Hi Everyone. I work IT for a company and one of our clients is having printer issues. We keep trying to set his default printer to a networked HP LaserJet M4345 printer, but when he restarts his computer, and occasionally when it's idle, it will switch the default printer to CutePDF (a program to print to PDF files). I have tried removing all the printer drivers and whatnot using the steps in threads like this one, but it made no difference. I'm pretty sure it's not the printer itself because several other people have it set as the default printer and have never had this issue. Everything is on LAN and the computers are always connected to the network. The client is using Windows 7 professional 32-bit and the network printer is shared through a windows server (I think 2003). I have to say I'm kinds stumped on this one and would greatly appreciate help! Here's some of the printer event logs if they help: Information 07/04/2012 10:46 823 Changing the default printer The default printer was changed to CutePDF Writer,winspool,CPW2:. See the event user data for context information. Information 07/04/2012 10:44 823 Changing the default printer The default printer was changed to \\DCMAIN\REDept_MFP,winspool,Ne00:. See the event user data for context information. Information 07/04/2012 10:44 823 Changing the default printer The default printer was changed to \\DCMAIN\KM-8030-14,winspool,Ne02:. See the event user data for context information. Information 07/04/2012 10:44 823 Changing the default printer The default printer was changed to \\DCMAIN\Color LJ- 15,winspool,Ne01:. See the event user data for context information. Error 07/04/2012 10:44 354 Initializing \\DCMAIN\Color LJ- 15 initialization failed at \\DCMAIN\print$\BIDI\HPBOID.DLL. Error: 2. The system cannot find the file specified. . This can occur because of system instability or a lack of system resources. Information 07/04/2012 10:43 823 Changing the default printer The default printer was changed to \\DCMAIN\REDept_MFP. See the event user data for context information. Error 07/04/2012 10:43 354 Initializing \\DCMAIN\REDept_MFP initialization failed at \\DCMAIN\print$\BIDI\HPBOID.DLL. Error: 2. The system cannot find the file specified. . This can occur because of system instability or a lack of system resources. Error 07/04/2012 10:43 808 Initializing The print spooler failed to load a plug-in module HPMPW081.DLL, error code 0x7e. See the event user data for context information. Information 07/04/2012 10:42 823 Changing the default printer The default printer was changed to CutePDF Writer. See the event user data for context information. Information 07/04/2012 10:42 823 Changing the default printer The default printer was changed to CutePDF Writer,winspool,CPW2:. See the event user data for context information. Error 07/04/2012 10:41 808 Initializing The print spooler failed to load a plug-in module C:\Windows\system32\spool\DRIVERS\W32X86\3\PS5UI.DLL, error code 0x7e. See the event user data for context information. Error 07/04/2012 10:41 808 Initializing The print spooler failed to load a plug-in module C:\Windows\system32\spool\DRIVERS\W32X86\3\hpmdp083.dll, error code 0x7e. See the event user data for context information. Error 07/04/2012 10:41 808 Initializing The print spooler failed to load a plug-in module C:\Windows\system32\spool\DRIVERS\W32X86\3\hpmdp083.dll, error code 0x7e. See the event user data for context information. Error 07/04/2012 10:41 808 Initializing The print spooler failed to load a plug-in module C:\Windows\system32\spool\DRIVERS\W32X86\3spool\DRIVERS\W32X86\3\hpcpn083.dll, error code 0x7e. See the event user data for context information. Error 07/04/2012 10:41 808 Initializing The print spooler failed to load a plug-in module C:\Windows\system32\spool\DRIVERS\W32X86\3\hpmdp083.dll, error code 0x7e. See the event user data for context information. Information 07/04/2012 10:41 823 Changing the default printer The default printer was changed to \\DCMAIN\REDept_MFP,winspool,Ne01:. See the event user data for context information. Error 07/04/2012 10:41 808 Initializing The print spooler failed to load a plug-in module C:\Windows\system32\spool\DRIVERS\W32X86\3\KMUU51E5.DLL, error code 0x7e. See the event user data for context information. Error 07/04/2012 10:41 808 Initializing The print spooler failed to load a plug-in module C:\Windows\system32\spool\DRIVERS\W32X86\3\KMUU51E5.DLL, error code 0x7e. See the event user data for context information. Error 07/04/2012 10:41 808 Initializing The print spooler failed to load a plug-in module C:\Windows\system32\spool\DRIVERS\W32X86\3\KMUU51E5.DLL, error code 0x7e. See the event user data for context information. Information 07/04/2012 10:41 823 Changing the default printer The default printer was changed to \\DCMAIN\KM-8030-14,winspool,Ne02:. See the event user data for context information. Error 07/04/2012 10:41 808 Initializing The print spooler failed to load a plug-in module C:\Windows\system32\spool\DRIVERS\W32X86\3\PS5UI.DLL, error code 0x7e. See the event user data for context information. Error 07/04/2012 10:41 808 Initializing The print spooler failed to load a plug-in module C:\Windows\system32\spool\DRIVERS\W32X86\3\hpmdp082.dll, error code 0x7e. See the event user data for context information. Error 07/04/2012 10:41 808 Initializing The print spooler failed to load a plug-in module C:\Windows\system32\spool\DRIVERS\W32X86\3\hpmdp082.dll, error code 0x7e. See the event user data for context information. Error 07/04/2012 10:41 808 Initializing The print spooler failed to load a plug-in module C:\Windows\system32\spool\DRIVERS\W32X86\3spool\DRIVERS\W32X86\3\HPCPN082.DLL, error code 0x7e. See the event user data for context information. Error 07/04/2012 10:41 808 Initializing The print spooler failed to load a plug-in module C:\Windows\system32\spool\DRIVERS\W32X86\3\hpmdp082.dll, error code 0x7e. See the event user data for context information. Error 07/04/2012 10:40 808 Initializing The print spooler failed to load a plug-in module C:\Windows\system32\spool\DRIVERS\W32X86\3\hpmdp083.dll, error code 0x7e. See the event user data for context information. Error 07/04/2012 10:40 808 Initializing The print spooler failed to load a plug-in module C:\Windows\system32\spool\DRIVERS\W32X86\3\hpmdp082.dll, error code 0x7e. See the event user data for context information. Error 07/04/2012 10:40 808 Initializing The print spooler failed to load a plug-in module C:\Windows\system32\spool\DRIVERS\W32X86\3\KMUU51E5.DLL, error code 0x7e. See the event user data for context information. Error 07/04/2012 10:38 808 Initializing The print spooler failed to load a plug-in module C:\Windows\system32\spool\DRIVERS\W32X86\3\hpmdp082.dll, error code 0x7e. See the event user data for context information. Error 07/04/2012 10:38 808 Initializing The print spooler failed to load a plug-in module C:\Windows\system32\spool\DRIVERS\W32X86\3\hpmdp083.dll, error code 0x7e. See the event user data for context information. Error 07/04/2012 10:38 808 Initializing The print spooler failed to load a plug-in module C:\Windows\system32\spool\DRIVERS\W32X86\3\KMUU51E5.DLL, error code 0x7e. See the event user data for context information. Information 07/04/2012 10:38 823 Changing the default printer The default printer was changed to CutePDF Writer,winspool,CPW2:. See the event user data for context information.

What do you expect from third party program that change "aggresively" default function. I would start with company support http://www.cutepdf.com/support/ They make advice how to change configuration to preserve HP default setting. regards Milos

Thanks for the response Milos, but I don't think CutePDF is changing the printer to default like that. Everyone else in the company has CutePDF installed on their computer and has never had this issue. The logs look more like there's issues loading the drivers for the networked printer and windows is switching the default printer to the first usable printer, which is CutePDF. Just in case, I've opened a support request with CutePDF and will report back what they say. Cheers

Hi, This type issue occurs may be caused by the driver reset the path from C:\windows\system32 to the print drivers directory C:\windows\system32\spool\drivers\win32x86\3. However, the spooler process does not reset it and looks for the color module mscms.dll in the drivers directory. As a result, you should copy the mscms.dll file to C:\windows\system32\spool\drivers\win32x86\3 for a test. You may try this Hotfix and ensure the driver of the printer has been updated to the latest version also. http://support.microsoft.com/?kbid=982728 Kim Zhou TechNet Community Support

Well I tried copying over the files but it didn't make a difference. I ended up just uninstalling CutePDF and the default printer seems to be sticking now. I'm guessing it's because it doesn't really have any other options to change to, but since he never uses CutePDF anyway it doesn't really matter. As a side-note I double-checked with CutePDF support and they said their software wouldn't be the one to change the default printer. Cheers!