Microsoft KB Archive/318954

= A Default Printer That Is Not Available May Cause a Delay in Programs =

Article ID: 318954

Article Last Modified on 2/21/2007

-

APPLIES TO


 * Microsoft Windows 2000 Service Pack 1
 * Microsoft Windows 2000 Service Pack 3
 * Microsoft Windows 2000 Service Pack 2
 * Microsoft Windows 2000 Advanced Server
 * Microsoft Windows 2000 Advanced Server
 * Microsoft Windows 2000 Advanced Server
 * Microsoft Windows 2000 Service Pack 1
 * Microsoft Windows 2000 Service Pack 2
 * Microsoft Windows 2000 Service Pack 3

-



This article was previously published under Q318954



SYMPTOMS
If your printer is a partial print provider, such as an Internet Print Protocol (IPP) printer, and if the printer is not available, delays may occur when you try to open the printer. You may experience this problem as a delay in programs that call the OpenPrinter function. The delay may last from 30 seconds to 5 minutes, depending on how the program is designed and how frequently the program calls the function.



CAUSE
The spooler does not maintain a persistent cache of the printer status for partial print providers.



Service Pack Information
To resolve this problem, obtain the latest service pack for Microsoft Windows 2000. For additional information, click the following article number to view the article in the Microsoft Knowledge Base:

260910 How to Obtain the Latest Windows 2000 Service Pack

Hotfix Information
A supported hotfix is now available from Microsoft, but it is only intended to correct the problem that is described in this article. Only apply it to systems that are experiencing this specific problem. This hotfix may receive additional testing. Therefore, if you are not severely affected by this problem, we recommend that you wait for the next Windows 2000 service pack that contains this hotfix.

To resolve this problem immediately, contact Microsoft Product Support Services to obtain the fix. For a complete list of Microsoft Product Support Services phone numbers and information about support costs, visit the following Microsoft Web site:

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

NOTE: In special cases, charges that are ordinarily incurred for support calls may be canceled if a Microsoft Support Professional determines that a specific update will resolve your problem. The typical support costs will apply to additional support questions and issues that do not qualify for the specific update in question.

The English version of this fix has the file attributes (or later) 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.   Date         Time   Version        Size     File name 16-Aug-2002 11:42  5.0.2195.6020   66,832  Inetpp.dll 16-Aug-2002 11:42  5.0.2195.6020  250,640  Localspl.dll



WORKAROUND
To work around this problem, create a default printer that uses Universal Naming Convention (UNC) connections. The default printer can be any generic printer, and can print to a file if no port is available.



STATUS
Microsoft has confirmed that this is a problem in the Microsoft products that are listed at the beginning of this article. This problem was first corrected in Microsoft Windows 2000 Service Pack 4.



MORE INFORMATION
For additional information about how to obtain a hotfix for Windows 2000 Datacenter Server, click the article number below to view the article in the Microsoft Knowledge Base:

265173 The Datacenter Program and Windows 2000 Datacenter Server Product

Keywords: kbbug kbfix kbwin2000presp4fix kbprint kbqfe kbwin2ksp4fix kbhotfixserver KB318954

-

[mailto:TECHNET@MICROSOFT.COM Send feedback to Microsoft]

© Microsoft Corporation. All rights reserved.