Printers stop working

[Dan@Cornetser]

I have a new Dell with Windows Vista Business installed. I set it up to
connect to the network printers and everything was fully operational. I was
printing fine on 2/15/08. I came into work this morning 2/19/08 and when I
try to print I get a message saying unable to print. I get the same message
with 2 different canon printers and 1 hp laserjet printer. I tried removing
the printer and reinstalling it and there was no change. I installed it
locally and there was no change. I stopped and restarted the print spooler
and there was no change. I cannot even print a test page.
Can anyone lend some assistance?

 

[Cari \(MS-MVP\)]

Did you try System Restore to Friday?

 

[Dan@Cornetser]

I did the system restore to Friday and that did correct the problem. Have you
heard of a vista update that has been generating this problem? It is not only
effecting the printers but the control panel will not open from the start
menu. You have to open my computer, expand the folder list, then open the
control panel from there. It seems to be corrupting the MMC Snap-in.

 

[jgross]

I am having this problem also. I noticed that if you stop and restart the
software licensing service, then the control panel comes back up and you can
print again.

 

[Dan@Cornetser]

Does the contol panel and the ability to print remain after you restart?

 

[jgross]

Unfortunately, no. If you reboot or shutdown/restart, the control
panel/printers are broken again. Restarting the software licensing service
is just a quick fix, but I still haven't figured out the real culprit.

 

[Dan@Cornetser]

By doing a system restore when it starts back up the control panel/printers
are fine. I left the machine on over night then rebooted this morning and the
control panel/printers were fully operational. I belive the issue is with a
vista patch that is corrupting the MMC Snap-in. The next time the printers
and control panel do not work look in administrative tools and click print
management. you will see there is an issue with the MMC snap-in. I am still
trying to figure out what patch is causing all of these problems. I have a
lot of other machines that this will happen to if I do not block the culprit.

 

[Cari \(MS-MVP\)]

Updates from Microsoft usually only occur on the second Tuesday of every
month. However it could be another program causing the error... Adobe
updates when it likes, as does Java, your antivirus software etc etc.

 

[MNF-VA]

Thank you! thank you! I've been working since Sunday to figure out why two
PC's on my network couldn't print to the Main printer. I've uninstalled and
reinstalled. Did Restore System to Saturday before the latest Windows Update
and the problem was solved. I hope MSFT fixes this quickly. What a
nightmare!

Thanks!

 

[Alan Morris [MSFT]]

I did forward this to some other people but so far no one on the print side
of life is aware of any print related updates (other than Vista SP1).

Any help on exactly what the update file of update number is would be
helpful.

--
Alan Morris
Windows Printing Team
Search the Microsoft Knowledge Base here:
http://support.microsoft.com/search/?adv=1

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

 

[Dan@Cornetser]

There is alot more to this than just printing. The control panel cannot be
accessed from the start menu, you cannot open display properties from right
clicking on the desktop, you get no functionality in the security center,
printers will not print. I was printing fine yesterday but when I came in
this morning it was broke again. I restored to restore point of yesterday and
all was working again. This is an issue with Vista. It is not machine
specific. I know of others having the same problem. I checked the event
viewer but did not notice any updates.
Can anyone help with this?

 

[Jose]

I am using 2 HP systems with an HP 1006 laserjet being shared between the
two, it seems every 2 days the main system the printer is hooked to loses the
print drivers and I lose capability to print from both systems. This started
happening after I installed a tax software from Intelli Tax. I usually have
to uninstall my printer and re-install it in order to be able to print again.
I cannot understand why this keeps happening. Where and how do I restart
the software Licensing? Please help!!