Printer icon not showing on Windows 10 PCs when printer on separate VLAN

Question

We are migrating all of our printers to a separate VLAN. For the most part, everything is going well. The only "issue" that we've encountered is that the printer icon does not show up for printers on the new VLAN. Printing works fine.

When a printer is on the same VLAN as the PCs, the icon shows up as follows:

When a printer is on a separate VLAN, the icon shows up as follows:

This issue only seems to impact Windows 10 PCs. Our Mac all continue displaying the printer icon properly.

We are running Windows 10 1809 LTSC. The printers are shared through a Windows 2016 Server. The Windows Server is on the same VLAN as the PCs. The Windows Server is not on the same VLAN as the printers.

Any idea how to get the printer icon to display properly when a printer in on a different VLAN?

Thanks.

Answer 1

I am allowing port 161 UDP traffic between the VLANs.

As a test, I allowed all traffic on all ports between VLANs and the icon still did not show up.

I also tried disabling the Windows Firewall. No change with the Windows Firewall disabled.

This issue occurs on all Windows PCs when a printer is on a separate VLAN. This issue occurs on both domain and non-domain PCs.

This issue only occurs when a printer is on a separate VLAN. This issue does not occur when the printer is on the same VLAN as the server/PCs.

We are using the same print driver throughout all of our testing. We are using the most current print driver supplied by the manufacturer.

The issue occurs on multiple printers from multiple manufacturers (for example, HP and Toshiba) when a printer is on a separate VLAN.

The issue occurs even if we add a printer (printer on separate VLAN) using a direct TCP/IP port on a PC/server on a different VLAN.

Since the issue occurs when firewalls are disabled and all port traffic is allowed between VLANs, I am wondering if we need to enable multicast between the VLANs in order for the printer icon to properly show up. Does this sound like a reasonable avenue to explore?

Thanks again.

Answer 2

Do you have a firewall stopping SNMP traffic (UDP 161) between the VLANs. I know some printer drivers use SNMP to determine the model, finisher features and the paper type of each tray.

Answer 3

This is the device stage feature in Windows. Macs get the icons using some other mechanism.

Is the same share producing a different icon on multiple Windows machines?

The server has some data which the Windows clients will use to grab an icon. I've discussed this feature on TechNet. It's not a print specific feature. Are you getting vendor specific icons for other devices? https://social.technet.microsoft.com/Forums/windowsserver/en-US/b97ecf9f-075d-4ce2-9d3e-361477dea949/using-universal-print-driver-but-shows-completely-different-model-and-icon-of-printer?forum=winserverprint

If some of the shared printers populate the correct icon on the same client where you also have the generic printer icon populated, then check the PnPData value for the printer on the server.
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Control\Print\Printers\"printer name"\PnPData

If the data from one printer is wrong, you can just copy the value from the working share and restart the spooler.

Answer 4

Hi,

In that case, you might need to capture more dumps and we suggest that you should contact Microsoft Customer Support and Services where more in-depth investigation can be done so that you would get a more satisfying explanation and solution to this issue.

You may find phone number for your region accordingly from the link below:

Global Customer Service phone numbers
https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/help/4051701/global-customer-service-phone-numbers

Thanks,
Eleven

Answer 5

Same printer driver in both examples.