Print spooler & can't add printer

Jim Jensen · February 17, 2012, 03:18:00 PM

I'm having trouble adding a particular HP printer to my Win 7 workstation. It's attached to the server, so I'm adding it as a network printer. Win 7 sees the printer, but when I try to add it, it fails out with an error 0x000006be - can't add printer. With searching, I saw mentions of printer drivers, so I downloaded the Win7 driver for the printer (HP Laserjet 1600) and tried again with the same result. Now when I go to printers and faxes, most of my printers are missing and I receive an error that Windows can't open Add Printer because the local print spooler is not running. I manually started the spooler again and end up with the same result.

Not sure why the spooler is stopping, but it seems to do so after failing to install the printer. I have another printer attached to the same machine as a network printer with no problems. I added an HP1320 on a different machine just fine.

Bob · February 17, 2012, 03:22:10 PM

If you are using W7 driver, run services.msc. It's sorted alphabetical so go to print spooler, right click and choose restart. It will stop the service and then restart. Should fix.

Jim Jensen · February 17, 2012, 04:10:56 PM

Quote from: Bob Connor on February 17, 2012, 03:22:10 PM
If you are using W7 driver, run services.msc. It's sorted alphabetical so go to print spooler, right click and choose restart. It will stop the service and then restart. Should fix.

that's how I restart the spooler but it doesn't fix the install error, which then stops the spooler service again.

Bob · February 17, 2012, 04:31:09 PM

Last time I had problem you did I was forced to do two things. Switch to the PCL5 or was it 6, test. Assuming W7/32? Make sure that's the driver you load, not w7/64. The Wy/32 drivers wouldn't work with my 64bit version. I recall HP wanted the PCL driver changed to one or the other meaning 5 or 6.

Jeff Zylstra · February 22, 2012, 04:31:42 PM

My guess is that you will need to uninstall the drivers, as well as any ports that were added in Control Panel - Devices & Printers. I believe that you can high light a printer and choose printer properties to see the ports that are installed as well as the drivers that are installed.

You also may want to turn on printer discovery and see if it will install that way.

Jim Jensen · February 23, 2012, 02:42:42 PM

Quote from: Jeff Zylstra on February 22, 2012, 04:31:42 PM
My guess is that you will need to uninstall the drivers, as well as any ports that were added in Control Panel - Devices & Printers. I believe that you can high light a printer and choose printer properties to see the ports that are installed as well as the drivers that are installed.

You also may want to turn on printer discovery and see if it will install that way.

I see some suggestions to this effect, though they say to delete all printers, which I don't relish - I have several set up. Since the printer never installs at all, I can't even look to see what properties it's trying to use and I'm not sure where it installed the drivers. No HP folder that's relevant under program files. I installed them using HP's driver packet, which is an executible that doesn't indicate where it dropped them - just says "they're installed and ready".

Jeff Zylstra · February 23, 2012, 03:18:24 PM

Try installing the printer using another port, be it an LPT port or bogus TCP/IP port, then try and change the port setting to the correct setting after that. I'm sure that the EXE installation created a new HP folder somewhere that you can refer to during the driver installation phase.

P.S. Can you see or "surf" to a printer on the server by typing "\\ComputerName\PrinterName" in Explore or Internet Explorer? Not sure, but printer discovery may need to be turned on to see it. Also, not sure what version of Windows you have, and if it might appear under the "network" section of Windows Explorer.

Alice Mooney · February 23, 2012, 04:28:54 PM

We get something like this occasionally, but with XP not Windows 7. We have tried everything, everything and more everything. For some reason the only thing that fixes it is a wipe/reload. Reloading an image solved it for a bit but the spooler eventually became corrupt again.
Not what you want to hear but that's what we have to do.

Jim Jensen · February 23, 2012, 04:35:36 PM

Quote from: Alice on February 23, 2012, 04:28:54 PM
We get something like this occasionally, but with XP not Windows 7. We have tried everything, everything and more everything. For some reason the only thing that fixes it is a wipe/reload. Reloading an image solved it for a bit but the spooler eventually became corrupt again.
Not what you want to hear but that's what we have to do.

If it gets to this, I have an easier solution - buy a different printer! I'd rather buy a different color printer than go to that extreme since it's not a plain-jane production machine. I'm going to try to connect my laptop, which is also Win 7/32bit to see how it reacts.

Jeff Zylstra · February 23, 2012, 04:43:41 PM

Removing and reinstalling the printers on the workstation is not as bad as it sounds. I believe that you're not actually removing all traces of the printers by wiping them out in the spooler. Someone with more experience might have to chime in on that subject.

Jim Jensen · February 24, 2012, 01:47:08 PM

I have success now without deleting printers, drivers, re-imaging, hacking the registry or other similar actions. I had my Win7 laptop in the office and the printer installed fine with plug & play with USB connection. Step 1 - works with Win7 - check.

Moved printer and connected it directly to my Win7/32bit station with USB cable. Installed fine with no issues with plug & play. Printed successfully. Step 2 - computer accepts the printer and drivers in principal - check

Moved printer back to network connection (USB to server), attempted to add printer while the local installation was still present in the Devices & Printers, installed normally with no errors. Done and works - CHECK!

Discovery along the way that might help others: Came across Print Server Properties from within the Devices and Printers applet. There's a Drivers tab, which lists all of the installed drivers, including a 'properties' option for each which displays the driver path (c:\windows\system32\spool\drivers\W32x86\) plus the driver file name and related files. You can add or remove the drivers from this utility, too. Had the last attempt not worked, I would have deleted the HP Laserjet1600 drivers from here and then started over. Utility also shows all of the ports assigned for the print spooler. The odd thing - I don't know how I found this - printer server appeared as an option on a right-click, but I can't reproduce it. However, the documented way to get there is to open "Print Management" - either under Administrative Tools or just type "Print Management" in the search box on the start menu.

Jeff Zylstra · February 24, 2012, 03:01:33 PM

Glad it finally worked for you, even though it seems like you had to throw salt over your shoulder and utter an incantation to get it working.

I was having the same issue trying to find printer server properties in Windows 7 so I could describe it for you. Getting at the ports, drivers and print server settings seems to be much easier in XP than Windows 7. Glad you got it.

Jeff Golas · March 06, 2012, 06:12:04 PM

Quote from: Jeff Zylstra on February 24, 2012, 03:01:33 PM
Glad it finally worked for you, even though it seems like you had to throw salt over your shoulder and utter an incantation to get it working.

Umm I thought that was business as usual? The cleaning people just complain about the pile of salt behind my chair.

PS - when trying to find server properties on a Win7 workstation, click on a printer first, THEN you'll see the server properties button at the top of the window.

Jim Jensen · March 06, 2012, 09:21:14 PM

Quote from: Jeff Golas on March 06, 2012, 06:12:04 PM
Quote from: Jeff Zylstra on February 24, 2012, 03:01:33 PM
Glad it finally worked for you, even though it seems like you had to throw salt over your shoulder and utter an incantation to get it working.

Umm I thought that was business as usual? The cleaning people just complain about the pile of salt behind my chair.

PS - when trying to find server properties on a Win7 workstation, click on a printer first, THEN you'll see the server properties button at the top of the window.

Aha! Those appearing/disappearing options! Thanks - now I see that.