Printer Troubleshooting

Please read this page carefully. Printer sharing in Windows is rarely simple and it's not uncommon to encounter at least one of the issues on this page.

I cannot print a test page from the client PC

The printer is not correctly installed. Delete the printer and try again, making sure to select the correct printer model when given the choice. If you cannot get this to work please consult with your IT department; general printer issues are outside the scope of this document.

During installation on the server I get a “bad username/password” or similar "access denied" error

The user account you’re currently logged into the server with does not have permission to install a printer on the server. Note that if you are logged in as a local admin you may need to switch to a domain admin account to activate the appropriate group policy.

The server cannot find the shared printer even though I’m certain I’ve typed it correctly

Check whether File Explorer can find the PC via "\\PCName\" and that the shared printer is listed in there. If not, you have fundamental networking issues that need to be resolved first. You may have more success using the client PC’s IP address instead of its name, e.g. \\192.168.2.7\Name, but this won’t work with dynamic IP addresses.

After successfully connecting to the shared printer on the server, it gets stuck in the "Unspecified" category, and/or with a status of "device setup in progress" along with a loading indicator, which never completes

Of all things, this means that the server is trying and failing to download the correct icon for the printer from the internet. The issue seems particularly prevalent in early versions of Server 2016. Instead of using Control Panel, try using the "Print Management" app to sidestep this issue. Print Management is usually already available on the server; try searching for it or run printmanagement.msc. If it's not available, it can be added via the Print Server role.

Print Management and/or Control Panel complain that the print spooler service isn't running and suggest rebooting the server

There is no need to reboot the server. Open Windows Services and ensure the Print Spooler service is running and is set to automatically start, and then try again.

I can print test pages from both the client and server PCs but nothing happens when I print from PTS

Verify that you entered the Name on Server value correctly in Setup > Printers.

If you see a PTS error message relating to being unable to write to a "Content\Labels" folder, go to the PTS server and give "Everyone" at least write permissions to that folder. This is a subfolder inside the main PTSWeb application folder, by default installed in C:\inetpub\wwwroot\PTSWeb\Content\Labels. The error is being caused because PTS is being denied permission to write temporary files to the folder.

Test pages are hitting the print queue but get stuck in an "Error - Printing" state

When this starts happening always bear in mind that an errored document in the spooler will prevent any further documents from printing until it is deleted. You'll need to get into the routine of deleting the document at every step while troubleshooting this problem. If this is happening with test pages this indicates a networking issue of some kind. Ensure the printer is still online, is still shared, the PC is turned on and that the server and the PC can see each other. Searching for the client PC in an Explorer window on the server is a good way to test the network and that the printer is accessible. If everything seems in order, verify that the Print Spooler service is still running.

Test pages work but PTS labels get stuck in the "Error - Printing" state

When the problem is affecting PTS documents exclusively this is usually a permissions issue. Make sure that “Everyone” has permission to print, manage the printer and manage documents on the printer on both the server and the client (you can do this under the Security tab). Again note that you must delete the previous errored document from the spooler before trying again. We're also finding that in response to recent printer based malware (e.g. Print Nightmare), Trusts sometimes disable printing except for specific domain accounts. To remedy this the PTS service account should be added to the "RDP users" group, and/or the "access this computer from the network" policy on the client PC (this can be done from "Computer Management"). A TCP/IP printer setup would sidestep a lot of permissions issues like this.

We haven't updated PTS for a while and it is not using the service account

You may be able to circumvent the issue by selecting a different "built-in account" identity as PTS's application pool identity in IIS (Application Pools > PTS > Advanced Settings > Identity). Either NetworkService or ApplicationPoolIdentity may work. Failing that, identify the PTS service account in Setup > Application Settings > SSRS Reports Service User, and its password in Setup > Application Settings > SSRS Reports Service Password. Once you've done this set the app pool's identity to Custom and enter the service account credentials.

The document prints but it prints off-centre or prints over several labels

Ensure that you input the page and label size settings on both the client and the server, in both places in the printer driver. Note that makes a total of four places where you specify the label sizes for each printer – please understand that we don’t have any control over this odd procedure.

The label is pixelated and unclear (dithered)

Set "Dithering" to None.

Make sure you have set the Dithering setting to None in Printer Properties. As above, you will have four places in total where you have to specify this. A label with incorrectly dithered graphics looks like this. This is more than an aesthetic concern as the dithering can make the barcode unreadable.

Printing is slow, the print button doesn’t seem to respond or takes a very long time to react

Check that Bidirectional Support is turned off on both the server and client PCs. You do not lose anything noteworthy by disabling this setting.

Since installing the printer, booking in prescriptions takes a lot longer

Again, check that Bidirectional Support is turned off on both the server and client PCs.

I’ve turned off Bidirectional Support on both the client and the server yet it still seems to print rather slowly

Make sure you have used the Seagull Drivers for Zebra Printers on both the client and the server, as any sort of mismatch between two drivers can result in slow printing. We do not generally recommend the first-party Zebra drivers for any reason. You could also try connecting to the shared printer by the host’s IP address as opposed to its name. If you cannot resolve this to your satisfaction, consider a TCP/IP setup or Browser Printing.

While configuring the printer on the server I’m getting an extremely slow response from the property pages and then I’m eventually prompted to disable network features. What is this?

The "Disable network features" dialog. Simply click Disable.

This is a common error that can have some weird effects if not dealt with properly, including being unable to access the printer properties page to finish configuring the printer. Simply click Disable, and then ensure that Bidirectional Support is turned off in Printer Properties > Ports. This is an essential step. This error is actually a pretty good indicator that the server has found and is connected to the printer.

Printing from PTS works fine for a while but will then stop working without warning

Unfortunately it's the nature of Windows network printing that once a print fails, the document enters an error state in the print queue and blocks the printer for any subsequent documents. This means that a temporary blip in connectivity can become semi-permanent until the errored document is dealt with. Either manually delete the document from the server or consider installing the Print Queue Monitor Service on the server. This automatically deletes errored documents from the spooler and prevents the printer from randomly stopping, but isn't designed to address any actual printer issues.

Printing randomly stops, but it doesn't seem to be related to an errored document

Trusts are sometimes using group policy to disable the Print Spooler service across the board in response to new printer based viruses, such as Print Nightmare. You'll be able to verify this by checking whether the service is mysteriously disabled after a period of time (it can sometimes take a few days for the server to apply the policy as servers are rarely logged in/out or restarted). IT will have to make an exception for the PTS application server if you want to use network printing.

The printer is responding but is printing blank labels

The printer can print blank labels if the wrong type of labels are used, or if the ribbon needs changing (if it's that type of printer). This can also occur when the wrong printer drivers are used, or if the wrong printer model was selected during installation, or if the label sizes are wildly incorrect.