Hi, We have been having problems with printers deployed using Group Policy since we migrated to a 2008R2 print server. I do not know if it’s the 2008R2 print server, or the Group Policy deployment or Windows 7 that is causing the issue. We were previously deploying printers by scripting the installation of printers with a 2003R2 server. So, printers either disappear from the user’s printers and devices completely, or the printer is in the list but not functioning when printing from an application (some users are able to print, but the defaults deployed with the printers driver are not correct). In the case of a printer being in the list but not able to print to, when the printer selected from “Printers and Devices” an error prompts the user either informing them the printer is not available, or that no driver is installed. The printers do not disappear in any logical method. It can be when the user first logs in in the morning or they could have just printed a document and when printing another document immediately after, the printer is missing. They are deployed in a user policy, and “Applying group policy printers policy” happens at logon. A “gpupdate /force” will reinstall the printers without issue, as we have them ordered as “1 – Delete All” followed by 24 printers that are marked with the action to “Update”. They are targeted by the PC’s security group therefore deployed by location. Running “gpupdate /force” with the “Printers and Devices” open you can see it perform the tasks as set in the policy. I have seen similar issues with the Group Policy mapped drives disappearing, as well as intermittent loss of redirected desktop (for which a refresh restores all icons). I have followed the following KB articles, and had no luck with any of them resolving the problem. Mapped Drives - http://support.microsoft.com/kb/297684 Network Cards Sleeping - http://support.microsoft.com/kb/837058 Redirected Folders and Home Drives Disappearing - http://support.microsoft.com/kb/981872 Network Locations and UAC - http://support.microsoft.com/kb/937624 As I cannot replicate the problem due to the nature in which the printers disappear, I cannot open a support request. Any progress in discovering what this issue is would be greatly appreciated, as many of my users are getting frustrated with the need to perform “gpupdate /force” or a log off/on to resolve the issue. I also noticed the following post when setting up this request, however from reading the details it only applies to Server 2003R2 Print servers, and was resolved in 2008R2 - http://social.technet.microsoft.com/Forums/en/w7itpronetworking/thread/7ab3e2a9-832c-4504-8d97-c7199bcc207e Clients are Windows 7 Enterprise SP1 (both x86 and x64), server is a Hyper-V 2008R2 SP1 virtual machine on a Server 2008R2 SP1 Hyper-V host. The problems also existed before SP1. Many thanks, Simon Roberts Many thanks, Simon Roberts

I will image a couple of machines with Vista SP2 today and leave them logged and print periodically. Hopefully i can get some reuslts tomorrow.Many thanks, Simon Roberts

Hi, Thanks for posting in Microsoft TechNet forums. To eliminated the issue, we can have another Windows Vista or Windows XP client to check if the issue persists. If so, the issue is probable more Server side related. It would be better to involve the Server expertise on this. Your understanding is appreciated. Best Regards Magon Liu TechNet Subscriber Support in forum. If you have any feedback on our support, please contact tngfb@microsoft.com Please remember to click Mark as Answer on the post that helps you, and to click Unmark as Answer if a marked post does not actually answer your question. This can be beneficial to other community members reading the thread.

Had trouble with the machine freezing on "Applying group policy printers policy" with Vista, applied 2 hotfixes which allowed it to get past logon, but still no luck in actually deploying the printers, searching with the error message in EventVwr only provides me with the Windows 7 bug where "Security Groups" in "Item Level Targeting" cannot be expanded. After wasting about 6 hours troubleshoting Vista (which we no longer have on our domain) im going to get an XP machine up to see if its any smoother getting the printers installed with Group Policy Preferences.Many thanks, Simon Roberts

OK. We have a Windows XP machine up and running and will hopefully get some results today / tomorrow. I have picked up the following Event Logs from a few people's machines that experience the problem, the comon error seems to be as follows (I lost 1 printer this morning). The user 'BURSARY-ColourCopier' preference item in the 'User Policy - Base {E1631A9F-2A31-461C-9FDF-BCD42202FBA4}' Group Policy object did not apply because it failed with error code '0x8007000a The environment is incorrect.' This error was suppressed. The user 'ACCOUNTS-Laser' preference item in the 'User Policy - Base {E1631A9F-2A31-461C-9FDF-BCD42202FBA4}' Group Policy object did not apply because it failed with error code '0x8007000a The environment is incorrect.' This error was suppressed. These are two completely difference printers, the Bursary machine is a Sharp MX-3100n MFP, the Accounts machine is a Kyocera FS-6970DN Laser. Not sure if they are of any use, googling them only recommends enabling "wait for network at computer startup" and disabling Fast user switching. Which we already have in place. Many thanks, Simon Roberts

XP machine running fine so far. I have lost our office printer (HP LaserJet P2055dn) @ 10:37 (having logged on at 8.55am and not left my machine all morning). The user 'ITSUPPORT-Laser' preference item in the 'User Policy - Base {E1631A9F-2A31-461C-9FDF-BCD42202FBA4}' Group Policy object did not apply because it failed with error code '0x8007000a The environment is incorrect.' This error was suppressed. My colleague has lost the photocopier (SHARP MX-3100n) @ 10:40 (having logged in at 8.50am and not left the machine all morning) The user 'BURSARY-ColourCopier' preference item in the 'User Policy - Base {E1631A9F-2A31-461C-9FDF-BCD42202FBA4}' Group Policy object did not apply because it failed with error code '0x8007000a The environment is incorrect.' This error was suppressed. Strange thing is I have not lost the BURSARY copier, and my colleague has not lost the ITSUPPORT laser. Simon Many thanks, Simon Rober

Hi, Please try adding a registry key DWord to HKLM\Software\Microsoft\Windows NT\CurrentVersion\Print\Provider\ and add the DWord RemovePrintersAtLogoff and set the value to 1. Also refer to http://social.technet.microsoft.com/Forums/en/w7itproinstall/thread/4979f1a9-f54e-4c5f-8199-c98315dc53cc Regards,Please remember to click Mark as Answer on the post that helps you, and to click Unmark as Answer if a marked post does not actually answer your question. This can be beneficial to other community members reading the thread.

Thanks for the update, i have deployed the registry entriy via Group Policy. I will start collecting information agian tomorrow when I can guarantee most users have restarted and picked up the reg entry. SimonMany thanks, Simon Roberts

Had a printer go missing first thing this morning dispite the RemovePrintersAtLogoff being defined. The user 'BURSARY-ColourCopier' preference item in the 'User Policy - Base {E1631A9F-2A31-461C-9FDF-BCD42202FBA4}' Group Policy object did not apply because it failed with error code '0x8007000a The environment is incorrect.' This error was suppressed. I will deploy another reg entry to disable the "Asynchronous RPC" and see if that makes a difference. SimonMany thanks, Simon Roberts

Hi, Any update? Please remember to click Mark as Answer on the post that helps you, and to click Unmark as Answer if a marked post does not actually answer your question. This can be beneficial to other community members reading the thread.

Having applied the Asyncronous RPC reg entriy (as below) - Windows 7 will try to communicate to the print server via the Asynchronous RPC protocol, to disallow the use of the Asyncronous RPC protocol on the client, configure the following registry value: Path: HKLM\Software\Policies\Microsoft\Windows NT\Printers\EnabledProtocols Type: DWORD Data: 6 At 13:16 today I got the following Event The user 'BURSARY-ColourCopier' preference item in the 'User Policy - Base {E1631A9F-2A31-461C-9FDF-BCD42202FBA4}' Group Policy object did not apply because it failed with error code '0x8007000a The environment is incorrect.' This error was suppressed. Printer is missing from my Devices and Printers list. Running a "GPUpdate /force" and everything returns to normal. Simon Many thanks, Simon Roberts

Hi, Since this issue occurs to all PC, I believe it involves the network environment. As this forum focuses on Windows Vista specific issues, this inquiry would best be posted to Windows Sever forum as well: http://social.technet.microsoft.com/Forums/en-US/winserverGP/threads The reason why we recommend posting appropriately is you will get the most qualified pool of respondents, and other partners who read the forums regularly can either share their knowledge or learn from your interaction with us. Thank you for your understanding. Regards,Please remember to click Mark as Answer on the post that helps you, and to click Unmark as Answer if a marked post does not actually answer your question. This can be beneficial to other community members reading the thread.

http://social.technet.microsoft.com/Forums/en-US/winserverGP/thread/9e30aa6d-633a-4410-b3c0-0ad1e426020a Cross posted as requested. Still awaiting a response since the 19th.Many thanks, Simon Roberts

Hi, Would you please re-post it again? Once the post get aged and idle for long time, it may indicates some internal issue, sorry for the inconvenient. Regards,Please remember to click Mark as Answer on the post that helps you, and to click Unmark as Answer if a marked post does not actually answer your question. This can be beneficial to other community members reading the thread.

Reposted again as requested - http://social.technet.microsoft.com/Forums/en-US/winserverGP/thread/24dfd6c0-b460-40a7-ad18-13e404b361e7Many thanks, Simon Roberts