Remote Printing LaserJet 3050 - HELP!!!

[jt463]

I have got nowhere with HP. This works great with XP Pro SP2...with Vista? Aaaaaah!

Host O/S: Vista Home Premium
Terminal Services O/S: Windows Server 2003 (32-Bit)
Printer Driver(s): LaserJet 3050 PCL 5e
Universal Printer Driver 4.1 (PCL5)

The LaserJet 3050 is connected to the Vista laptop (Compaq) via USB. The printer has printer pooling enabled and ports LPT1 and DOT4_001 are checked.

The UPD 4.1 driver has printer pooling enabled and ports LPT1 and DOT4_001 are checked.

This very configuration has been flawless for XP Pro SP2 machines connecting with OfficeJet 7100 and LaserJet 3015 printers.

However, I cannot get the Terminal Services session to communicate with Vista to recognize EITHER the 3050 driver or the UPD driver!

I have contacted HP Printer and Compaq Laptop support. No one has a clue what I am talking about. I have read the HP Printers supported in Citrix Presentation Server environments white papers and see that the LaserJet 3050 is included on the compatible printers list.

I also see that the 3050 is a supported printer on the upd driver site. It also shows that driver is compatible with Vista/2003/Terminal Services.

HELP!!!

 

[hpwizzard]

Vista in general has caused lots of problems for HP's printers especially those that are USB connected.

Ehm... Why is the LPT port selected if the printer is connected to USB ? Is that because of the pooling function ?
What other printers are in that pool of printers created ?

Why are you sharing off the printer from a laptop with a Vista Home edition ?
Reason is that laptops in general also tend to have issues with printers connected via USB. This is because a laptop will try and conserve power by putting the port into power save mode. Another thing is the lenght and quality of the cable used. The power outlet of a USB port in a laptop is very limited and a powered USB hub might be needed in some cases.

Regarding DOT ports I assume you know about this Microsoft document :

http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;en-us;q302361

Some hotfixes has been released by Microsoft to fix USB related issues to Vista but none really resolves the issues 100% that we have seen so far with HP All-In-One printers involved.

Some other info:
HP has not yet realeased any scanner/fax software yet for Vista for any of their LaserJet All-In-One printers. For now users must use the WIA or TWAIN interface in Windows to scan from these devices.


I would contact Microsoft and Citrix for some answers in this matter

 

[jt463]

Thanks hpwizzard.

Your questions and comments are good ones. I had not looked in to the KB you referenced and will do so.

To answer your questions...

The LPT is selected simply because that is what I had to do with the XP connections. When I simply had the port set to USB - Terminal Services would not recognize the printer, and the printer would not print from the laptop - which I would which I would expect since it is connected USB. I switched it to DOT4, and the printer printed from the laptop but nothing from TS. When I added DOT4 AND LPT1,then it both printed from the laptop as well as from the TS session. Since I am not an expert with this, and am just beginning to scratch the service, I don't really understand why this specific configuration works.

So, I assumed the same thing would work with Vista. However - to no avail!

The USB cable is one that we picked up at Best Buy - a 6 foot cable I believe.

My environment is that all of my sales associates use laptops and connect to our office via Terminal Services. They do a lot of printing from the server (i.e. contracts, work orders, etc...). I want them to be able to print to their local usb-connected printers from the remote session.

This has worked flawlessly with XP, but with Vista, I can't even get the printers to be seen within TS. Interestingly - the Microsoft XPS Printer and a PDF printer are both visible in the Terminal Services session, but none of the physical computers.

I know that there was a registry change I had to do with XP. I am trying to find what that was. Perhaps the same applies to the Vista O/S?

 

[jt463]

Fixed it!

As I stated before, I am not an expert, so I don't know which of these steps are essential and which are not, but here is what I did:

In Windows Server 2003:

1. Installed HP Universal Print Driver 4.1 (PCL5)
2. Chose 'Local Printer Connected to This Computer'
3. Unchecked 'auto-detect printers'
4. Changed the default port from LPT1 to Terminal Services port for the user with the LaserJet 3050 - didn't matter which TS Port, just one that is available.
5. Assigned the HP Universal Printer Driver to the TS Port
6. Finished

In Vista Home Premium:

1. Installed both LaserJet 3050 PCL 5 driver native to Vista AND HP Universal Printer Driver PCL5
2. Had 'printer pooling' enabled at the bottom of the 'port' tab in HP Universal Printer PCL5 and 3050 printer drivers
3. Selected BOTH LPT1 and DOT4 ports for both of those printers and printed test page directly from Vista to make sure those drivers worked

In Terminal Services Session (Remote Desktop connecting to Server 2003:

1. Logged in and HP Universal Printer PCL5 (on session COMPUTERNAME) was visible
2. Printed test page, Notepad text, and Word document to printer in number 1 - ALL THREE printed from multiple TS sessions on 'COMPUTERNAME's LaserJet 3050!!!!

Hope this helps.

 

[hpwizzard]

Good job
Regarding the Dot 4 ports, the HP virtual device driver is not always broadcasted properly in a terminal server environment so therefore you would usually select a LPT port instead.
I am still wondering though why you have printer pooling checked if your printer is not in a pool among others ?

 

[scubadan]

HP support now has drivers for Laser Jet 3050. They sent me the CD, as they are not yet available for download. The 3050 now getys along with Vista. The FAX, scanner and printer all work fine.