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Network Printing Issue

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by honu95

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Hello,

I have an HP designjet installed and shared on an XP SP2 machine which acts as the print server. Another client machine XP SP2 can see the printer and connect to it but when I print:

1. Job shows up in the queue and status says "printed" (I made it so that past jobs stay listed in the queue).
2. When I go to the printer, it's not there. I have to log on as a user of the machine and then it starts to print.

How to I make it so that the print server can be logged off but still accept and spool print jobs?

Thanks in advance!

10 replies

by bfilmfan

Won't be possible as XP is not a server OS.

Someone will have to be logged into the local system with rights to allow the print spooler to operate. You could grant each user administrative rights on the box to print, but it will still have to be "logged in."

by bfilmfan

If they are members of a domain, then the share should be reachable even if no one is logged into the XP system, since the workstation should always be a member of the domain.

If they are really in a workgroup, then the exact issue you described will happen.

by allthegoodnamesweregone

should be possible. i don't see any reason it wouldn't be.

are these machines part of a workgroup? domain?

what is the startup type set as on the Print Spooler service?

by honu95

Computers are domain-joined. PS startup type is automatic.

Is there any way to force the PS service to run without a profile being loaded/logged on?

Thanks the both of you for your quick responses!

by kevin.square

possible that because of the way the printer port is defined that it isn't active until a user logs on. eg. hp print utility of some sort is not running as a service but loads, maybe to system tray, at user logon.
To test, On the machine serving the print server role I'd suggest creating a simple printer connected to lpt1 and sharing it out. connect whatever printer to lpt1 and see what happens. then go from there.

by honu95

I'll settle for leaving an admin account logged on but locked. It makes sense that it won't connect, as logging out closes network connections, etc. If I do need to find an alternative solution, I'll try your suggestion. Thanks!

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