Cannot connect to any shared printers from some Windows 10 workstations

Darrell Graham 101 Reputation points
2020-10-29T23:14:51.077+00:00

Hello,

We have a Windows domain with about 3000 endpoints, all running Windows 10 version 1909. One week ago users started to report that they cannot print to any device shared from any print server. They also cannot install any new printers from any print server regardless of the printer manufacturer or model. If a tech logs into the computer under a different profile, they also cannot install any printers from any print server. However, if we assign the affected end user to a new computer they can install printers just fine. The problem does not follow the user. Oddly this doesn't seem to affect everyone at the same time. We are getting 2-10 callers per day.

Most users are working just fine with no issues. They can install and use printers from both print servers. We have two, one running Server 2016 and another running Server 2019. The issue seems to be isolated to these workstations. The issue appeared exactly 7 days ago, but no updates, security patches or new software were installed immediately prior to the start of the problem. I have reviewed change logs and no changes were made to the network or domain either.

So far the only solution we have found is to reinstall the operating system. There are no log files for these events on either the client or the print server. We tried removing the computer form the domain and rejoining and removing all printers and drivers. Wireshark doesn't show any issues with communication to the print server. We can clearly see the client send an OpenPrinterEx request, it gets the expected response from the server, and then the client inexplicably sends a ClosePrinter Request. The client and the server repeat this several times before it fails.

The errors we receive pop-up almost instantaneously.
When browsing to the print server by using the UNC path \PrintServer, then right-click-> Connect on the desired printer we get the error: Windows couldn't connect to the printer. Check the printer name and try again. If this is a network printer, make sure the printer is turned on, and that the printer address is correct.

36110-capture1.png

When attempting to install by opening Printers and scanners and selecting "Add a printer or scanner", we get the error: We can't install this printer right now. Try again later or contact your network administrator for help. The Error #14 doesn't seem to be valid error that I can find?

36191-capture2.png

We are baffled and would appreciate any assistance.

Thank you

Windows Server Printing
Windows Server Printing
Windows Server: A family of Microsoft server operating systems that support enterprise-level management, data storage, applications, and communications.Printing: Printer centralized deployment and management, scan and fax resources management, and document services
640 questions
Accepted answer
  1. Darrell Graham 101 Reputation points
    2020-11-25T02:05:57.437+00:00

    We finally figured this out. There was an update (KB4052623) that fixed the inability to add printers. Impacted machines must have missed previous version updates, for whatever reason and were failing with the below error on the MpPrintFlt.dll in System32. Updating Defender to the latest platform version (4.18.2010.7) solved the issue.

    42309-error.png

19 additional answers

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  1. Eric Tweedy 6 Reputation points
    2021-10-21T23:47:17.337+00:00

    Try uninstalling KB5006670 on the Win10 boxes

    1 person found this answer helpful.
  2. Nguyễn Tựu 6 Reputation points
    2021-11-18T02:21:03.76+00:00

    Hello. 100% OK

    1. Computer manage printer: Set password
    2. Computer client: control panel/Credential Manager/ Add a Windows Credential/Add a windows credential.
      Login pass and user

    Also shown and discussed in this video:
    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Gsc2tKD10pc

    1 person found this answer helpful.
  3. Jenny Yan-MSFT 9,321 Reputation points
    2020-10-30T09:34:43.977+00:00

    Hi,

    1.Please kindly confirm the behavior when users print to any device shared from any print server on the problematic workstations.

    For example, whether or not they could choose the printer but get some error messages when click start printing.

    2.Please check the printers under device of problematic workstations(better to share the screenshot) if they were greyed out or other behaviors.

    3.If there is no event logs recorded the issue, you may consider to capture and compare the procmon on working and non-working clients.

    Thanks,
    Jenny

  4. Jenny Yan-MSFT 9,321 Reputation points
    2020-11-06T08:45:42.72+00:00

    Thanks for the update but still looking for more details.
    1.Can you run below command on both working and non-working computers and then check if there is difference between group policies?
    gpresult /h c:\rds.html

    2.Can you conduct below powershell command on both working and non-working computers then check if they are install the same update patches?
    $QFE = Get-hotfix -computername $server | select-object -property Description,HotFixID,InstalledBy,InstalledOn | out-file c:\windows\temp\$server.txt
    change$server to hostname

    3.If we logon with local account, will the issue persist?

    4.Kindly turn off firewall on the problematic computer and verify if issue will re-occur?

    5.Have you tried to use IP address to add the printer?

    Looking forward to your update.

    Best Regards,
    Jenny

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