LPR Printers Show Status Unknown
ID: Q163241
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The information in this article applies to:
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Microsoft Windows NT Workstation versions 3.5, 3.51, 4.0
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Microsoft Windows NT Server versions 3.5, 3.51, 4.0
IMPORTANT: This article contains information about editing the registry.
Before you edit the registry, make sure you understand how to restore it if
a problem occurs. For information about how to do this, view the "Restoring
Registry" Help topic in Regedit.exe or the "Restoring a Registry Key" Help
topic in Regedt32.exe.
SYMPTOMS
When you print to a printer through a line printer remote (LPR), the status
of the printer may show "Status Unknown" in Windows NT 3.51.
When the printer is opened from the Printers folder in Windows NT 4.0, the
printer may show <Failed to open, Retrying> and the Properties for that
printer may be unavailable.
If you attempt to add an LPR port, which does not appear in the list of
ports but actually exists in the registry, the follow error may occur:
The port already exists.
Additionally, all available LPR ports may not be listed from within Printer
Properties Details or Ports tabs.
CAUSE
There are two known possible causes for these symptoms:
- An invalid LPR Port registry entry.
An invalid registry entry could be caused by manually adding an LPR
port with Registry Editor. If the manually added port is missing
values, it can cause the above error. It is recommended that an LPR
port only be added through the user interface through the Print
Manager Printers folder.
- The "\" character was used in the LPD queue name.
If the "\" character is used anywhere in the line printer daemon (LPD)
queue name (name of printer on that machine providing LPD), an
additional subkey is added under the name of that port in the registry.
This precludes Print Manager or Printers folder from successfully
parsing any ports listed below the port with the invalid character in
the name.
RESOLUTION
To fix the problem, the invalid port must be removed from the registry. To
do this, use the following steps:
- Click the Start button, point to Settings, click Control Panel, and then
double-click the Services icon.
- Select Spooler from the list of services, then click Stop.
WARNING: Using Registry Editor incorrectly can cause serious problems
that may require you to reinstall your operating system. Microsoft
cannot guarantee that problems resulting from the incorrect use of
Registry Editor can be solved. Use Registry Editor at your own risk.
For information about how to edit the registry, view the "Changing
Keys And Values" Help topic in Registry Editor (Regedit.exe) or the
"Add and Delete Information in the Registry" and "Edit Registry Data"
Help topics in Regedt32.exe. Note that you should back up the registry
before you edit it.
- Run Registry Editor (Regedt32.exe) and locate the following key:
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Control\Print\Monitors \LPR Port\Ports
NOTE: The above registry key is one path; it has been wrapped for
readability.
- Locate any ports with a "\" character in the name or ports that are
missing entries. In the most obvious case, the IP port will not have any
values or will only have values that were added manually.
NOTE: Normally the LPR port will have a name that is either the IP
address or the DNS name of the destination host providing LPD service
- With the invalid port selected, click the Edit menu, then click Delete.
- Quit Registry Editor.
- Click the Start button, point to settings, click Control Panel, and then
double-click the Services icon.
- Select Spooler from the Services list, and then click Restart.
MORE INFORMATION
Windows NT supports TCP/IP printing as documented in RFC 1179. During the
creation of an LPR port, an IP address (name or address of host providing
lpd:) and LPD queue name (name of printer on that machine:) must be
provided for the print destination.
The following are examples of valid and invalid LPR Port entries:
Valid LPR Port:
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\System\CurrentControlSet\Control\Print\Monitors \LPR Port\Ports\157.61.221.159:Text1\Timeouts
Invalid LPR Port:
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\System\CurrentControlSet\Control\Print\Monitors \LPR Port\Ports\157.61.221.159\<additional_name>\Timeouts
STATUS
Microsoft has confirmed this to be a problem in Windows NT version 3.51 and
4.0. We are researching this problem and will post new information here in
the Microsoft Knowledge Base as it becomes available.
Additional query words:
PrintMan missing port
Keywords : kbprint kbbug4.00 ntprint kbbug3.51 NTSrvWkst ntui
Version : WinNT:3.5,3.51,4.0
Platform : winnt
Issue type : kbbug
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