Print Settings Reset on Server Restart

[Wilts_IT_Support]

Fairly low/mid tier technician here. We have a Windows 2019 server set up as a print server. We mostly use PaperCut for bulk printing but have a couple of individual printers in offices. These individual ones are setup to print directly to the printer, rather than spooling.

 

Whenever the server restarts that setting ticks back over to 'Spool print documents so program finishes printing faster' which stops it working. Anyone know why/how to stop it? I've tried my usual base of Google but I can't seem to phrase it in a way Google gives me answers.

[Koldov]

Not got Papercut or Server 2019 here, so I don't know if either of those things would affect this issue specifically, but possibly going to depend on the set-up, how the printers are deployed to clients (GPO/GPP/Manually installed drivers) if there are differences to how they and are set on the server, also driver version etc.

 

If you can look on a client machine and the drivers on the server side-by-side as it were and go through the settings, you may find one is overriding the other.

 

EDIT: Actually looking at your OP, do you mean the settings in the driver on the server are being reset or the settings at the client end?

Edited March 18, 2022 by Koldov

[Wilts_IT_Support]

The setting itself is in 'Print Management' on the server. Just right clicking the printer > properties > advanced. Then the 'Spool print documents so program finishes printing faster' has been set to active, rather than 'Print directly to the printer'. I imagine it changes on the client as well as they grab their settings from the server as far as I am aware.

[Koldov]

I'm afraid I don't know if Papercut directly affects the driver settings, or if Server 2019 has changed anything in the print server role (although I doubt it).

 

But essentially the settings look like this...

 

 

Only on a server restart, they look like this...

 

 

Just to check, these are Type 3 x 64 - User Mode drivers...?

 

Are there any other drivers for these printers on the server, any other print queues using these printers?

 

What do you have in the 'Sharing' tab in 'render print jobs on client computers'?

 

Is 'bidirectional support' ticked in the Ports tab?

 

In the 'Security' tab, do only the Administrators have 'manage this printer' permissions?

 

Just another thought, is there any reason the other printers aren't set to 'print directly', or do you mean all the printers are and just these ones reset?

 

I'm not sure why this would mean they don't print when it is reset... we have all our printers both to 'render on client' (Sharing tab) and 'print directly' (Advanced tab), but I wouldn't expect them not to print if I reset it to spool...

 

EDIT: I used to have a problem with server settings changing, years and years ago (so I can't remember the exact issue or fix) but it was something to do with the fact we use Windows Job accounting from the driver and we had an issue with a printer install on a client. I manually installed it as Administrator, somehow the settings on the client changed the Job Accounting settings on the server, so every time they printed it stopped everyone else...

Edited March 18, 2022 by Koldov

[Koldov]

Just as a reason for the questions about other drivers and permissions was info from these two links:

 

https://social.technet.microsoft.com/Forums/ie/en-US/49286a25-86fd-48fc-bcd5-8bf089264ef7/print-preference-setting-reset-to-default-for-windows-10-build-1607?forum=win10itprogeneral#:~:text=Although%20on%20first%20glance%20it%20seems%20to%20be%20insane%2C%20Tjohooooo%27s%20answer%20is%20actually%20correct.

 

https://forum.support.xerox.com/t5/Printing/Xerox-Printer-Drivers-on-a-server-reset-themselves-to-defaults/m-p/169399#:~:text=11%3A58%20AM-,Re%3A%20Xerox%20Printer%20Drivers%20on%20a%20server%20reset%20themselves%20to%20defaults,-I%20cant%20remember

 

But I can't seem to find anything specifically about 'server restarts and print driver defaults changing'... but of course typing anything with 'spool' + 'printer' + 'driver' into Google is a complete rabbit hole...

[Wilts_IT_Support]

Yep, that's exactly my issue.

Driver is 'Universal Printing PCL 6' for all of the affected printers.

 

A lot of other drivers on this server but they're not selected by the printers I'm talking about. No other queues on them either.

 

I do have 'Render print jobs on client computers' ticked.

'Bidirectional support' is ticked.

 

Only Administrators have 'Manage this printer' ticked.

 

Now, I know our copiers are set to spool because that's what does follow on printing in PaperCut; it's only these little office ones that are set to print directly to the printer. I don't know why specifically they're setup like this, but I do know that if the little office ones are set to spool they never actually print. Hence the need for that setting to not change on restart.

 

I've only been on this site 3 months so I'm more in try fix things as they are before I start changing things majorly. So I don't really know at all why they're setup this way, just that they do work when they are. Thanks for your replies so far!

[ADerbyshire]

Did anyone find a fix for this? I am having pretty much exactly the same problem.