Server 2k8 x64 Printing issues

[Joe_Pineapples]

Hi Folks, any help appreciated here

 

I took the plunge and installed a Server 2008 in one of my schools, and just in case this wasn't enough of a headache I dcecided to go with the 64 bit edition. Everything has been fine so far with the exception of print services; however I can't get the server to share a functional IP printer to my clients.

 

The clients are on XP Pro x86 sp3, and can use the printer (Konica 5440DL) fine from a server 2003 x86 box... however the 2008 server, even populated with the x86 platform drivers just won't work right. The printer is allocated (currently through .vbs on startup) and appears in printers and faxes but anytime i send to print or query the driver it causes a general protection fault and breaks. FWIW, I didn't have any more success from Print Management and GP pushprintconnections.exe :-(

 

The printer prints absolutely fine from the server using the x64 driver.

 

Any ideas? I've had to set up a 2k3 VM simply to host the printer and it's not the most elegant solution...

[Geoff]

It's a driver problem. Update them. However beware, you will likely run into this problem a lot. 64bit drivers just aren't there for windows yet..

[Joe_Pineapples]

Hi Geoff, thx for the reply. Yeah, I assumed it was driver related but thought maybe it was a known bug in the way the OS dealt with other platform drivers and handed them out to clients.

 

Unfortunately driver update isn't possible here because I'm using the most recent versions of all concerned. Short of writing new drivers myself (unlikely) this is a dead end atm.

 

I'm not too familiar with how 2k8 handles OS identification for purposes of client device driver assignments, so I'm going to research this next. In the meantime, hopefully someone more experienced than myself has resolved the same issues and finds my thread...

 

In fairness to 2k8 x64 however, I've experienced no direct driver issues with the host server itself, and I'm impressed overall with the capabilities and general solidity of what I suspected would be an immature product. It's the first Microsoft OS I've enjoyed using from the outset which says alot :-)

[PeterH]

I Don't know much about the Konica 5440DL, but if it emulates an HP LaserJet, you could try one of the Microsoft drivers, such as LaserJet 4 or 5. These work OK for us on 2008 server x64 and were useful for getting an HP 2300 working that had no x64 drivers. Not sure about the Konica as I said but it's got to be worth a try.

 

Peter

[Reaper]

Any updates on this at all? I have just tried a similar thing to no avail

[somabc]

If it is purely a print server you are making life 10x harder for yourself by using x64 with little benefit for now. I considered setting an x64 Print Server, in server core no less but after the extreme hassle of installing drivers I would stick to regular 32 bit. I found it could not handle unsigned drivers properly.

 

Ask the Performance Team : Using Server Core as a Print Server

Error Installing Printers on Windows Server Core 2008 « Mat’s Techblog

Edited February 12, 2009 by somabc

[Reaper]

I was doing it simply as a test run with my experiment 2K8 box, so thankfully it won't cause any problems. Still a pain though, could run a 32bit VM on it to take the role of the Print Server I guess.

[Geoff]

Yes that's what we have here. A 32bit 2k8 VM for printing.