Windows 7 (32bit) Server 2003 R2 (32bit) Group Policy Deployed Printers
The company I work for has had an issue with deploying printers from windows server 2003 r2 using point and print to our windows 7 workstations. I have researched this issue repeatedly online and I can find no good information on it. We have tried many things such as clearing the print spooler on the server... Removing all drivers, monitors, ports.. etc. Completely rebuilding from scratch. We have the point and print restriction group policy set to disabled so this should allow non administrator users on windows 7 to install the drivers from the server.I was curious if any of you have come across similar issues. I think part of the reason for the lack of information online is the slow speed in which corporations are "upgrading" to 7. A few things of note. Before 7 we had Vista. Some machines were directly upgraded some machines we performed a windows depoloyment services (WDS) on. There are several things in the event logs relating to the HP printers we are attempting to deploy. Specific DLL files are not loading on the client. We have tried both the UPD driver and the windows xp specific one. The main issue seems to be with the ports and driver information disappearing as they are using the computer during the day. It does not effect everyone... Some people are able to print fine one day and the next day they can not. The main thing of interest is the TCPIP port information on the client disappearing for all of the shared printers. The eventlogs say this is due to the print spooler not being able to connect back to the server. We are using the built in windows 7 firewall and have made all the necessary exceptions for file and print sharing. From what I have found there appear to be two main problems. The issue with the HP drivers installing and the ports and information disappearing for all the printers.A restart of the print spooler will usually get that information back on the client, however the print spooler does not crash it remains running. I am just curious if any of you have run into a similar situation or have any ideas to help me out. In the event logs on the Windows 7 machine I am getting an error that says 1722 The RPC Server Is Unavailable. Thanks.
February 20th, 2010 3:28am

Hi, Based on my understanding, I think you may encounter an issue that printers failed to be deployed to Windows 7 clients. If I have misunderstood you concern, please feel free to let me know. In addition, may I know the current situation and if there are any errors appear? At this time, I also would like to share the following with you: 1. Windows Vista - Point & Print 2. Point and Print with Windows 7 RC1 in a domain 32 bit Hope this helps. Thanks. Nicholas Li - MSFT
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February 23rd, 2010 11:16am

Thank you for your response. The printers do show up on the client machines... And they appear to work fine for a while. At seemingly random times we will get the 1722 RPC Unavailable in the eventlog under PrintService. Once that happens, if we view the properties for the shared printers on the clients, we see that the ports tab is blank and there is no driver information. The only way to fix this is to restart the print spooler on the local machine. With the size of our company and as we continue to roll out Windows 7... This may not be that acceptable of an option. The point and print restrictions is something we have configured on a computer level, however when we had Vista set up we had no problems printing. At that time, Point and Print restrictions were set to enabled and the uac prompts were both set to disabled. Per Microsoft, this would create a scenario where they can connect back to the server 2003 print server and download the drivers and print as if it were Windows XP. Now I have seen conflicting reports on this group policy setting. Microsoft states that Windows 7 now ignores the user setting entirely and this policy needs to be set on the Computer. This is currently the method we are using. In the second link you sent it says that it needs to be set for the user as well. One more change we have made is to disable point and print restrictions entirely. I have read conflicting information on this too. Some say it needs to be set to enabled with uac prompts set to disabled. Some say it needs to be set to disabled entirely. We also have the group policy object set to allow non administrators to install certain devices based on GUID and have followed Microsofts recommendation on this as well. Thanks for any help you can offer.
February 23rd, 2010 5:50pm

Hi, Thank you for your update. Based on my research, I would like to suggest you try the following: 1. Check if you can add a printer manually in the Windows 7 client. 2. Update the printer’s drivers on both the server and the client sides. If the issue persists, please also collect the MPS Report for our further research: 1. Download the MPS Report Tool. 2. After the download is complete, double-click this "MPSRPT_PFE.EXE" file. When you are prompted "Include the MSINFO32 report?", please input Y to continue. After a while, a CAB file will be generated. 3. Open My Computer, browse to the "%systemroot%\MPSReports\PFE\CAB" folder. You can find the CAB file above. For your convenience, I have created a workspace for you. You can upload the screenshot via the following link. (Please choose "Send Files to Microsoft") https://sftasia.one.microsoft.com/choosetransfer.aspx?key=a4fbd1e7-d13f-4cc5-92ad-040b008ad7e5 Password is “4e@y{B[mbFah” (without quotations). Thanks. Nicholas Li - MSFT
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February 25th, 2010 8:48am

Nicholas, I have uploaded the TPS Report. Thanks.
February 25th, 2010 7:35pm

Hi Everyone,My name is John Dickson and I work on the Performance Team specializing in printing support at Microsoft.We may have found a resolution to this issue. Starting in Windows Vista and in Windows 7 we introduced Asynchronous RPC which speeds up communication to a Windows 2008/2008 R2 Server. Windows Server 2003 doesn't support this new protocol and when Windows 7 tries to communicate using Async RPC, this is most likely causing the temporary loss of communication.The result is the blank driver tab and port tab.The work around is to disable Async RPC by adding the following registry key on the Windows 7/Vista clients: HKLM\Software\Policies\Microsoft\Windows NT\Printers\EnabledProtocols Type: DWORD Data: 6 Moving your print servers to Server 2008/2008 R2 resolves the issue also as they support Asynchronous RPC. We will be posting a public facing article on this issue soon.
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March 9th, 2010 6:28am

Hi John, Thank you for your follow-up. Your time and deep analysis are appreciated. cYp901, please try the method John provided and give us an update. We are looking forward to your reply. Thanks, everyone. Nicholas Li - MSFT
March 9th, 2010 10:20am

Hi, I probably got the same problem: Windows 7 printer's TCPIP port sometimes dispappear . Printers are pushed by GPO and the print server is Windows 2k3 r2. I disabled the Async RPC with the last registry key suggestion but 1 week after the same problem appear again. How can i check if the Async RPC is really shutdown ? I check the registry key and change still there. Other resolutions are welcome! Thanks
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March 30th, 2010 9:37pm

All, We are having the issue too. Let me add a couple of things.-We are using 64bit and 32bit Windows 7 boxes, new from Dell.-We noticed (on my 64bit workstation anyway) that the registry fix above does not inlclude "printers" key. We added it and the rest and were waiting to see if this resolves it.-Workstations can work for 2-3 days, then the spooler needs to be restarted on the workstation.-The issue goes away if you add the printer with a direct IP Port, bypassing the print server all together.-We are a HP printer shop. We downloaded the HP Universal Print Driver (which was the recomended driver for W7 and the particular model printer) which seems to not be any help.-We also disabled the UAC, no luck.-We would ultimately like to give local users rights to add their own printers but Im also researching that issue too.-Our Print Server is a Windows 2003 box. Version 5.2 Build 3790.srv03_sp2_gdr.090319-1204 : Service Pack 2 Ohiobearsfan
March 31st, 2010 9:52pm

Hi John, Thank you for your follow-up. Your time and deep analysis are appreciated. cYp901, please try the method John provided and give us an update. We are looking forward to your reply. Thanks, everyone. Nicholas Li - MSFT So far... We have not been having the same problems. The issue in question started to disappear some before we rolled out the group policy setting for ASYNC RPC. We have done a few things in addition to that... We moved the print server from one server to another... Still on 2k3 though. I ran the microsoft utility cleanspl and basically rebuilt all of the drivers and printer connections. I connected to the print server from a Windows 7 machine using the print management snap in. For the printers we have that have drivers in Windows 7... I installed those to the Win 2k3 server from a Windows 7 machine. The theory here is that they have been tested 100% to work with Windows 7 and the clients will not have any permission problems when trying to install. So far we have not had major issues after doing all of the above. I do think however the ASYNC RPC option contributed to the fix.
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April 18th, 2010 7:15pm

Hi Everyone, My name is John Dickson and I work on the Performance Team specializing in printing support at Microsoft. We may have found a resolution to this issue. Starting in Windows Vista and in Windows 7 we introduced Asynchronous RPC which speeds up communication to a Windows 2008/2008 R2 Server. Windows Server 2003 doesn't support this new protocol and when Windows 7 tries to communicate using Async RPC, this is most likely causing the temporary loss of communication. The result is the blank driver tab and port tab. The work around is to disable Async RPC by adding the following registry key on the Windows 7/Vista clients: HKLM\Software\Policies\Microsoft\Windows NT\Printers\EnabledProtocols Type: DWORD Data: 6 Moving your print servers to Server 2008/2008 R2 resolves the issue also as they support Asynchronous RPC. We will be posting a public facing article on this issue soon. This fixed our issue, thanks!
May 11th, 2010 8:22pm

Hi, We have the same issue as well. Has the public facing article been released? If so, what is the URL? Regards, Mark
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June 21st, 2010 7:55am

Hi, We have the same issue as well. Has the public facing article been released? If so, what is the URL? Regards, Mark Same issue here! Has anyone heard of an "official" fix from Microsoft?
June 21st, 2010 4:43pm

Hi, We have found the issue that is causing the printer ports to disappear on Windows 7 clients printing to 2003 Print Server. A hotfix is currently being tested which has recieved postive results thus far. I will update this blog when the public hotfix is available. Thank you for your patience. John Dickson
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June 26th, 2010 9:23pm

Hi jdickson, Do you have any expections to the time before the patch is ready, i have a lot of cosutmers waiting for it allready. mipmap
July 7th, 2010 9:17pm

Any thoughts on when this hotfix may be available? Thanks-
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September 14th, 2010 5:54pm

Hi, The hotfix is slated for the October Monthly release and will post the link when it becomes available. Thanks for your patience. John Dickson
September 14th, 2010 7:49pm

John, Thanks for your help. We are experiencing this issues also. Pat
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October 1st, 2010 6:22pm

I am having this issue as well. I think that the October monthly release came out today. Was this hotfix included in the release? Is the patch for Server 2003 or Windows 7? Any help you could provide would be most appreciated. Thanks, Sean Freese Tech Director Lawrence Woodmere Academy
October 14th, 2010 5:39pm

Hello, http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;en-US;2388142 Might be the right hotfix!
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November 22nd, 2010 11:22pm

Hello, http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;en-US;2388142 Might be the right hotfix! I will be trying this hotfix this week. I have this problem SO bad right now. The only slight difference is that my print server is running Microsoft Storage Server 2003, and all my clients are now windows 7. The problem hits users at seemingly random times, random 5% of the company per day, and all printer pools...it made no sense at all! I'll keep you posted as to whether the asyncronous RPC reg key helps, or if your hotfix does. There is also something i found that works (for 48 hours straight anyways): On vista/7 client, go to Devices and Printers and click Add Printer Then choose Local Printer. I know your printer is shared on a print server, just stick with me here!! Choose Create New Port and select Local Port... When it asks you for a port name, type in the UNC ADDRESS of the printer (ie \\printserver1\HPLaser5000n). When it asks you for a driver, point it to the right location where you downloaded a clean set of drivers matching your client OS and printer. Or press the Windows Update button. finish adding the printer. You will notice the name of the printer doesn't have a "...on [printserver1" anymore, BUT it will still print!! I have done this for 4 printer pools and for the last 2 days the 1 user i set it up for has had no printing problems. May be total coincidence, but at this point i was willing to try anything. I'm not sure if this constitutes fooling windows 7 into setting up a remote printer as a local printer, and i'm also doubting this will be deployable via GPO or script...but still, i hope it helps. -Dane UPDATE 12.21.2010: The asynchronous RPC registry setting mentioned by jdickson289 worked perfectly and silently. 0 printer problems since pushing that out to all our Windows 7 PCs via GPO.
December 18th, 2010 4:43am

Hi! When I try to install the patch, I receive an error telling me that it's not for my operating system... (using Windows 7 pro 32 bits and patch for i386) Is it possible that this problem as been fixed in SP1 of Windows 7 and thats why I can't install? I still have some problems with printers.... Will try jdickson289 solution....
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May 11th, 2011 5:42pm

John, I am having a different issue with win7 clients and a 2008 print server. My problem is that printers take 2 minutes each to install. When I disable asynch RPC with the reg key mentioned, printer installation goes down to 25 second each. This might sound like a small problem but is causing major problems for us. This should not be effecting me because I have a 2008 server. I am working with Microsoft but they are not giving me the attention I need. I want to know if asynch RPC is turned off on my print server for some reason. The reg key is not present on the server. I feel like I need to be working with your team: "Performance Team specializing in printing support." How can I get forwarded to you? Thanks,-KH
August 3rd, 2011 2:52pm

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