I can no longer list printers in AD

[abuthemagician]

I just did a reformat / reinstall on my work laptop, and now i cannot list any printers in Active Directory. All i get are the individual PCs that are sharing printers and not the servers.

 

[abuthemagician]

anyone?

 

[tlcscousin]

When you reinstalled the operating system did you rejoin the domain?
It is possibly that it did not fully join properly, you can try removing the computer from the domain and restart and rejoin again.If still not able to access the shares you might have to have the admin take the computer out of the domain and then rejoin it.

 

[abuthemagician]

I did rejoin the domain, and this is the second time a laptop has done this to me (i am the one and only admin). I generally use RIS to image PC's and have never had this problem. I will try rejoining but i don't think that will fix it.

 

[serhino320]

When you say you cannot "list" any printers in AD, do you mean you cannot see any printers in an 'Entire Directory' printer search? Or do you not see the shared printers hanging on the PC's when you try to add a printer via the 'Add a printer' wizard? Also what version is your server, 2000 or 2003? I've been experiencing strange behavior trying to add printers that are hanging on PC's joined to my W2003 domain.

 

[bcastner]

. did you remove the original machine account, add a new machine account?

My concern is that with the reinstall you are presenting a different SID for the same computer workstation.

 

[abuthemagician]

when i do an entire directory search, it does not list the right printers. Instead, i get a list of printers being shared by individual users.

IE: My fileserver shares all the network printers, and my boss has his printer shared so i can use it. When i do a search i see my boss' printer and not the ones shared off the server.

 

[abuthemagician]

yes i deleted the old account and added the new one. This is my standard proceedure when i re-image PC's

 

[bcastner]

Check very carefully your DNS settings, check the DNS server to be certain you are getting registered, and check the WINS server (if used) for that new workstation entry.
I know how hard tracking down enumeration failures of AD can be, and my sympathies.

See my notes in faq779-4017

 

[abuthemagician]

Well, i use a reserved DHCP address for my laptop so i don't have to manually configure it, and that provides all the services (dns and wins settings). My address and computer name are listed in DNS and WINS, and the old name is long gone. I have never had this problem with a desktop before, even after changing the name 3 times and then adding printers.

 

[bcastner]

I would reinstall.

 

[abuthemagician]

How would that fix it? I just did a re-install that took me a total of 8.5 hours because of the amount of programs i need to support my users. I highly doubt i need to reinstall.

 

[serhino320]

Is it just printer shares on your fileserver that you're having issues with? Can you find other resources in AD like another user?

 

[abuthemagician]

yep. Just can't find printers.