Windows 2008 Print Server issues with HP Laserjets

[Duke5A]

Anybody else having issues with the Microsoft provided HP Laserjet PCL 5 drivers? I just spun up a new 2008 print server in a VM and created the ques by hand (old print server was borked, so using the migration tool was not an option). Everything seems to work fine, but I've started getting some complaints from my users. Apparently they can print, but only one copy at a time. If they submit a job to the printer, and specify two or more copies, only the first will print. There are no errors in the print que when finished, and this only effects HP printers using the MS PCL 5 driver.

 

After digging around, I found that it's a feature called Mopier Mode that is causing this. If the printer has sufficient memory to store the entire print job, only one copy will be sent to the printer to cut down on network traffic. It sounds like a good idea in theory, but the problem is the printer's installed options are being detected incorrectly. When the printer is added, the installed memory is reported as 128MB, a printer hard disk and duplex unit are listed as being installed, and it believes there is nine paper trays. The vast majority of these printers are Laserjet 1200 and 1300 series printers, and they all have 8MB of RAM. To make matters more interesting, the smallest amount of memory you can specify is 128MB.

 

Color Laserjet 4600s are also effected, but there is a PCL6 driver available for those printers. When switching over to it the installed options are detected correctly, and Mopier Mode is turned off by default. So everything is peachy with PCL6. Problem is, there is no PCL6 capable driver for the 1200/1300 lasers for Windows 7/2008 Server from MS. The only option is the universal print driver from HP, and I've had nothing but issues with that. That is why I'm on an MS only provided driver kick.

 

So my short term solution is to disabled Mopier Mode on all the 1200/1300 printers. It fixes the issue, but I'd like to fix the underlying cause of the installed printer options being misreported. Anyone else been down this road?