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I've got a problem on two computers here. Every time I try to add a printer in XP I get "Operation cannot be completed" error. If I attach the USB printer it finds it and tries to install but the printer install wizard comes up and tells me "RPC server is unavailable". Any ideas?
OK, have you checked the services (in control panel administrative tools) is the RPC service on automatic?
Or this would be it
or this
The RPC service is started and on automatic, the RPC Locator is manual but it doesn't change anything when it is started. As for the second suggestion, it's not a network printer, it is local so I'm not sure how that would affect it. It's Winxp and I'm logged on under a computer administrator account. As for the third and final suggestion, the printer spooler is running and is set to automatic. I'm totally lost on this... AAAAAAHHHHHHH! Stupid XP... :P
OK, lets look at what model printer, what driver version you have and what service pack level you are at with XP
Windows is updated completely, there is nothing left to get on Windows Update and, of course, SP1 is installed. The printer is a Lexmark x74 and I've tried the drivers from their website... no change... it doesn't matter what printer either, USB or parrallel. The add printer wizard just quits out saying that "Operation could not be completed." before it even really gets anywhere.
ok after messing with the lexmark setup program it does tell me the printing spooling servce isn't running... (my mistake, I misread the print spooler line in services, yes, I admit it :) and in services the print spooler is set to automatic and when I try to start the service it says "error 1068: the dependancy service or group fail to start" I did a bit of searching and it has the RPC as a dependancy of the print spooler but I checked again and the RPC service is automatic and has started...
again sorry for the confusion... a very LONG day...
Glad its fixed. :)
Not fixed quite yet I guess... because the RPC IS running, but the spooler says it isn't can therefore it can't load... I have no idea what the frick is wrong with this thing....
Try this
Start, run, cmd
net start spooler
What do you get?
What does the event viewer say if it fails?
I had a similar problem with accessing a printer over a LAN, same error messages, removing Kerio firewall cured the problem in my case. Checked necessary dependencies were set for automatic start - turned out I had used the security tools on grc.com at some point and they disable some uPNP and RPC stuff.
I figured out the exact cause of my problem. Rather stupid if you ask me. I'm not sure how other printer drivers work, but Lexmark installs a service and makes the print spooler dependant on it... someone stopped the service using msconfig.exe and therefore the print spooler couldn't load properly. there goes 10 hours of wasted time... thanks to everyone who helped me out here... the last two posts help me narrow it down and with noonoo's previous suggestions I found the culprit... at least I learned a lot more about services and how they work in groups... stupid microsoft...