WIndows 2000 Active Directory clients unable to print

[LoganTeamX]

This problem surfaced over the weekend, and it's quite
frustrating.

We have a small environment in one of our satellite
offices. 1 AD Domain Controller that also serves as a
print server, DHCP/DNS, and some file storage. There are 4
networked printers, and 10 client workstations split
between desktops and laptops. Everything is segregated
behind a SOHO router, and the server itself does NOT
handle Internet requests ala ISA.

Up to and including Friday night past(July 30th), printing
was not an issue.

Today, they get an "unable to connect" message in red in
their respective Printer menus. The printers all respond
to pings, and they all receive test pages as sent by the
server itself. Trying to re-add the printer(s) to each
client machine via Active Directory results in the
printers being displayed, but when you actually select a
printer... it errors out. There are no errors to this
effect in the System event log, nor in the Application log
of each respective machine. Nothing has changed in the
network topology at that location.

The only discrepancy was that it decided that the DC
wanted a new allocation for a NTP server, and one was made
today and the DC was rebooted on top of starting the
Windows Time service. In addition, all workstations and
laptops were rebooted, as were the printers. All printers
receive their allocated reservations in the DHCP scope as
planned.

Any thoughts would be appreciated. Alternatively, please contact me @ adam@NOSPAMjsrl.com - remove the blatant 'bot blocker.

Thanks in advance.

Adam Weichel, MCP

 

[aznluvsmc]

So at the moment, you can print from the print server itself but you cannot add the printer due to some kind of unspecified error.

Have you verified the print spooler service is still running?

"It's about the journey and not the destination" - The quote of those who never make it

 

[LoganTeamX]

The print spooler service is most definitely running. Clients are authenticating to the server as usual. There is nothing to suggest any problems yet at the service level, and upon cold boot / warm boot, the server loads as normal, all services loading as expected.

When you go to add a print device via the Active Directory, the printers are enumerated, but attempting to add a printer via that window results in a message being displayed that you cannot connect to the printer.

Furthermore, attempting to add a printer via browsing the network (Add a printer --> network printer --> Browse for printers results in being unable to browse.

Further investigation has revealed that the backup browser service on each client machines has "stopped" for being unable to retrieve a list of machines from the master browser, the DC. Perhaps this is causing the inability to add a printer. Restarting the TCP/IP NetBios Helper service has not rectified the problem.

Ideas?