Is anyone ever going to answer this question? DEFAULT PRINTER??

I cannot set the default printer in Vista Business with SP1. I am connected
to a domain trying to set a network printer hosted from a server as the
default printer. I have seen a dozen or more questions similiar to this in
this group as well as on other forums and found no answer. I see a MS-MVP
come on and tell people to remove local printers such as the XPS and adobe
printers. This is a ridiculous solution. Sure it may allow you to connect
to a network printer but you have removed printers that you are going to need
to use again. Unacceptable. Where is the help?

So far the only other solution that does not include deleting all the local
printers off of the machine is to make sure you have write permissions to the
default printer registry key. I have checked this and I do have write
permissions(Full Control). SO WHAT NEXT??

IS MICROSOFT EVER GOING TO COME OUT WITH ANOTHER FIX FOR THIS? BECAUSE IT IS
OBVIOUS ALL THE ONES THEY HAVE SUGGESTED SO FAR DO NOT WORK OR ARE COMPLETELY
UNACCEPTABLE!!!!!

I have posted this question once before and had no response so I am curious
to see if anyone tries this go around.

ANY HELP IS GREATLY APPRECIATED.

Thank You

 

Dear Jake,

I totally agree with you.

I bought a new computer with Vista and the scan fonction of my printer HP
1400 doesn't work at all.

As you can see in a lot of forum, It's seems to be a recurrent problem with
Vista and it's totally damage.

I am very furioux about Microsoft and the bugs of Vista !

Best regards,
Flo

 

Windows, whether Vista or XP will ALWAYS connect to the first printer it
finds.

Have you asked your IT Administrator to set a Group Policy so that your PC
will not 'see' local printers?

 

Before you purchased your new PC, did you check with HP as to whether the HP
written drivers of your multi function printer did what you want them to in
Vista?

It is NOT Microsoft's fault that HP did not decide to write updated drivers
for your make and model of printer. HP OWN the rights to the drivers, you
can't expect another person to rewrite software that will break the HP
copyright.

 

Did you read my first post? This is not a real solution. Your telling me
that I will have to disable allowing local printers. How is this a viable
solution for someone who creates PDF's with the Adobe PDF (local) printer on
a very regular occasion?

Again same answer, different approach.

AND I DID NOT say that windows is always connecting to the first printer it
sees upon login.

WHAT I DID SAY IS THAT I CANNOT CHANGE THE DEFAULT PRINTER IN WINDOWS VISTA
BUSINESS SP1. RIGHT CLICK->SET AS DEFAULT PRINTER. NOTHING HAPPENS!!!

PLEASE ANSWER MY ORIGNIAL QUESTION!!!

 

1. This is a peer-to-peer news group. A question is posted. If any fellow
users have an answer/suggestion/whatever, an answer is posted. Frequently
some discussion follows. Microsofties might post from time-to-time. If you
want Microsoft support, go to their web pages for contact information and
support options, both for free and paid support.

2. Frequently an answer is provided which will get you some progress on an
issue but more is needed to get a full solution. For example, to solve
hardware problems, it is frequently advisable to remove all related drivers
and install only those necessary to get the desired functionality. Then, one
re-installs the removed drivers (one at a time in case some conflict is
causing the original problem).

3. When you present any part of a post in all caps, you are shouting. That,
together with the overall tone of your posts to this thread cause me to have
no desire to research this problem for possible solutions.

4. No, I do not work for Microsoft or have any other connection to them
other than receiving an MVP award several times for contributions to the
computing community.

Best of luck to you. I really do hope you find a solution but don't think
this type posts here is going to accomplish much for you. On the other hand,
perhaps I am mis-reading you.

Tom
MSMVP 1998-2007

 

I do work at Microsoft and I am very interested in this issue. I have seen
the posts but have never experienced the issue.

Jacob is shouting to be heard, I don't have an issue with that in the first
post but in subsequent dialog, I agree with Tom.

here you go, ANY HELP IS GREATLY APPRECIATED
Jacob, now it's time for more data.

What is the OS of the print server you connect to?
Was the connection created using Add Printer or was this a logon script or
other method?
What is the print driver used in the connection?
Is there another shared printers on another machine that you can connect
using Add Printer and set as default?
What is the value under the default printer key
HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows
NT\CurrentVersion\Windows\Device?
Is the printer status "Ready" when setting as the default or is it in some
other status.

I'll assume you are logged on as a domain user that does not have admin
rights on the machine.

Can you set the default printer using the command line tools included in
Vista? If this is possible then it points to a UI issue if it's not then we
might get an error.

\windows\system32\printing_admin-scripts\en-us
prnmngr.vbs -t sets the default printer

C:\Windows\System32\Printing_Admin_Scripts\en-US>cscript prnmngr.vbs -ac -p
"\\server\printer"
Microsoft (R) Windows Script Host Version 5.7
Copyright (C) Microsoft Corporation. All rights reserved.

Added printer connection \\\server\printer

C:\Windows\System32\Printing_Admin_Scripts\en-US>cscript prnmngr.vbs -t -p
"\\server\printer"
Microsoft (R) Windows Script Host Version 5.7
Copyright (C) Microsoft Corporation. All rights reserved.

The default printer is now \\server\printer


--
Alan Morris
Windows Printing Team
Search the Microsoft Knowledge Base here:
http://support.microsoft.com/search/?adv=1

This posting is provided "AS IS" with no warranties, and confers no rights.

 

Jacob??

--
Alan Morris
Windows Printing Team
Search the Microsoft Knowledge Base here:
http://support.microsoft.com/search/?adv=1

This posting is provided "AS IS" with no warranties, and confers no rights.

 

Jacob

I had a similar issue with my Windows Vista Home Premium running on an new
Acer Aspire M1100 (Duo Core Processor BE-2350 2.10 GHz). Under the
Administrator account I installed and tested supporting software for my HP
Photosmart C6280 All-in-One (Vista Compatible) printer without any problem.
However, when logging on with any other user account (even with administrator
privledges) the Abobe Reader software (versions 8 and/or 9) complained there
was no default printer to be found and I needed to install a printer. When I
checked under printers I discovered that the printer device wa there but it
wasn't tagged as the default printer. That's when I found that I could not
change/set the printer as default. After reading the earlier postings, here
is the "fix" which enabled me to set the printer as default in a normal
manner.

Using "regedit" ...

(1) Logged on under the Owner-Primary Administrator user account and noted:
HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\WindowsNT
\CurrentVersion\Windows\Device
Value Name (string): HP Photosmart C6200 series
Value Data: winspool,Ne01:
Value Name (string): Microsoft XPS Document Writer
Value Data: winspool,Ne00:
(2) Logged on under Non-Owner-Additional user account (with admin privledges
granted) and noted:
(2a) Could not change/set the HP printer as default.
(2b) Under ...
HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\WindowsNT
\CurrentVersion\Windows\Device
The two entries; Value Name (string) and Value Data, identified by
(1) above did not exist.
(3) Continuing as Non-Owner-Additional user:
(3a) added the two entries in (1) above under
HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\WindowsNT
\CurrentVersion\Windows\Device
(3b) Tested and was able to change/set the HP printer as default.
(3c) Tested and was able to print Word documents mormally and
was able to print PDF documents with Adobe Reader.

Hope this helps. Best of luck!

--- Gary Cates ---

 

I've been having a similar problem, but in my case i can set the default
printer to a network printer in the control panel just fine. But after
some amount of time (a day or two) the default printer reverts to "xps".
This is w/o a reboot. I have auto-updates turned off, but the updater
does run to "check" what might need to be applied.

Anybody have any ideas?