Printers drop from Directory

[westin]

Hey folks,

I have kind of a weird issue. We have Windows Server 2008 acting as a print server, with all printers listed in the directory. About once a day, no printers can be found in the directory, and I have to reboot the server to get them to show up again. People can still print to them, but cannot see any listed. A colleague suggested making the printserver a domain controller to see if that would make a difference, but it has not helped the issue.

Any ideas?

Thanks in advance.

[nihil]

Hi westin,

Have you identified the file that holds this information and examined its contents?

It sounds rather like a logfile refresh settings type issue............... the system periodically checks for connected printers and updates the file, but what does it do when the file gets full?

It could be that the file gets cleared and won't be repopulated until the next system scan, which I presume would be forced by a reboot?

If it is possible you might try increasing the filesize and checking what refresh options there are (overwrite/replace etc.)?

Just a guess

[morganlefay]

Maybe ensure the Print server has a static IP...

Can you ping the print server by name??

Not sure...just throwing things out there??

MLF

[westin]

Thanks for the replies. The printserver's IP is static. I can RDP into it to restart the printspooler service, and that seems to list them again. [EDIT: Restarting Spooler did not list them back into the directory] As I said, I am still able to print... I just cannot list out the printers. We just migrated all of the printers to a new server, running 2008, so I am wondering if maybe it has something to do with drivers?

As far as the logfile idea, where would I start looking? Has anyone else run into this issue?

[morganlefay]

I think it has something to do with DNS


http://support.microsoft.com/kb/246906 (although doesnt apply to 2008 server...ot its not listed....yet)

NOTE: An incorrect Domain Name Server (DNS) or router configuration may also cause a DC to be unable to find print servers and exhibit this behavior.

MLF

[westin]

I will have to check that out Monday. [I am working from home today. ]

That sounds like it may have something to do with it. At the very least, I will set the printpruner to never. I am pretty sure that DNS is configured properly, but it can't hurt to double-check that either.

Thanks again for the replies. If anyone else has any ideas, don't hesitate to chime in. This may resolve the issue, though we really haven't been taking DCs down... but that print pruner thing has me thinking.

[westin]

Well, I checked the DNS entries, they are correct. I set the printer pruning to never. They still drop out of the directory after a few hours. I can still add them if I know the full printer name [i.e. \\server\printer-name], and all printing functions normally. I looked at the event viewer on the printserver, and there are several error messages. I will try to post those tomorrow as time allows.

School is set to start Wednesday, so I have been swamped.

I am deploying the printers with group policy, so most people have all they need. Only problem is the few that want to be able to print to other areas of the building[s] that I have not set through GPs. They cannot search to add them, unless I restart the server, and they only have a few hours after that before the ability to search is stripped away again. Easy enough to set the printers through GP, but I would like to find out why the printers are not sticking in the directory. Thanks to all for the help/suggestions.