Urgent help with Print Management Server in Downtime, can't connect or print from some domain computers

Question

Hey since I am in a Downtime that is soon over I will be quick, until now we had in our private (outside the internet) domain a print server that was running Windows Server 2012 called "printsrv" (in our VC of course, it's a VM), we wanted an upgrade so we created a new Windows Server 2019 VM called printsrvnew, migrated (using the printmanagement.msc) the printers over to it, which seemed to go well, and then we scheduled a downtime to make the switch:

The switch included:

Changing the printsrv name to printsrvold (The hostname, the VM name, and the DNS)
And changing the printsrvnew name to printsrv (same here, hostname, the VM name, and the DNS)

We wanted to do that to make it as seemless to the users as possible, so they would just have to do ipconfig /flushdns to make sure the printsrv dns name redirects them to the right IP.

After we did the switch (about 1 hour ago) we tested it, and my friend (also in IT) was able to use the new server completely fine, while I couldn't, I was able to connect to \printsrv\ in the file explorer and view the printers but I couldn't connect to them.

Sometime later, we both opened up printmanagement.msc on our pc's, connected to the printsrv server and we noticed that while she could see the servers contents like ports, drivers and printers, I wasn't able to see anything.

I compared the security settings in the printmanagement.msc of both the servers and they both look similar.

I don't know what to do and the Downtime is over soon, so we might have to switch back to the old server until I can sort it out, anyone knows what needs to be done?

Forgot to say, it obviously looks like permissions issue.

OK I just now got something, my friend randomly told me to go to gpedit.msc (On the domain computer), and under Computer Configuration, Administrative Templates and Printers, I enabled "Configure RPC connection settings" and set it to "RPC over named pipes" and "Default", now I can see the Drivers, Forms, and Ports, but still can't see the Printers (I'm talking about the printmanagement.msc of course), so close! what can we do?

Answer 1

Hello,

If you suspect that the issue might be related to permissions, here are several permissions associated with printer management that we could examine:

1.Printer Permissions:

   Go to the "Security" tab of printer properties, ensure that your user account(or a group your account belongs to)) has the necessary permissions, such as "Manage Printers," "Manage Documents," and "Print."

2. Server Level Permissions:

   Go to the "Security" tab of the printsrvnew server name, confirm that your user has appropriate permissions at the server level.

Besides,

Check Credential Manager on your computer to ensure that there are no outdated or incorrect credentials stored for printer connections. Remove any relevant credentials and try connecting again.

Ensure that the drivers for the printers installed on printsrvnew are compatible with your operating system. Sometimes, driver compatibility issues can prevent successful printer connections.

Check the Event Viewer logs on your computer for any error messages or warnings related to printer connections. This might provide more insight into the underlying issue

Regards,

Karlie

Answer 2

Thank you Karlie, sadly I've tried that and even compared the Security tab of the old server with the new one and it seems to be good... That's why I'm so dumbfounded.

Answer 3

Sorry that didn't help, here are some additional troubleshooting steps that may be worth trying.

Use Group Policy settings to control printers - Windows Server | Microsoft Learn

Error when you try to install a shared network printer - Windows Server | Microsoft Learn

Troubleshooting scenarios for printing - Windows Server | Microsoft Learn