Many users very often complain that, like yesterday, sending documents to print was carried out without problems (for example, from a home computer terminal or from a network computer in the office), and the next day the system suddenly gives an error to some obscure Active Directory service, a printer does not work, and, most sadly, it ceases to even be determined in the system.
Here, many people begin, as they say, to puzzle over the problem of eliminating such problems. However, in most cases, the solution, as it turns out, lies on the surface, which many people don’t even know about, but in most cases they have no idea. Meanwhile, the manipulations to fix the problem look very prosaic.
Active Directory Error. The printer does not work - what is the reason?
What is most sad, here the problem is not even in the drivers, although they, of course, do not play the last role (we will dwell on them and their current state separately a little later).
The main reason for the occurrence of such a situation in most cases is the absence or restriction of access to a printing device or MFP. Another common problem regarding network printers is the task of printing too many documents, and not from one terminal, but from several. There is clearly no solution to network problems. But this is not the main thing. And for starters, you can offer some simple methods to eliminate this failure.
Prompt solution to the problem
In the simplest case, if an Active Directory error is issued (the printer does not work), Windows 7, or any other modification installed on the terminal from which the request was made, you just need to reboot.
A simple cleaning of the print queue in the printer properties will not work, but after the restart, the documents will be printed as if nothing had happened. And it does not matter if it was a local printer or a network one.
In the case of printers that connect via the USB interface on the local computer, it makes sense to reconnect the device to another port, changing it from standard 2.0 to 3.0.
Actions with installed equipment
But it may well be that the problem is not even that. If the printer does not work in Windows 10 (Active Directory is displayed as an error), as recommended by users who have encountered such a problem, you must use the "Device Manager" or the printer section of the "Control Panel".
If several printing devices of a physical nature are installed in the system, or one printer was replaced by another, but the drivers were not removed, it may very well be that the removal of all the drivers will help, even the removal of the devices themselves. When rebooting, Windows itself will determine that the remaining hardware is operational and will install the necessary drivers on its own. If there are no such drivers for non-standard equipment, and you are sure of it, you can install them from a set like DriverPack Solution, and use automatic updating as a supplement.
What to do with print settings?
Now a few questions regarding the deactivation of the main service when an Active Directory error occurs. The printer does not work, what should I do? It is possible due to the initial shutdown of the print function. Here, whatever printer you turn on, what fresh drivers you don’t install, there will still be no effect.
Imagine that a message is displayed stating that the printer does not work in Windows 8. Active Directory is indicated as the primary source that identified this failure.
In this case, you should use the programs and components section, and it is in the components of the systems to check whether print services are activated. If it is inactive, they should be turned on, and then go to the services section (services.msc in the Run console - Win + R), find the appropriate dispatcher there and check its status. If the service is inactive, you must go into editing options (double-click or RMB menu), start the service manually, and select “Automatic” in the startup type.
Using registry settings
Finally, the problem of the Active Directory error (the printer does not work) can be eliminated by creating special registry keys in the appropriate editor, accessed by the regedit command in the Run menu or by opening the executable EXE file in the System32 directory, but with permissions admin.
Here you need to use the HKCU branch, go to the Printers directory and create the Settings directory in it, and the Wizard folder in it. In the final location you will need to create the following parameters:
For REG_DWORD:
- Auto Install - value 1;
- Locate Type - value 1;
- Set As Default - value 1;
- Shared - value 1;
- Use Existing - value 0.
For REG_SZ:
- Driver Name is an empty value.
After that, a reboot is mandatory and the operation of the printing device is checked.
Problems with printers in a homegroup
Sometimes, as it turns out, this does not help. Network printers, as well as local printers, can throw Active Directory errors. The printer (network) does not work in this case only because the path to its location on the network is incorrect or the system simply does not determine it.
Correcting this situation is not difficult. It is enough to indicate the new path or IP of the equipment in the address settings, save the changes and completely reboot the computer (and preferably the printing device).
Total
In general, the problem is fixed quite simply even at the user level, and not the administrator of the computer or network. The registry, of course, can be touched only as a last resort, but it's worth checking the settings of print services. We are not talking about drivers at all, since without them no connected device will work. And you should not rely solely on Windows in this matter. In the driver databases, the necessary software may not appear, and the system will install the most suitable driver, and this is not always appropriate.
Here you will have to use either the specified driver packs or the original driver disks. But the originals may be outdated, so you need to have a stable Internet connection for the update. That the program described above, that the Driver Booster utility work on the principle of accessing the official resources of device manufacturers or developers of the corresponding control software, search and download the latest driver version and automatically integrate it into the system. And the update is not made for any particular device, but for all the hardware that is available on the computer (even some virtual drivers are updated).