Terminal Services and Dell AIO 966 Printer

[MMSantiago]

Hi,
I have a user with a Dell All In One 966 printer, which has a built-in wireless card. It's configured for both wireless and USB printing and works fine locally. When she connects to her SBS server using Remote Desktop, it brings up the Network printer but not the USB one. I've heard that Terminal Services has problems with USB printers, so I was not too concerned about that. The problem is that the Network printer doesn't work. If you send it a test print, the number of jobs will go to 1 and back to 0 in a heartbeat and nothing comes through.
This same user can connect remotely from another machine and print fine to the local printer there, so I don't think it's a user-rights issue or a general server setup issue. I don't work with servers often and am just trying to help out a friend. My questions are:

1. Is there a trick to getting a USB printer to show up under Terminal Services?
2. Is there some way to verify, on the server, that the print driver is loaded?

Thanks for any assistance.

 

[Topkapi]

The "trick" is to have the same driver installed in the terminal server as is being used on the client PC.

To check if the driver is installed on the TS or is the correct one.

=> Printers and Faxes on the terminal server => File => Server properties => drivers tab.

Also suggest you have a look in the event logs for further clues.

Hope that helps

 

[Topkapi]

I should also add that it's been my experience that drivers for multi-function devices often don't support TS use.

Not had any experience with Dell ones so can't say for sure that it applies in this case.

 

[58sniper]

Printers That Use Ports That Do Not Begin With COM, LPT, or USB Are Not Redirected in a Remote Desktop or Terminal Services Session

http://support.microsoft.com/kb/302361

Pat Richard, MCSE MCSA:Messaging CNA
Microsoft Exchange MVP
Want to know how email works? Read for yourself -

http://www.ietf.org/rfc/rfc2821.txt

 

[MMSantiago]

Thank you both for the information:

Topkapi - I verified that the driver was installed and the same version on both the server and the notebook. I had made a few changes and cleared out the event log just before starting this thread. There were some errors in there but not for the specific printer in question. I asked the user to try again and plan to check the event log more carefully afterwards.

I seem to remember getting a multi-function working (at least for printing) before but it definitely wasn't a Dell.

58sniper - I completely forgot about this KB, even though I (now) remember using it often a few years ago, when dealing with a similar issue. Once I hear back from the user, if it's still failing, I'll give it a shot.

I'll post when I find out more. Thanks again.

 

[MMSantiago]

Well, I gave up...

I tried the registry entry and there was STILL no USB printers listed. The network printer setup for the Dell was still there but never worked. I brought a different USB printer (Xerox P8EX) into the mix and even IT wouldn't show up.

In frustration, I deleted the network printer, since the user decided she would never use it that way. The Dell USB printer setup came up! It seemed that the network printer setup was locking up the print spooler (or something else)and stopping any other printers from showing up. Hurray!!!

Well, no. Even though it was now being seen, it would not print. And the Xerox printer was not there either. Everything looked right but NOTHING. So, I renamed the Xerox printer setup to a name BEFORE the Dell (since TS seems to go in alphabetical order) Now, the Xerox showed up AND PRINTED FINE! No crazy settings, no adjustments. Just plug it in and print.

I've decided that the Dell All-in-one 966 printer will NEVER work with Terminal Services. Perhaps they'll release an updated driver to address this issue but we're not waiting for it. Thanks for the suggestions. Hopefully, this post will remove hours of frustration from others trying to get this printer to work.