Network Printer Server 2008 R2

[spik376]

Hi All,

 

Our network has been completely flattened this summer as we have wiped all the servers and installed Server 2008 R2, wiped all client PC's and installed Windows 7 x86.

 

Everything went smoothly and all the GPO's we created are working a treat. But we are currently having an issue with printers. We tried several methods for deploying printers and found the most reliable way to be running a script to map the printer and then also determines the PC name and sets a default printer. All seemed to be running perfectly but recently we have been getting a script error on random PC's saying something along the lines of Unknown port specified. This can be solved by logging in as an administrator going into print management and deleting the print drivers. After this the PC will work for a few days then will error again.

 

Please can anyone help me resolve this issue as it is driving me mad having to login to various PC's everyday to delete drivers just for it to happen again.

[sturgeo]

We were experiencing the same problem, i resorted to setting up 2003 R2 server and installing all the printer specific drivers rather than the HP universal driver we'd been using on 2008 R2.

It appeared on our machines that the driver repository files were there but the HKLM\system\currentcontrolset\control\print\environments\windows NT x86\drivers had the infpath listed as blank so it couldnt find it when it tried to reinstall.

[spik376]

Hi Sturgeo,

 

I think I may have to do the same and set up a 2003 R2 server simply for the printers. On the server 2008 R2 server I installed a few vista x86 drivers for printers which only had the universal driver available on the HP website. I think this may be the cause of PC's randomly getting errors as they are getting the printers mapped. It seems that server 2008 R2 is simply rubbish at handling older printers especially when HP does not supply up to date server 2008 r2 drivers.

 

I will have a check in the registry of one of the faulty PC's and see if the same fault occurs as you are describing.

[spik376]

Checked the registry of a faulty PC and sure enough exactly the same as you described Sturgeo.

 

I am currently in the process of setting up an i5 PC to run as a Server 2003 R2 print server. Will let you know how I go on.

 

I believe it must be a fault with a 64bit Server not being able to deal with x86 print drivers, very disappointing really

[jamin100]

could you not just setup a 2003 VM in hyper-v on one of your 2k8R2 servers

[soveryapt]

One quick suggestion, does your server (which will be x64) have the x86 drivers installed onto it? If not, the printers won't deploy unless you force them to install from a package.

 

Once you've got the drives in place, in GPO Preferences, you will find the Printers section which is by far the easiest way to deploy printers to a 2008R2 / W7 setup as you can target machines / users based on various settings.

 

It's what I'm using now and it works a dream, but the drivers are a big issue as 2008R2 won't let you add in the x86 drivers manually, you have to do it from an x86 domain machine by navigating to the server, double clicking the printer in question at which point it will ask for where the drivers are and then upload them to the server for you which will allow you to deploy across your network then.

 

Hope that helps

Andy T :-)

[spik376]

Hi Andy T,

 

Yes the server has both x64 and x86 drivers for all the printers. I tried using the GPP methos for deploying printers but the logon times were dramatically increased so I stuck to using a script to map the printers as the logon time was much quicker this way.

[soveryapt]

Hi Andy T,

 

Yes the server has both x64 and x86 drivers for all the printers. I tried using the GPP methos for deploying printers but the logon times were dramatically increased so I stuck to using a script to map the printers as the logon time was much quicker this way.

 

Interesting, I found the logon times were reduced when I went to the preferences method as it's a much more natural way for them to be handed out. Did you force policy updates on the machines as once they have the policy they are fine, I had a couple of slower ones when I had run a gpupdate on them, but since then they've been brill ..

 

Anyway, I guess it's the old thing of if it's working, get on and fix the stuff that isn't and come back to see if you can make it prettier later .. lol ..

[techie08]

I deploy mine in a GPO using Group policy Preferences and it works a treat.

[spik376]

After a bit more investigation I think it is because I have been adding Server 2008 x86 drivers as the additional x86 drivers rather than Win 7 x86 drivers . I am going to delete all drivers and printers restart the server and then re add the printers. Then add the win 7 x86 drivers using the method described by Andy T and figers crossed this will work.

[soveryapt]

After a bit more investigation I think it is because I have been adding Server 2008 x86 drivers as the additional x86 drivers rather than Win 7 x86 drivers . I am going to delete all drivers and printers restart the server and then re add the printers. Then add the win 7 x86 drivers using the method described by Andy T and figers crossed this will work.

 

keeping fingers crossed .. it's a flippin nightmare and is the biggest ball ache about 2008R2 I reckon, the inability to add the correct x86 drivers directly on the server ..

[spik376]

So cleared all the printers and drivers off the server, re-added all printers with x64 drivers for Server 2008 R2 then added x86 drivers via a domained win 7 PC. Deleted all old drivers from PC's in the ICT rooms and all worked fine for one morning and now just back to square one with students getting script error saying "specified port unknown"

 

Only way I can see to solve the error is to login with administrator delete all drivers from print management and restart print spooler.

 

But if I keep doing this I will be going round in circles!!

[techie08]

Are you using the Unversal drivers? i use the drivers proved by Windows Update and i have no troubles.

[SmellyLlama]

could you not just setup a 2003 VM in hyper-v on one of your 2k8R2 servers

 

This is what we ended up doing, works a treat. So well I forgot it was there for a few minutes and couldn't work out where all the printers had gone from the server!

[spik376]

Sounds like I will have to do the same, never touched hyper v is is pretty straight forward to set up?

[spik376]

Hi All,

 

Just thought I would end the thread by letting everyone know that I have fixed the printer issue by setting up a x86 Server 2008 machine. All the drivers and printer now map a treat using a VB logon script.

 

It seems that Server 2008 R2 can simply not be used as a print server for x86 win 7 clients, very wierd!

 

Thanks everyone for your help.

[Davit2005]

We twice have had problems with deployed printers. The printer is still there but doesn't print when you click on the Ports tab of said printer there are no ports listed, other printers had ports. Today I found occasion where user had two printers and no ports on either a restart sorted the issue.

 

We use Print Deployment under 2008 R2 . Previously I'd tried moving the printer to a different server and that didn't sort the issue either. We use Preferences to set the default printer, maybe this is causing conflicts.

[Chunks_]

I know this post hasn't been active for a while, but i had the same problems as most on this forum and spent a long time trying to diagnose the issue. I eventually found a microsoft hotfix Kb2748246 for windows 7 machines :

 

"The Specified port is unknown" error message when you use GPP to deploy printers to a computer that is running Windows 7 or Windows Server 2008 R2

 

and here is a link on how to deploy hotfix Kb2748246 as its not in the a wsus catalogue !!! Grrr

 

I spent ages trying to solve this problem so im hoping this post might help others cos it was really frustrating for me. Feel free to repost if you feel it will help in other threads.