Printers Disappear After Windows Updates

[bmizes]

I have a Dell Inspiron 8100 notebook with Windows XP Home on it. I use it both at home and at work, and have installed a number of printer drivers on it. Everything was fine until I decided I should install some of the critical updates that Windowsupdate says should be installed. The first time, I installed all 15 critical updates, and immediately after doing so, all of my printers listed in the Printers and Fax Folders were gone. I reinstalled XP using the repair option and they all reappeared, but that also removed all of the updates. I then figured I would install the updates one at a time to find isolate the problem, and the very first update, which was the Windows XP Update Package, October 25, 2001, trashed the printers again. Thinking I had discovered the culprit, I went through the repair routine again to recover my printers. I then went back to windows update and skipped the Windows XP Update Package, October 25, 2001, and tried the next one, which was Security Update, December 17, 2001. Lo and behold, that one trashed the printers as well. Either all of the updates trash the printers and faxes folder, or there must be something I can do prior to the updates to preserve the printers and fax folder information. Any help would be greatly appreciated, since it is important to install some of these updates. Thank you. Barry Mizes

[NooNoo]

Since the printer drivers are all there have you tried running one update and then adding on of the printers back again?

[bmizes]

I haven't tried that, but I could give it a shot. Do you have any idea what is happening, or for that matter, where the listing of the printers is stored in XP?

Thanks.

Barry

[NooNoo]

No I don't know what is happening, but I think the printers are just being hidden, I wouldn't be surprised if they came up as copy 2.

[bmizes]

NooNoo,

Well, I tried reinstalling a printer after they had disappeared, and although the printer installation went through smoothly, the printer I installed did not actually appear in the Printers and Fax folder. It too was being hidden by whatever setting is affecting this.

I have also tried setting a Restore point before doing one of these updates, and then doing a system restore afterwards. Even after doing the Restore, the printers do not show up. The only thing that "fixes" the problem is reinstalling windows xp using its repair option.

Any other ideas or suggestions as to whom I should contact?

Thanks.

Barry

[NooNoo]

If your xp version is retail, you can contact M$

If it's a branded machine, contact the manufacturer.

[futuretech]

Try from a command prompt
net stop spooler
net start spooler
If the printers are back after that, go to services and select
Print Spooler and the recovery tab and then change the first failure to restart the service.

[bmizes]

Futuretech,

That was a good try, but it didn't work. Stopping and starting the print spooler service did not bring back the list of printers after I tried an update and had lost the list.

However, I'm fairly certain that this is the right track. After I reinstalled windows xp again, I was able to make the printers disappear by just stopping the print spooler service and make them reapper by starting it again. Evidently, something is happening during the Windows Update process that is corrupting the print spooler such that stopping and starting it does not have an effect. Perhaps deleting the print spool file altogether and letting Windows recreate a new one on reboot would solve the problem. Do you know which file is the print spool file or files, or do you have any other ideas based upon what I just described?

Thanks.

Barry Mizes

[futuretech]

http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;en-us;Q314105

[bmizes]

Futuretech,

Changing the spool location didn't work either, so I am going to try to send this information to Dell and see what they say. I'm sure they will be clueless, at which point I will have to decide whether to live with this or just return the entire system. Thanks for trying - if you have any other ideas, let me know.

Barry Mizes

[futuretech]

Ok found this article at M$ and it pertains to the (surprise)Dell 8100, and provides a workaround but states to contact DELL and to either optain a fix or an updated BIOS.
http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;en-us;Q313468

[Quiet Thunder]

I've had issues with the automatic update clearing out the printers list. A good old fashioned coldboot always took care of the problem. Which leads me to have to ask, after you install the updates, are you A) Rebooting immedatly. B) Warm or Cold booting the machine.

Try this: Install the updates, when the prompt appears asking you to reboot, click cancel. Then shut down and turn off you're computer. Wait 10 sec, and reboot. Let us know what happens.

[bmizes]

Quiet Thunder,

I'm pretty sure that in the 10 or 15 times that I have now reinstalled XP after trying the updates that I did turn off the machine completely and then reboot. Just in case, though, I'll try it again in the next couple days. I have a couple other things to try, so I'll just add that to the list. Thanks for your help.

Barry

[Ya_know]

Could this be a corrupted profile? Try logging in with a new user, or same user with a brand new profile, then try to reinstall the printers.

Before reloading the OS, or repairing, you should try to take all of the baby steps available. In trying to fix this one problem by reinstalling, you may be damaging the OS beyond the original problem...

Good luck...

[bmizes]

Ya_know,

Thanks for the suggestion - I'll add that to my list of things to try this weekend. Everything else related to the profile seems to be working normally, and each of the reinstall/repair operations has gone smoothly without any noticeable problems. I have only setup one user (myself), so it's worth a shot to create a new user and try doing the update under that user. I too subscribe to the KISS principle (keep it simple stupid) when doing troubleshooting, but I have exhausted most of the simple remedies at this point.

Thanks again for your help.

Barry

[bmizes]

For anyone that's interested, I wanted to provide the end to the story, since there is a "happy ending" here, although it is not quite yet a complete one. Armed with a number of suggestions from forum members, I planned on trying each one individually this weekend. Unfortunately, I did not have the time to try 4 things and have to do a reinstall after each one that was unsuccessful. Therefore, I had no other choice but to try all 4 things at once. I tried the following:
1. created a new user account in case my old account was corrupted in some way, and installed the updates under the new account.
2. reset the parallel port to Normal rather than the default ECP based upon a Microsoft bulletin.
3. uninstalled Lantastic prior to installing the windows updates (we use Lantastic at work).
4. unbound Microsoft networking from my network card (I use microsoft networking for my home network).

After doing all of the above, I installed a couple windows updates and lo and behold my printers did not disappear. I then installed all the rest of the updates and the printers were still there. EVen after switching back to my original user account, reinstalling Lantastic, and binding microsoft networking to the network card again, the printers have all remained there. I'll have to try these things individually at some point to figure out which one was the actual cause, but at least I have now installed all of the Windows updates. Anyone want to bet on which of these 4 changes solved the problem?

Thanks again for your help.

Barry Mizes

[NooNoo]

On a straight bet I think Lantastic - because you were not joined to the lantastic network (and therefore the printers) when updating were you?

[bmizes]

No, I wasn't join to my printers at work, but I was joined to my printers at home when doing the updates, and those printers disappeared as well. When I finally get a chance to troubleshoot this one item at a time, I'll be able to see which one was the cause.

Thanks.

Barry