BleepingComputer.com: Network Printer Won't Print Sometimes

I work for a non-profit employment organization and we have a small computer lab for our clients. We have four computers setup, two with Windows XP Pro SP2 and two with Windows 2000 SP4. The printer is a Brother HL-2070N connected to one of the Windows 2000 machines via its printer port and is accessed via the network by the other three.

Here's the problem: occassionally (about once a week it seems) one (or more) of the computers will no longer be able to print. It's always been one of the XP machines, never the Win 2000's. Usually what I have to do is delete the printer from the machine then add it again. Afterwards, it works fine... for a while. This only happens when logged in under a "Standard User" account. When I log on using the Administrator's account, everything works fine.

Does this have something to do with having mixed OS's? Should the two computers running Win 200 be upgraded or should the printer be attached to one of the Win XP machines?

A coworker suggested promoting the Client accounts to "Power User" level. This seems to alleviate the problem but I'm uncomfortable with giving our clients such privileges when I'm the one responsible for keeping the lab up and running and free of viruses & spyware.

Is the printer attached to a XP or 2000 box? Make sure the printer is shared and that everyone permissions are set to "print". I have had this problem when sharing a printer on an 2000 box also. I found that XP is sometimes not backward compatible to 2000 when it comes to mapping or printing (it's a Chairman Bill thing).

It's connected to a Windows 2000 machine.

How do I check to see if all users have the proper permissions? I know how to do it on the employee network which has a domain and a server and each user has a network account. But the lab computers have no domain nor a server just a common network router, and the accounts are local to each machine.

Click "start" "settings" "printers". once you have opened the printers, right click on the printer you want ans select "properties". Check the tab "sharing" to make sure that it is shared. After that, select the tab "security", look to see if "everyone" has "print" checked. by clicking on everyone the permissions will be shown. If you want you can change their permissions you can do it there without changing the user rights within the OS.

If you will install a print server it will eliminate the problem. It will also stop any chance of a client breeching your computer system.

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This post has been edited by acklan: 30 December 2005 - 08:44 PM