Access 2003 : Problem retrieving Printer Information on Networked printer

[Mike]

Hi All

We have an application that has been happily running under Access 2002 with
no problems for years - Our client has now moved to Access 2003 and has now
started having issues printing reports with this same application.

Previewing works fine but when outputing to the networked printer they get a
dialog box that comes up saying,

"Error : There was a problem retrieving Printer Information for this object.
The object may have been sent to a printer that is unavailable."

They are using Access 2003 SP1 and it goes without saying their network is
functioning fine and all printers are available.

We have managed to reproduce the same error in the same place on our own
network.

Any ideas anyone ?

Thanks

Mike

 

[Allen Browne]

Yes, others have reported this same issue with A2003.

If you search at groups.google.com in microsoft.public.access.* you will
find several references.

It seems to track back to the printer driver that Access believes is not
installed correctly. Even though it works in other programs, if you open the
Immediate Window (Ctrl+G) and enter:
? Printers.Count
? Printer.DeviceName
you find that Access is not aware of the printer. Deleting the printer and
reinstalling it correctly apparently solves the problem.

 

[Mike]

Hi Allen

Thank you for the piece of information.

We had tried that and still the same issue occurs - also tried switching the
default printer back and forth and still nothing.

I know a lot of people have reported this issue - I'm wondering if Microsoft
are doing anything about this.

I guess I could escalate it with Microsoft support via my MSDN membership
but it seems like they should have had it fixed by now !

Michael

 

[Sophie Guo [MSFT]]

Hello,

This problem may occur if Access 2003 cannot communicate with the
respective printer. You may receive the error message for several reasons.


I suggest that you perform the following stetps to narrow down the issue:

Step 1: Printing the sample report using a local printer
=================================================

1. Log on to the server locally. Open the northwind sample database.
2. Print the a sample report using the "Microsoft Office Document image
Writer" printer. Let me know if it is printed successfully.

If it can be printed successfully, check if you can print your report
successfully.

Step 2: Regional settings for your computer may be corrupted
=================================================
1. Click "Start", point to "Settings", and then click "Control Panel".

2. Double-click "Regional and Language Options".

3. In the "Regional and Language Options" dialog box, select a different
regional setting from your current setting from the drop-down list. The
drop-down list is located under the "Standards and formats" section that
is on the "Regional Options" tab. Note Select a regional setting that uses
English.

4. Click "OK".

5. Restart your computer.

6. Click "Start", point to "Settings", and then click "Control Panel".

7. Double-click "Regional and Language Options".

8. In the "Regional and Language Options" dialog box, select your original
regional setting from the drop-down list, and then click "OK".

9. Restart your computer.

Check the issue again.

Step 3: Refresh the printer settings for the reports
=========================================

1. Exit Access.

2. Click "Start", point to "Settings", and then click "Printers and
Faxes".

3. Right-click the problem printer, and then click "Properties".

4. In the "Properties" dialog box, click "Printing Preferences".

5. Click each tab in the "Printing Preferences" dialog box without
making any changes.

6. Click "OK" to close the "Printing Preferences" dialog box.

7. Click "OK" to close the "Properties" dialog box.

8. Restart Access, and then try to create the report again.

I hope the information is helpful.

Sophie Guo
Microsoft Online Partner Support

Get Secure! - www.microsoft.com/security

=====================================================
When responding to posts, please "Reply to Group" via your newsreader so
that others may learn and benefit from your issue.
=====================================================
This posting is provided "AS IS" with no warranties, and confers no rights.

 

[Allen Browne]

Sophie, do you think there is any chance of getting a kb article on this
issue?
It crops up quite regularly.

 

[Sophie Guo [MSFT]]

Hello,

Thanks for your feedback. I will forward the feedback through internal
way. If it occurs regularly, the related KB will be released.


Sophie Guo
Microsoft Online Partner Support

Get Secure! - www.microsoft.com/security

=====================================================
When responding to posts, please "Reply to Group" via your newsreader so
that others may learn and benefit from your issue.
=====================================================
This posting is provided "AS IS" with no warranties, and confers no rights.

 

[Mike]

Thank you !

 

[Sophie Guo [MSFT]]

Hello,

I suggest that you perform the steps in my original post to narrow down the
issue if it still exists. If anything is unclear, get in touch.

Sophie Guo
Microsoft Online Partner Support

Get Secure! - www.microsoft.com/security

=====================================================
When responding to posts, please "Reply to Group" via your newsreader so
that others may learn and benefit from your issue.
=====================================================
This posting is provided "AS IS" with no warranties, and confers no rights.

 

[Wendy]

We are a school and have over 300 workstations which need to run Access and
Access reports. All our printers are networked, we have no need for local
printers on class room machines and this would give us an administration
overhead - having additional printer drivers confuses our users and that's
why we manage the network so tightly. Users have no rights to install printer
drivers on the machines and we don't actually want to go down that route.

Why would Regional Settings make a difference to Windows and Access
communicating about printer drivers.(Sophie's post). I know for sure that our
Regional settings are correct, our printer drivers are up to date and all our
print queues work, why are we still experiencing problems creating and
printing Access reports?

Wendy