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[archive] Problem with WIN$PRINTER under Vista

  • March 27, 2009
  • 2 replies
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D

[Migrated content. Thread originally posted on 26 March 2009]

We have a very strange situation at a customer site. The problem occurs when trying to get a list of printer names from WIN$PRINTER. The list comes back blank. We can duplicate the problem using the prndemox program. There are local and network printers installed on these workstations, and all other programs are able to display them, and print to them. Their consultant has removed and reinstalled all of the printers on both of the machines exhibiting this problem, to no avail. The problem is the same whether it is an account with user rights, local admin rights, or domain admin rights. It does not matter if the runtime is started with elevation (right-click, "Run As Administrator"). Both of the machines having the problem are Vista (32-bit) with all current updates, and no antivirus or security software installed (they have network-level appliances to handle this). One machine has had this problem all along, but the user doesn't use our software, so we weren't told about it until the owner's machine began to have the problem in the middle of a workday. He has been working for months without a problem, and does not have any rights to install anything on his machine. No windows updates had been performed on the machine for at least 4 days prior to the problem starting. The problem is the same under version 8.0.1 of the runtime and 8.1.0.

I'm at a total loss as far as what to do to fix this. Tech support has esentially told me they can't help, and we're in danger of losing a customer of many years b/c of frustration from the owner, who isn't able to use our software. Does anyone have any suggestions?

Thanks in advance,
-Chris

    2 replies

    D

    [Migrated content. Thread originally posted on 26 March 2009]

    We have a very strange situation at a customer site. The problem occurs when trying to get a list of printer names from WIN$PRINTER. The list comes back blank. We can duplicate the problem using the prndemox program. There are local and network printers installed on these workstations, and all other programs are able to display them, and print to them. Their consultant has removed and reinstalled all of the printers on both of the machines exhibiting this problem, to no avail. The problem is the same whether it is an account with user rights, local admin rights, or domain admin rights. It does not matter if the runtime is started with elevation (right-click, "Run As Administrator"). Both of the machines having the problem are Vista (32-bit) with all current updates, and no antivirus or security software installed (they have network-level appliances to handle this). One machine has had this problem all along, but the user doesn't use our software, so we weren't told about it until the owner's machine began to have the problem in the middle of a workday. He has been working for months without a problem, and does not have any rights to install anything on his machine. No windows updates had been performed on the machine for at least 4 days prior to the problem starting. The problem is the same under version 8.0.1 of the runtime and 8.1.0.

    I'm at a total loss as far as what to do to fix this. Tech support has esentially told me they can't help, and we're in danger of losing a customer of many years b/c of frustration from the owner, who isn't able to use our software. Does anyone have any suggestions?

    Thanks in advance,
    -Chris
    The problem with cases like this, is that in order to fix it, we need to be able to reproduce it. So it is not like we don't want to help, but if we cannot reproduce it, it is hard to tell what it can be.
    Even though you do "Run as Administrator", it could have been interesting to see what happened if you turned of UAC entirely, just to see if it makes a difference.
    D

    [Migrated content. Thread originally posted on 26 March 2009]

    We have a very strange situation at a customer site. The problem occurs when trying to get a list of printer names from WIN$PRINTER. The list comes back blank. We can duplicate the problem using the prndemox program. There are local and network printers installed on these workstations, and all other programs are able to display them, and print to them. Their consultant has removed and reinstalled all of the printers on both of the machines exhibiting this problem, to no avail. The problem is the same whether it is an account with user rights, local admin rights, or domain admin rights. It does not matter if the runtime is started with elevation (right-click, "Run As Administrator"). Both of the machines having the problem are Vista (32-bit) with all current updates, and no antivirus or security software installed (they have network-level appliances to handle this). One machine has had this problem all along, but the user doesn't use our software, so we weren't told about it until the owner's machine began to have the problem in the middle of a workday. He has been working for months without a problem, and does not have any rights to install anything on his machine. No windows updates had been performed on the machine for at least 4 days prior to the problem starting. The problem is the same under version 8.0.1 of the runtime and 8.1.0.

    I'm at a total loss as far as what to do to fix this. Tech support has esentially told me they can't help, and we're in danger of losing a customer of many years b/c of frustration from the owner, who isn't able to use our software. Does anyone have any suggestions?

    Thanks in advance,
    -Chris
    There has been identified a problem with the WINPRINT-SETUP dialog. Is this what you are using?

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