Internet Printing (administration) problem

Recently moved all our networked printers to a different server (server 2003)

Now unable to administer printers via the web e.g. http://servername/printers

Can view the printers but when you click on a printer name on the left it just refreshes the screen and you are unable to access the printer properties. No error messages.
Wierd problem as this worked on the old server. This is a member server not a DC.

I've also uninstalled the internet printing service in IIS, via add/remove programs and then reinstalled but end up back in the same boat

screenshot attached:

internetprintererror2.JPG

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skrpune

So is it just those two printers that are showing as offline, or is it all the printers? And are you using a profile that's been assigned the proper access to the printers? It could be that you're logged on as a user who's able to see but not manage the printers...that's the first thing that comes to my mind.

neathneathneath

ignore the printers that are offline - you cannot open the properties of any of them.
Can't even open them when logged on the actual server, never mind acroos the network.

Got a feeling its to do with permissions as this is a member server not a DC but can't find the problem (yet).

skrpune

I went through printers & permissions in my TestOut last night and it was fresh in my brain this morning, so it popped into my head as soon as I read your post. I just busted out my notes, and printer permissions apply to local and shared printers, so make sure you've got the "manage printer" permission, otherwise I'm thinking that you won't be able to get into the printer properties.

By the way...
Maybe I'm overthinking this, but from the screenshot, it looks like you're navigating to these printers with the UNC path, so my understanding is that these are coming up as shared printers even when you're trying to access them while logged onto the server they're physically attached to. Have you tried to add them locally to see if you can access the properties?

dynamik

skrpune wrote: »

I went through printers & permissions in my TestOut last night and it was fresh in my brain this morning, so it popped into my head as soon as I read your post. I just busted out my notes, and printer permissions apply to local and shared printers, so make sure you've got the "manage printer" permission, otherwise I'm thinking that you won't be able to get into the printer properties.

By the way...
Maybe I'm overthinking this, but from the screenshot, it looks like you're navigating to these printers with the UNC path, so my understanding is that these are coming up as shared printers even when you're trying to access them while logged onto the server they're physically attached to. Have you tried to add them locally to see if you can access the properties?

He's using internet printing, so it's going over HTTP. I'd guess a permission issue as well. Are you using the same browser as you did before? No pop-up blockers or anything else that might interfere? I never use IPP, so I'm just throwing out random things

skrpune

dynamik wrote: »

He's using internet printing, so it's going over HTTP.

DOH! Shows you how much I know!
*scurring away...*

wedge1988

Take a look here: HOW TO: Configure Internet Printing in Windows Server 2003

Try to uninstall the internet printing in add/remove windows components again and take a look in the services windows, there may be a service thats gone funny, if so you can delete it with "sc delete SERVICENAME"

Also, take a look in your IIS metabase, you will need the IIS Metabase tool: The IIS 6.0 Resource Kit Tools

after you have had a look, if you find anything funny delete it and then re-install the internet printing in add/remove windows components.

It's a bit of a step to take but it might help you!

neathneathneath

wedge1988 wrote: »

Take a look here: HOW TO: Configure Internet Printing in Windows Server 2003

Try to uninstall the internet printing in add/remove windows components again and take a look in the services windows, there may be a service thats gone funny, if so you can delete it with "sc delete SERVICENAME"

Also, take a look in your IIS metabase, you will need the IIS Metabase tool: The IIS 6.0 Resource Kit Tools

after you have had a look, if you find anything funny delete it and then re-install the internet printing in add/remove windows components.

It's a bit of a step to take but it might help you!

Thanks for the replies. I've re-installed IIS and Internet printing but still get the same problem - unable to open properties of each printer.

HOWEVER, it works in Firefox, so it must be an IE7 thing. I've checked all settings like phishing filter and popups and all are off. Tried various advanced settings but I've had no luck so far.

neathneathneath

I've also noticed maybe the root cause of the problem but still unable to resolve it.

Renaming of this server may have messed up the IIS accounts:
see following (which is not related to internet printing but maybe relevant):
Recreating IIS IUSR_<machine name> and IWAM_<machine name> Accounts - Knowledge Base - TASKE Technology Inc.

I've since re-installed IIS but it still doesn't work.

Can't figure out why firefox works and IE7 doesn't - something is blocking it......

skrpune

have you checked the security settings in IE7? It doesn't look like it's running in Protected Mode, but maybe you need to add this intranet page to the Trusted Sites list & do some customized configuration on the Tools|Security tab? I'd assume that if a site is on your local intranet, it should be trusted, but it doesn't sound like this situation is totally following the rules of logic...this really sounds like it SHOULD be working but just isn't because of one funky little hidden setting somewhere.

wedge1988

skrpune wrote: »

have you checked the security settings in IE7? It doesn't look like it's running in Protected Mode, but maybe you need to add this intranet page to the Trusted Sites list & do some customized configuration on the Tools|Security tab? I'd assume that if a site is on your local intranet, it should be trusted, but it doesn't sound like this situation is totally following the rules of logic...this really sounds like it SHOULD be working but just isn't because of one funky little hidden setting somewhere.

Now that you have mentioned it works in FireFox, i second what skrpune has said. Try it; if that fails then the last thing i can really think of is if you have IE Enhanced Security Configuration installed, it might be blocking you access?

Added:

By the way, the IIS IUSR is the internet guest account for the server, if you cant access it locally with admin permissions then this wont be your problem, unless a service is configured to run using these credentials, but this is highly unlikely!

neathneathneath

wedge1988 wrote: »

Now that you have mentioned it works in FireFox, i second what skrpune has said. Try it; if that fails then the last thing i can really think of is if you have IE Enhanced Security Configuration installed, it might be blocking you access?

Added:

By the way, the IIS IUSR is the internet guest account for the server, if you cant access it locally with admin permissions then this wont be your problem, unless a service is configured to run using these credentials, but this is highly unlikely!

Checked to see if IE Enhanced Security Configuration was installed, it was not.
Even tried an admin template for Group Policy for this to no avail.

HOWEVER, tried to access the printers via an ip address rather than server name and it WORKS

e.g. http://10.242.0.8/printers rather than http://apps_svr/printers
It works ok on the server and via another server.

Still got a permissions issue where I haven't got sufficient permissions to cancel documents via the web browser but should be able to find that, I hope.

Thanks for all the replies.

AMEN

wedge1988

check DNS to see if it has an A record for the printer, if it doesnt and you want to access it via name you will have to add an A record.

all i can really add now is to check out the eventvwr but i doubt this will help you much?

keep looking into it!

skrpune

wedge1988 wrote: »

check DNS to see if it has an A record for the printer, if it doesnt and you want to access it via name you will have to add an A record.

all i can really add now is to check out the eventvwr but i doubt this will help you much?

keep looking into it!

I have to agree here...if it's finding it by IP address, then this might be the issue. I'm not sure, but you might also need to add it to the trusted sites list too.