Unable to RDP/PaperCut unresponsive on Virtual Printer Server every morning

[JordanT91]

Hi all, I've got a bit of an odd issue with a virtual print server. Both the VM and the Hyper-V host are Windows Server 2012 R2.

 

Every morning when I go to check PaperCut the webpage doesn't load. I then go to RDP to the server and it times out. Pings to the server are absolutely fine, no dropped packets and all responses under 1ms. The server still serves print jobs. To fix the issue I have to RDP to the host, connect to the server and restart it. When I'm in the server I can see there is pretty much nothing using the CPU, RAM or NIC. The RDP and PaperCut services are all running. The server is shut down at midnight every night for backups.

 

I can't think of any possible reason for this. Has anyone got any ideas?

[DJamesS]

Hi there. Just a couple of thoughts on this. When the shutdown occurs, is that a scheduled controlled shutdown of the VM with Papercut on it? I assume it is. It sounds as though the server perhaps hasn't successfully been through the shutdown. It is as though the server has started a shutdown process, hence RDP and Papercut services no longer respond as such. It is worth having a look through the System Event Log, particularly looking for USER32 events around midnight. Assuming such an event is present and details the shutdown, have a further look through for errors, and also the point at which the Event Log service is stopped. You might get a clear indication of whether the shutdown has occurred. Hope this gives you a lead on where the problem is.

A further indication could be to setup a free edition of PRTG or Spiceworks Network Monitor, and get it to push out an email when contact with the server is lost (no response to Ping). That would confirm whether the server does fully shutdown too.

Anyway, hope this helps or at least gives you some avenues to explore.

[datar_]

It is worth having a look through the System Event Log, particularly looking for USER32 events around midnight.

 

^^ This. It sounds like to me it is halting on Shutdown. Killing as much as it can before it's getting stuck at something.

 

How are you shutting the server down? Are you forcing the shutdown or just shutting down.

Does it need to be shutdown for backups? As far as I am aware, most backup programs on Windows leech off VSS that can back up VM's whilst running.

and if not why shut it down? If telling the VM to shutdown is causing issues, why not just leave it running.

[twin--turbo]

Why are you shutting down?

 

TT

[JordanT91]

Ah! I scheduled it to reboot every night because of a print driver issue I had a while back, it seemed to help avoid the printing issues until I could find a permanent solution. I found a permanent solution, but I forgot to remove the scheduled reboot! I just assumed that Windows Backup on the host was doing the reboot nightly for some reason.

 

Thanks for the help guys, I just needed a fresh perspective I think.