Windows 2003 Terminal Server Print Spooler problems

[precioustony]

Hi,

I am having problems with the print spooler on windows 2003 terminal server. The print spooler keeps stopping and I have to go and restart it all the time. Can anyone suggest a solution?

 

[pgaliardo]

Quick solution is to go into services right click on the spooler service, click the recovery tab and click to have the print spooler restart upon failure.

Bigger problem though is why this is happening. Check Event Viewer, etc around the time this is happening for clues as to what is causing this. Probably a print driver problem.

 

[markdmac]

I agree with pgaliardo.

I faced a similar situation at a clients with a Citrix server. The clients had some crappy USB printers that kept causing problems and caused the spooler to freeze up rather than stop.

In the end my solution for that was to give them a web page that allowed the users to restart the spooler service.

When the service is actually stopping then setting it to restart is the best solution. You could also have a script that checks status and restarts the service as needed.

I hope you find this post helpful.

Regards,

Mark

Check out my scripting solutions at

http://www.thespidersparlor.com/vbscript

 

[precioustony]

This is the error message I keep on receiving:
Event Type: Information
Event Source: Application Error
Event Category: (100)
Event ID: 1004
Date: 07/08/2006
Time: 12:14:15
User: N/A
Computer: BAATRM4020905
Description:
Reporting queued error: faulting application spoolsv.exe, version 5.2.3790.1830, faulting module ntdll.dll, version 5.2.3790.1830, fault address 0x0003b07d.

I have been restarting the spooler service but I am fed up with having to do this all the time!!! I am seeking a permanent solution.

 

[pgaliardo]

I think you have a permanent solution -set the spooler service to automatically restart. Then you are going to have to do some basic troubleshooting and find out what drivers may be causing this. I know this gets to be a tough job on a TS because so many users and printers are used on 1 server. Maybe try logging all printer events on the server then try to determine who was the last person to print before the spooler crashed.

 

[fs483]

Markdmac, can you share that webpage with us ? I have a few customers on Citrix who have the same problem.

thanks,
akwong

 

[markdmac]

Don't think I have a copy of that anymore. I no longer work for that Certified Partner and the client retired the Windows 2000 Citrix server to upgrade to a Windows 2003 Terminal Server.

I will do some digging and if I have it will be happy to share.

I hope you find this post helpful.

Regards,

Mark

Check out my scripting solutions at

http://www.thespidersparlor.com/vbscript

 

[fs483]

Thanks markdmac.

 

[Teknoratti]

same here, we have remote clients who utilize our TS and they had one particular print driver that constantly knocked our spooler out.

I forget the printer / print driver name. But ultimately we had to ask the client not to use that printer as default when connected to our TS.

 

[fs483]

On both my Windows 2003 and Windows 2000 servers with Citrix (2 different clients) behaves weird. The print spooler might work fine for 2 or 3 weeks then suddenly crash multiple times per day. At some point, when the print spooler crashes, it prevents other users from logging in.