printers that wont go away

[mal]

I have a problem with printers that wont die !
Some work stations when some users log on have printers that haven't
existed for months - they show up in the printers and faxes window
(on XP Pro ) with the message 'unable to connect permission denied'
The printer and queue have been removed from the (Win2K ) server.
writing a script that uses WshNet.RemovePrinterConnection won't get
rid of them as it barfs with 'printer not found' but they are still
there in printes and faxes - using prnmgr -x won't get rid of them
and if you delete them by hand in printers and faxes they re appear
after a couple of seconds
where the heck are they hiding ?

regards

mal

 

[Alan Morris\(MSFT\)]

If they were added with rundll32 /ga you will need to remove them with /gd

/ga add per machine printer connections (the connection will be
propagated to the user upon logon)
/gd delete per machine printer connections (the connection will be
deleted upon user logon)




--
Alan Morris
Windows Printing Team
Search the Microsoft Knowledge Base here:
http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=fh;[ln];kbhowto

This posting is provided "AS IS" with no warranties, and confers no rights.

 

[mal]

I don't know how they were added - apparently they are printers that
were there before I even started working there - although I suspect they
might be Netware related somehow ( the site was Netware + XP before we
went Win2k3 and XP - again way before my time )- They appear
(apparently) randomly, one user can log into a mchine and the printers
are correct ( 2 ) another user can come to the machine and there can be
the 2 correct printers and sometimes 4 more that appear from nowhere

I have some nice scripts ( carefully copied from the MS vbs site ) that
adds printers OK will that rundll32 thingy reliably kill these rogue
printers ?

thanks

mal

 

[Alan Morris\(MSFT\)]

Check the registry for local printers
HKLM\System\CurrentControlSet\Control\Print

printers added using rundll32 /ga will appear here as well as Netware
printer connections. You will see the name as
,,Netwareserver,printershare
It's a connection that the spooler has been tricked into thinking is local

User connections are in the registry at

HKCU\Printer\Connections

If you do not see these in the UI in order to delete then and feel
comfortable working in the registry, delete the ,, printers that seem to be
the problematic ones and stop and start the spooler service.

Check for logon scripts as well.


--
Alan Morris
Windows Printing Team
Search the Microsoft Knowledge Base here:
http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=fh;[ln];kbhowto

This posting is provided "AS IS" with no warranties, and confers no rights.