Can't set network printer as default

[dmack410]

I work for a non-profit and I am basically the IT Department in our
organization simply because I am the one who knows the most about computers
(which isn't a lot) but there is no budget for an IT Department.

We recently upgraded to Windows Vista Business and I am running into an
issue where I can't set any network printer as the default printer. I can
install the printer fine and I can set the printer as default at installation
but once I reboot the computer, the default printer switches to Microsoft XPS
Document Writer. When I go to the printers screen, right click on the network
printer and click set as default, nothing happens. I can set other local
printers like Microsoft Office Document Image Writer and Fax as default but
those are useless to me. All our office printers are network printers.

I can delete the network printer, reinstall and set the printer as default
during installation but I lose it again once I reboot. We're running Windows
Vista Business on 4 machines right now and they are all doing it.

If anyone out there can help, I would greatly appreciate it.

Thanks a lot.

 

[Cari \(MS-MVP\)]

Disable or delete the XPS Writer. Windows will always default to the first
printer it finds on startup and it appears it's finding the local printer
(albeit a virtual one) before it's correctly joined to the network.

 

[dmack410]

Hi Cari.

Thanks for your response. I did what you asked me to - I deleted Microsoft
XPS Document Writer but the default printer became Microsoft Office Document
Image Writer so I deleted that too. Then, the default became Fax so I deleted
that. After deleting Fax, Vista told me that the default has been set to the
printer that I want but the actual printer icon didn't have the green check
mark typically used on default printers. I went into Microsoft Word and
clicked on print (not quick print) and the network printer still wasn't the
default. The network printer was on the list but the default was just empty.
I figured I would reboot to see if that would fix it but it still does the
same thing. I still am not able to select the network printer as the default
and when I click print from any program, I just have to select the network
printer manually to print to it.

Please advise. Thanks again for your response.

 

[LambChop]

I'm having the same issue you're having dmack410, but I only have it on a few
machines.

My History:
I have 10 machines running Vista. In the beginning 5 to 7 were having the
issues you described. You could print to a locally attached printer but not
to a printer that was attached through the network. We sat on hold with
Microsoft support and they were no help but in the process of debugging the
issue with them we noticed that if the client had a printer locally attached
we could print to it. So we setup a printer on a vista machine and shared
it. If we did that those some machines were able to print to it that could
print to the other networked printers (all on a 2003 server). I then setup a
test 2008 system and setup the printers. I was able to print to all the
printer we setup on the 2008 test system from all 10 of my vista machines.

BUT.... But now I'm having issues with one fo the vista machines and it will
not print to anything but a locally installed printer.

Hope this helps you.