Terminal Server Printing Problem

Question

We have a customer who has our Access database running from a terminal server.  The Access database is the front-end and has SQL Server 2005 as the Back-end database.  They print the Access reports from the terminal server to local printers in their facility.  Recently, they have been complaining that some of the reports are not printing completely.  The printout is missing entire sections or, in one case where the report contains several .jpg photos, some of the photos at the end of the page do not print.  The odd thing is that this is not consistent for all PCs in the facility, although there are several PCs and printers that do not work.  The report previews OK and when the Microsoft XPS printer or Microsoft Image printer are selected, it prints to files that when viewed/printed from a browser or image viewer,  work fine.  I have recommended to their IT department to obtain the latest drivers for the problem printers.  They claim to have installed the latest drivers for the printers but are still having problems.  I am at a loss to explain the inconsistency with these reports.  The reports are called using the normal 'Docmd.OpenReport [reportname] method.  We have numerous customers using the same reports without a problem, but most of our other customers are using a local copy of the Access database printing to local network printers.  Therefore, I suspect that the fact that they use a terminal server and print to local printers has something to do with the problem.  All the reports were saved to use the default printer rather than a specific printer, so there should not be an issue with that.  I have tried everything I can think of and their IT department is getting impatient and think that we changed something in our program.  However, that is not the case.  Any help would be greatly appreciated.

Answer 1

Hello djoosten1,

I see that you posted this under Office 2003. Is your client running Access 2003? I ask because this issue was noted in Access 2007 and a hotfix was created to resolve it. You can read more in KB 972347.

KB 972347       Description of the Access 2007 hotfix package (Access.msp): June 30, 2009

http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;EN-US;972347

Are all users on the terminal server using the same Access front-end file? You could try having each of them opening their own front-end. It's common for terminal server users to place the Access front-end in their specified home directory.

Regards,

Dennis