLM\Software\Policies\Microsoft\Windows NT\Printers\EnabledProtocols
Type: DWORD
Data: 6

I tried using the registry edit above and I didn't even have "EnabledProtocols" listed under Printers, but added it and still nothing.

I did however notice when I would start the print spooler service and then double click my default printer, there was a print job that would try printing but would keep getting stuck in the queue, therefore possibly killing the print spooler service.

I manually deleted the print jobs in C:\Windows\System32\Spool\PRINTERS
and the print spooler service remained running after I restarted it.

Hope it helps someone.

 

[edalera]

works

The registry fix worked for me! I just created a gpo to add it to the registry.

The work around is to disable Async RPC by adding the following registry key on the Windows 7/Vista clients:

HKLM\Software\Policies\Microsoft\Windows NT\Printers\EnabledProtocols
Type: DWORD
Data: 6

 

[jdickson289]

Issue resolved via Hotfix 2388142

Hi Everyone,
We have resolved this issue via hotfix 2388142 which can be downloaded from article http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;en-US;2388142.

To obtain this hotfix, use the link above and click on "View and Request Hotfix Downloads" or use link on the right hand pane to Chat with a support professional who can send the hotfix.

Thanks for your patience!
Best regards,
John

 

[FredrikS]

Hi John,
Thanks much for pointing out this hotfix!

One question: does this also apply to Windows Vista and 2008 (R1)? If so, what is the recommended fix? I've read much about the Asynch RPC issue in various forums, but I'm not able to find a clear answer to whether or not these operating systems are affected.

Thanks!