problems printing from the console

[Adrian Sandor]

Hello all,

This is a 2000 Pro SP4 computer; it used to work perfectly
fine, but recently it started having these problems:
Every time I open a command prompt and type "print
somefile.txt", I get a message box saying "spoolsv.exe has
generated errors and will be closed by Windows. You will
need to restart the program. An error log is being
generated" and the print spooler dies. I couldn't manage
to find the error log.

I am able to get the spooler back on with these commands:
net stop "print spooler"
del C:\WINNT\system32\spool\PRINTERS\*
net start "print spooler"
(probably the first one is useless)

Afterwards, when I try printing from the console again, it
says "Unable to initialize device PRN" first, then later
it gives the same error.

Printing from Windows (e.g. notepad) works fine. However,
we have a console (or DOS?) program that we need to use
and can't replace, and we need to be able to print from it.

The only changes that were made on this computer (between
the time when it used to work and now) were adding the
computer to a windows 2000 domain (active directory) and
installing updates (automatic and windows update).

Please help me solve this problem.

Thanks,
Adrian

 

[Bruce Sanderson]

This kind of problem is usually printer driver specific. Make sure you have
the correct printer driver for Windows 2000 - check the printer
manufacturer's web site for updates.

Try removing the printer and everything related to it - see
http://members.shaw.ca/bsanders/CleanPrinterDrivers.htm for how to do this
thoroughly.

 

[Adrian Sandor]

Try removing the printer and everything related to it - see
http://members.shaw.ca/bsanders/CleanPrinterDrivers.htm for how to do this
thoroughly.

I thought I did that before and it didn't help. But I did it again and it
seems to work now.
I'm still having problems with some other printer drivers, but I'll manage
them.

Thanks
Adrian