Can't Print to a network Printer

First, I'll assume the clients that CAN print are Win 9x clients as well. (If they are only NT clients then you can probably guess what's wrong.)

Second, you said you deleted the printer and re-added it. I assume you mean on the client machine. Did you have the printer driver replaced? What I mean is did you delete the printer and the drivers, then re-add the printer with a brand new set of drivers?

Third, the biggest problem I've run into with Win9x users printing on the network is that they weren't logged in. (i.e. the printer is greyed out.) Then it's a simple re-log on for the user, make sure Work Offline isn't checked on the printer and that's it.

If none of that stuff is it, then create a new printer on the server usingthe same hardware printer and see if the clients in question can print to that.

One suggestion I can think of is try running winipcfg from the start menu, and verify that the clients are getting an ip. If they are getting one you may want to release it and then reboot, and verify that it picked up an ip.

Since it's a TCP/IP printer, check to see if you can PING the printer. This will confirm if it's a connectivity problem or not. If you can PING the printer, open the printer properties page and print a test page. Can the users print from the DOS command line? Like: net print //server/printername filename.txt

Don

You may also want to verify that the printer and the client are running on the same subnet. If you have multiple schemes in DHCP with different subnets, If the printer and client are on different subnets that would explain it. hth If not please feelfree to email me.

First I am going to assume that they are printing to \\server\share and not using Jetadmin or the like. This being the case is the share name longer than 12 characters? How about the server name? I have seen issues with long share names printing erratically. try sharing it as something simple like test and connecting to that.

Hope this helps
Howie Erickson

Try Stop and then restarting the spooler service on the NT print server

- Check if the printer driver used on the Win NT Server has been changed, if it has then you'll need to update the win9x clients with the new printer driver.

- It is possible the sharing settings on the print server for the printer has changed,in this case you need to make sure that the sharing is set up so that it supports win9x client connections.

- Check whether the win9x client usernames are locked on the NT domain.

Hope this helps you out,

Rafik El-Raheb.

Do you get error messages on the client or server when trying to print?

If so, please post your error messages here so we have a better shot at helping you.

If you are getting "access denied" error messages when trying to print, try deleting the user's PWL file on the Win95 machine. If this doesn't work, you could try adding the printer share to the NullSessionShares registry key on the server so that security is bypassed for access to the printer.

If there are no messages but the print jobs disappear without printing, it could be the printer spool settings - see Q172929 - Windows 95 Print Jobs Disappear from Windows NT Print Queue

Another possibility is that updated drivers were installed locally on the clients over the top ofold drivers. This can result in broken drivers for many HP printers. Try a manual deletion of the driver files and registry entries for the printer on the client (not on the server, since it is working for your other clients).

2 questions:
1. Are you using HP Jet Direct print servers?
2. Are you using Lexmark Print servers.

I have found that Lexmark and NT do not get along very well. But,
1. If you install the latest Lexmark Monitor on the print server, assign theprint server an IP address, and set it up with the latest drivers from the CD, have all the clients reboot because so they can get the latest drivers from the server. If you are installing HP, same procedure, and reboot the machines so they can get the latest drivers.
2. If that doesn't work, try changing the drivers to an older set... don't ask me why, but I have found that new drivers on the Lexmark 4.7 CD have problems.
3. Start and stop the spooler.
4. Create a new print queue with the same properties and see if you can print to that one.
5. Do your test pages print?

If this doesn't work, make sure you have the latest service pack on the server also (at least 5). Hope this helps. Good luck

This may be way off, but if the any of the computers on the network are using DLC protocol (IBM calls it LLC) the first one grabbing the printer will keep exclusive control of the printer until the computer or printer is powered down. The "HP Network Port" that is most common on NT4 identifies the printer by MAC address instead of IP address. These connections are definitely DLC. I know you only mention TCP/IP, but I've never heard anyone describe there printing as using DHCP. If this seemslike it descibes your problem, select the "HP Network Port" and press settings. There select control by print job.

Are you using simple file and print sharing on the NT server ? Are you using LPR Print services Via a NIC in the Printer ? Are you using external print servers example: Jet Directs - What protocols are you using on the LAN ? Are you using dual nics in the server ?

The fact that other users are able to print to the same printer isolates the problem to the two Win9x machines. The most probable cause for this may be that the port is not configured for the printer on these two machines. No port will be selected.Check this out on printer properties.

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