Microsoft KB Archive/822553

= You experience slow printer performance on a clustered print server in Windows Server 2003 and in Windows 2000 Server =

Article ID: 822553

Article Last Modified on 7/24/2007

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APPLIES TO


 * Microsoft Windows Server 2003, Enterprise Edition (32-bit x86)
 * Microsoft Windows Server 2003, Standard Edition (32-bit x86)
 * Microsoft Windows Server 2003, Enterprise Edition for Itanium-based Systems
 * Microsoft Windows 2000 Advanced Server
 * Microsoft Windows 2000 Datacenter Server
 * Microsoft Windows 2000 Server

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SYMPTOMS
You may experience slow printing performance on a Windows Server 2003-based or Windows 2000 Server-based server cluster that is configured as a printer spooler. When you troubleshoot this problem, the following behavior occurs:
 * Print jobs take an increasingly long time to print.
 * If you fail over the cluster node to another node, the problem recurs.
 * If you edit the Windows registry on the cluster node to increase the node's number of connections to itself, the problem recurs.
 * Under the Shared Folders\Open Files administrative snap-in, in Computer Managment\System Tools, the server shows multiple Open File connections to \PIPE\spoolss. These connections do not list an owner.



CAUSE
This problem may occur if the Print Spooler service stops responding (hangs). A scenario may occur where the Print Spooler service loops back on itself when it makes a remote call (RemoteGetPrinter) to a local printer. This behavior causes the Print Spooler service to exhaust all the server's available connections to itself. The Print Spooler service stops responding because it is waiting on a thread that is trying to load a print driver.

This problem may occur if you try to open a connection to a shared printer that no longer exists. For example, this problem may occur in the following scenarios:
 * A printer share is renamed, and you try to connect to the printer by using the old name.
 * A network printer is local to a cluster node, and you try to connect to it when the cluster node fails over.

In these cases, the Print Spooler service routes the incoming OpenPrinter call to local print spoolers (including the cluster). If the local print spoolers do not recognize the requested printer name, the spooler passes the calls to the remote print provider (Win32spl.dll).



Hotfix information
A supported hotfix is now available from Microsoft. However, this hotfix is intended to correct only the problem that is described in this article. Apply this hotfix only to systems that are experiencing this specific problem. This hotfix might receive additional testing. Therefore, if you are not severely affected by this problem, we recommend that you wait for the next service pack that contains this hotfix.

To resolve this problem, submit a request to Microsoft Online Customer Services to obtain the hotfix. To submit an online request to obtain the hotfix, visit the following Microsoft Web site:

http://go.microsoft.com/?linkid=6294451

Note If additional issues occur or any troubleshooting is required, you might have to create a separate service request. The usual support costs will apply to additional support questions and issues that do not qualify for this specific hotfix. To create a separate service request, visit the following Microsoft Web site:

http://support.microsoft.com/contactus/?ws=support

Prerequisites
No prerequisites are required to install this hotfix.

Restart requirement
You must restart your computer after you apply this hotfix. However, if you want to restart the computer later, click to select the Do not restart now check box before you click Finish when you install the hotfix.

Hotfix replacement information
This hotfix does not replace any other hotfixes.

File information
The English version of this hotfix has the file attributes (or later file attributes) that are listed in the following table. The dates and times for these files are listed in Coordinated Universal Time (UTC). When you view the file information, it is converted to local time. To find the difference between UTC and local time, use the Time Zone tab in the Date and Time tool in Control Panel.

Windows Server 2003 32-bit versions   Date         Time   Version        Size  File name -  11-Jun-2003  22:44  5.2.3790.54  93,696  Win32spl.dll Windows Server 2003 64-bit versions   Date         Time   Version        Size   File name     Platform 11-Jun-2003 22:36  5.2.3790.54  274,944  Win32spl.dll IA-64

Hotfix information
A supported hotfix is now available from Microsoft. For additional information about this hotfix, click the following article number to view the article in the Microsoft Knowledge Base:

886679 A printer connection that is bridged between Windows 98 and Windows Server 2003 or Windows 2000 Server stops working



STATUS
Microsoft has confirmed that this is a problem in the Microsoft products that are listed in the &quot;Applies to&quot; section.



MORE INFORMATION
The hotfix that is described in this article prevents the remote print provider (Win32spl.dll) from looping back to the same computer that called it.

Additional query words: MSCS

Keywords: kbhotfixserver kbqfe kbbug kbfix kbqfe kbwinserv2003presp1fix KB822553

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