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I have a printer server running on Windows Server 2016 Standard. We use a tool called ADAudit for print job auditing. That tool uses the Print Job Diagnostics to determine attributes of the print job.
In Event Viewer, click Applications and Services Logs --> Microsoft --> Windows --> Print Service --> Operational
Specifically Event ID 805.
Within the tool, it is showing that several of our print jobs are color, when in fact they are not color. Many of the printers are not capable of color printing. In the event viewer log, the Color = 2 which the vendor indicates this equals a color print job. What would cause a event to show Color = 2 when the print job is not in fact color?
<System>
<Provider Name="Microsoft-Windows-PrintService" Guid="{747EFXXXXXX42C90F6873A1}" />
<EventID>805</EventID>
<Version>0</Version>
<Level>4</Level>
<Task>43</Task>
<Opcode>0</Opcode>
<Keywords>0x4004000000000000</Keywords>
<TimeCreated SystemTime="2024-03-05T19:08:07.107871200Z" />
<EventRecordID>16889117</EventRecordID>
<Correlation />
<Execution ProcessID="1876" ThreadID="30116" />
<Channel>Microsoft-Windows-PrintService/Operational</Channel>
<Computer>XXXXXXXX</Computer>
<Security UserID="S-1-5-21-61145XXXXXXXX2791024-4064" />
</System>
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Hello,
You say that you printer does not support, but are you sure about the printer driver being used does not support Auto or Color?
Someone could very well chose Auto/Color and this would be set in the PJL in the spool file which would make the log say it is color, but the printer will of course just print in black/white/grayscale instead.
I am doing prints of my own and checking the print settings. I don't see any option related to color when i print the document. The only thing color is the actual content of the word document but the printer settings have nothing set to color. Below are screenshots of settings and a print I did that is getting flagged as color on the server.
Yepp, that driver is not configured to support color because you are missing the "Color" tab that should be up there with the "Finishing", "Output" etc.
One last thing to check since its a HP driver is that the Device Type under Device Settings is set to Monochrome and not Auto Detect on the shared queue on the server. You will probably not see it from a client. It probably is Monochrome already since you cant see the Color option tab, but it never hurts to look.
If these things are in order, then you probably need to check with the software developer since they probably are checking some attributes in the spooler file that they shouldn't.
Thanks - I checked the Device Type and it was set to Auto Detect. I changed it to Monochrome but it is still showing as color. Even doing a Print Test Page shows as color. The vendor is indicating they go off of the information in Event ID 805 and specifically the Color option. They say that since the Color = 2, that means the job was color. So they are attributing their determination to the information in the event viewer log.
Then the only option left that I can think of is that there is a bug in the print driver.
I would try to upgrade from a v3 driver to a v4 driver.
My reasoning is that v3 are on the roadmap of being deprecated, so why not start using the blessed v4 drivers :) (Still a long time until then, but still)
If v4 is not an option, check if your printer is compatible with PostScript and install the PS v3 version of your current driver and try to print again and check if that resolves the issue.
Hello,
Is there anyone using this printer from remote side? If you confirm there may not be someone else. You can try to update your printer driver and try to install latest update in your server
Link for update: https://www.catalog.update.microsoft.com/Search.aspx?q=Update+Windows+Server+2016
If the Answer is helpful, please click "Accept Answer" and upvote it.
People have been sending color print jobs to monochrome only printers for decades. Windows allows this every day.