Disable Print Job Notification Balloon

[Kathy Meegan]

Is there a way to disable the print job notification balloon in the system
tray from the print server so it doesn't have to be configured on each
workstation? On the print server I have tried Start/Printers and
Faxes/File/Server Properties/Advanced/Unchecked "Show informational messages
for network printers" but that doesn't work even after stopping and
restarting the print spooler. Can this be set up as a group policy? Can we
somehow set the balloon to only appear for a few seconds instead of 15 or 20?
Can the balloon be setup so it only appears if there is a problem printing?

[lforbes]

I haven't been able to disable the print job notification balloon on the
workstations but it doesn't show up on my print server ever?

With my network I have 40 printers installed on my print server and then the
workstations connect to the shared printers. When I print from a shared
printer on my workstation the balloon shows for a few seconds saying that the
print job went to the printer. That is all though. It is never long enough to
even cancel it from the balloon.

Is the balloon showing up on the printer constantly everytime someone
prints, or are you talking about the workstations?

What type of printers are you using?

I am on holiday's this week so I don't have the server in front of me.
However, if you could reply with a few more details I can check when I am
back next week.

[Thee Chicago Wolf]

One of two things you can try: If it's an HP printer, change the print
processor to WinPrint. The one that HP install is the one that brings
up the print process monitor window or pop-up balloon. Otherwise, you
can disable just balloon-tips altogether.

No problem. Go to your printer, right-click and choose Properties.
Click the Advanced tab, down on the bottom is print processor. Click
the button and see what the settings are currently. Maybe write them
down if for some reason you need to revert back a setting. You can
also stop and disable the PML DRIVER HPZ12 service which works in
tandem with the pop-up. It's evil evil evil and buggy. Again, this
assumes you've got HP printers. Let the group know how it goes.

[Kathy Meegan]

Thank you for the response. Sorry I didn't have more specifics.

The issue is every time a user prints the balloon appears in the task tray
of their Windows XP sp2 workstation and stays there for between 15-20
seconds. We have HP printers.

We did figure out a way to stop it from appearing by following
http://support.microsoft.com/kb/873147/ and selecting "Always Hide" but I was
hoping there would be a way to accomplish this on the server. I guess we'll
just go with the workstation change.

Thanks for the reply. Sorry to be so dense but how exactly do I change the
print processor to Winprint?

I'm thinking we will probably just turn the balloon off on each workstation.

I can't believe I never noticed the Print Processor button there before.
Guess I wasn't looking.

On the print server I verified the print processors. One of them was set to
WinPrint and the other 2 weren't. All 3 printers when printed to will
produce the balloon on in the tast tray of the workstation so I'm not going
to mess with that.

I am just going to modify each workstation's taskbar properties to always
hide the printer notification.

Are you getting as much snow as we are in
Wisconsin? I'm thinking I should have taken the day off.

Oh, you don't happen to know how to give a small group of users permissions
to delete print jobs from the queue do you?

[lforbes]

How are your HP printers added to the server? I found that HP likes to have
their own HP Printer TCP/IP port rather than just the standard tcp/ip printer
port. Lexmark was this way too.

I found if I added just standard tcp/ip ports they took a lot longer to print.

May have something to do with it. 15-20 seconds sounds like there is a hang
between the printer and the actual job leaving the print window.

The balloon stays up usually as long as the print job is in the print
window. Once it goes to the printer the balloon closes.

I have so much experience with the Print Processor, don't even get me
started. HPs print processor hijacks it if you install HP drivers. 99%
of folks have no idea until they stupid pop-up appears letting you
know you've just printed a document. The problem is it is so buggy and
interferes with the job itself most of the time. We have a
print-management software that hates the HP print processor and
randomly errors out jobs in the queue. When it's set to WinPrint, we
barely ever have any issues. I've always turned of the HP PML service
both on the client and server side and it's been smooth ever since.
You should know though that if you ever reboot the print server, those
damned HP print processors sometimes reinstate themselves.

We are not getting as much as you in terms of snow but out my window
there's a good 3-4 inches. So much for Spring!

Well, as for select user managing jobs, how about giving them
membership to the Print Operators group? Take a peek at this info
here:
http://technet2.microsoft.com/window....mspx?mfr=true

Here's a Microsoft article that tells how to disable Print Job Notification
on XP machines:
http://support.microsoft.com/default...b;en-us;308217

[Kathy Meegan]

Sounds like your experience with print processors has been anything but
pleasant. I have noticed the bugginess you're talking about even though we
are just in the testing phase. We're moving from Novell ndps printing to
Windows printing. I'm just not getting those warm fuzzies from Windows
printing as yet even though I was a big advocate to get away from Novell.

Regarding deleting jobs from the queue, I did try adding a user to the
Printer Operators group on the domain controller and they still couldn't
delete a job. Domain admins, on the other hand, can delete jobs. Maybe the
Windows guy has it locked down somehow. I'll have to check it out and let
you know.

We are just using the Standard TCP/IP ports for printing. I talked to our
Windows Admin and he said he didn't want to use the HP port due to security
reasons.

I'm just going to turn the balloon off on each workstation from the task bar
per KB873147. If a user wants to see the balloon we can easily turn it back
on.

[Thee Chicago Wolf]

Well, there are a few post-SP2 hotfixes that have to be applied to
make the environment more stable as a print server. If you need the
info on them, let me know.

It kind of stinks that Microsoft's own Technet docs say all you have
to do is A when in reality you have to jump through a bunch of hoops
(a.k.a. B) to get what you want done. Hopefully it'll work as a
solution.

The following will make you even more of an expert. I've been passing
this info along to other who've been having gremlins and odd issues so
you may as well know before you start ripping your hair out.

You may want to apply the following hotfixes:
1) http://support.microsoft.com/KB/946198
This was fixed pre-SP2 (KB923218) but in SP2 they did not implement
the fix. Would be a 1st thing to try in your case since it probably
SNMP related and contingent on the printer being online. Helped us
immensely.

2) http://support.microsoft.com/kb/934885
SP2 caused a lot of grief for us with stuck jobs and other "error"
gremlins. This helped immensely as well.

3) http://support.microsoft.com/kb/944203
If you can avoid .NET framework 3.0, do. If you've installed .NET 3.0
framework, you should have this installed.

4) http://support.microsoft.com/kb/947477
Be aware of this random craziness with HP printers.

[Kathy Meegan]

I checked this out and it seems to be only be an
option for someone who has full rights to the printer. Normal users don't
seem to get this option.

We've decided to just set it on the workstations individually.
http://support.microsoft.com/kb/873147/

I was hoping we could set rights to delete print jobs either on the server
itself or on via group policies but it doesn't seem like I can. So, I ended
up giving members of the printer operators group rights on each individual
printer through the printer properties on the Security tab.

Yep, I totally agree! The good thing is I'm finding out a boatload of stuff
out about Windows printing. I may even be an expert when I'm done with this!

Thank you so much! It's great not to have to reinvent the wheel especially
since I'm no expert to begin with.

We just found out that Windows printers are attached to user's profiles and
we don't have roaming profiles. It just couldn't be a slam dunk like I was
hoping now could it?

[Thee Chicago Wolf]

Yes, the ability to push out printers to folks based on where they're
located via script and policies is nice but it is not flawless and
without a few grey hairs. It takes a while to find that happy medium.
By the way, Microsoft just released a hotfix to the .NET 3.0 bug that
hosed printing multiple copies on Word & Excel 2003. Check it out
here:
http://support.microsoft.com/kb/948046

You might also want to know about this printer related KB article that
just came out for slow printing with LPR / TCP/IP connected printers.
I plan on trying it out to see if my 4300s and 8150s get any benefit
out of it. Check it out here: http://support.microsoft.com/kb/948046

[Kathy Meegan]

Thanks again! Now I have lots to look at, lucky me.

Oh, what is the KB for the slow TCP/IP printing? It looks like you put the
same one twice.

[gkk2u]

This solution is on the Microsoft website under knowledgebase.

To Enable or Disable Notifications of Completed Print Jobs
Click Start, and then click Printers and Faxes.
On the File menu, click Server Properties.
On the Advanced tab click the options you want to apply:

Show informational notifications for local printers. This option notifies users when a job is printed on a printer that is attached to this computer.

Show informational notifications for network printers. This option notifies users of this computer when a job is printed on a remote computer.

For client computers that are running versions of Windows earlier than Microsoft Windows 2000 that access the printers on this computer, there are additional configuration options to choose from:

Notify when remote documents are printed. This option sends a message to the user who sent a job to a printer that is attached this computer.

Notify computer, not user, when remote documents are printed. This option sends a message to the computer from which the print job was sent, regardless of which computer on which the sending user is currently logged on.