Printer going offline on terminal server

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Brian

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I have a Windows 2003 terminal server that has a networked printer installed
for use by a remote user. The user is connected to the terminal server via a
hardware VPN, and the printer is located on the remote LAN, and has an
integrated IP print server connected to the remote LAN via Ethernet, so the
terminal server prints to the printer via a standard IP port.

Occasionally (about once per month for the last three months), the printer
will go offline. I hear about it when the user calls me to indicate that she
can print locally, but not via the application on the terminal server. By the
time I log onto the terminal server, I can ping the printer, and its status
shows "Offline". When I double-click the printer, then go to File -> Use
Printer Offline, the status becomes "Offline - Offline", and it does no good
for me to put it back online.

The only way I know to resolve the issue is the restart the Print Spooler
service. Two questions:

1. Is there another way to force a re-connection besides restarting the
print spooler?
2. Is there a way I can give a limited-access user (inheriting membership in
the local Users group on the terminal server from the user's membership in
the AD Domain Users group) access to get the printer online again? I most
certainly am not going to explain to an end user how to restart the print
spooler on a server that hosts multiple users having different printers in
different locations.
 
Re: Printer going offline on terminal server

Brian <Brian@discussions.microsoft.com> wrote:
> I have a Windows 2003 terminal server that has a networked printer
> installed for use by a remote user. The user is connected to the
> terminal server via a hardware VPN, and the printer is located on the
> remote LAN, and has an integrated IP print server connected to the
> remote LAN via Ethernet, so the terminal server prints to the printer
> via a standard IP port.
>
> Occasionally (about once per month for the last three months), the
> printer will go offline. I hear about it when the user calls me to
> indicate that she can print locally, but not via the application on
> the terminal server. By the time I log onto the terminal server, I
> can ping the printer, and its status shows "Offline". When I
> double-click the printer, then go to File -> Use Printer Offline, the
> status becomes "Offline - Offline", and it does no good for me to put
> it back online.
>
> The only way I know to resolve the issue is the restart the Print
> Spooler service. Two questions:
>
> 1. Is there another way to force a re-connection besides restarting
> the print spooler?
> 2. Is there a way I can give a limited-access user (inheriting
> membership in the local Users group on the terminal server from the
> user's membership in the AD Domain Users group) access to get the
> printer online again? I most certainly am not going to explain to an
> end user how to restart the print spooler on a server that hosts
> multiple users having different printers in different locations.

This is usually due to a bad printer driver - you might try updating it.
Also try posting in m.p.windows.terminal_services for more expert help, tho.
 
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