General Printing Issues (Default Printer)(Excel)(Outlook)

[gogerc]

We are currently planning to upgrade to Vista with SP1 to around 10000
desktops and have the same issue with all test PCs. (Around 20)

*either cannot set default printer. (This can be achieved if the spooler
service is stopped and then started again)
*Default printer changes when rebooted (defaults to XPS document writer
*no printers are renumerated in Excel (2003 sp3 or 2007 sp1)until spooler
service is stopped and started.
*Printers in Outlook are renumerated but 50 /50 if they actually print.
Request does not even get to the server Q.

All network print queues are on windows server 2003 sp1 or sp2, we do not
want to delete the XPS document printer as mentioned in other forum questions
/ Answers

All drivers on the Qs are Vista.

[Alan Morris [MSFT]]

The test machines have SP1 or the Vista RTM original release build?

[gogerc]

They have the new SP1 Build. No Group Policies are applied.

Hope this Helps.

[gogerc]

Well this has now been 6 weeks and not answers from Microsoft. I thought
Technet Subscibers get responses within 1 business day.

We are still having an issue with the changing the default printer. Starting
and stopping the spooler corrects the error.

[EA Customer]

Alan:

I downloaded the latest Vista with SP1 ISO image from the licensing portal
and the latest version appear to fix this problem although I cannot tell the
difference between the 2 built since they have the same built image version
and the exact service pack level.

The dilemma I have now is how do I go about fixing those early vista desktop
without having to rebuild the whole OS? Can you provide a link to the
hotfix that might have address this instead of having users to reinstall the
whole OS plus additional packages which I believe many users are looking for?
Having these bad built is nothing but bad publicity for Microsoft. It
doesn't help Microsoft in selling Windows Vista with additional bad user
experience simply because Microsoft doesn't care to respond.

If there are a readily available hotfix, can you just let us know or do we
have to swamp Microsoft Professional support for this hotfix to be release to
general corporate users? Thank you.

[Alan Morris [MSFT]]

I assume you have having an issue with default printer. I'd like to get
some additional info specifically about setting the default from command
line. I don't know of any hotfixes but I don't work in support.

Was the connection created using Add Printer or was this a logon script or
other method?

What is the print driver used in the connection?

Is there another shared printers on another machine that you can connect
using Add Printer and set as default?

What is the value under the default printer key
HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows
NT\CurrentVersion\Windows\Device?

Is the printer status "Ready" when setting as the default or is it in some
other status.

I'll assume you are logged on as a domain user that does not have admin
rights on the machine.

Can you set the default printer using the command line tools included in
Vista? If this is possible then it points to a UI issue if it's not then we
might get an error.

\windows\system32\printing_admin-scripts\en-us
prnmngr.vbs -t sets the default printer

C:\Windows\System32\Printing_Admin_Scripts\en-US>cscript prnmngr.vbs -ac -p
"\\server\printer"
Microsoft (R) Windows Script Host Version 5.7
Copyright (C) Microsoft Corporation. All rights reserved.

Added printer connection \\\server\printer

C:\Windows\System32\Printing_Admin_Scripts\en-US>cscript prnmngr.vbs -t -p
"\\server\printer"
Microsoft (R) Windows Script Host Version 5.7
Copyright (C) Microsoft Corporation. All rights reserved.

The default printer is now \\server\printer

[EA Customer]

Thank you so much for your prompt respond. I'll try your setting default
printer script and see if the settings will stick. Will let you know when I
tested it today.

The value you requested on my workstation is:
HKCU\Software\Microsoft\Windows NT\CurrentVersion\Windows\Device has string
value \\fsgbl4\lp-sys,winspool,Ne04:

Since the vbscript need to run in elevated mode, are there workaround to
execute this in elevated rights to add new printer so new printer can be
installed correctly from the domain login scripts and set to default. I
suppose we can inject the driver to the built so it won't prompt for driver
installation when adding new printer for the first time.

[Alan Morris [MSFT]]

the script does not need to run elevated if the connection is for the user.
You can disable the prompts via domain policy


Point and Print Security on Windows Vista

http://www.microsoft.com/whdc/device...staPnPSec.mspx



You are prompted to install a new printer driver in Windows Vista when you
try to print to a Windows Server 2008-based print server or to a Windows
Server 2003-based print server

http://support.microsoft.com/kb/946225