Print Queue Manager FAQ

If you are managing printers connected to a remote Windows NT server which is accessedthrough TCP/IP instead of NetBEUI, Print Queue Manager will only show updates once every 7 seconds.

This is due to limitations of the Windows NT print spooler talking to servers through TCP/IP (usually the case in a heterogeneous network configured not to route Microsoft Networking packets).

Print Queue Manager relies

on the state of the printer and/or the jobs in the queue for it's reporting of errors. Errors on jobs are rolled up to the printer level in the Print Queue Manager display.

If Windows is not properly setting the error state on a given job, then the printer state will not change to reflect this condition.

Print Queue Manager moves jobs in their raw state, once they have already been converted to the native language of the original printer.

To prevent sending the wrong datatype from one printer to another, Print Queue Manager will prevent you from moving the job. Pick a destination printer with the same datatype.

As above, Print Queue Manager redirects the raw data of a job, and will only work if the job has been spooled by Windows in the raw format.

Note that only jobs spooled AFTER setting this option will be redirectable.

No. There is no side-effect of setting the always spool raw flag.

The only difference is that Windows will convert the job BEFORE it is spooled to disk, as opposed to after. Our tests have shown no noticeable performance differences (slower or faster).

Issue: Various security permissions can interfere with the APM Service running and managing Print Queues, below are solutions to resolve this.

1. Go to Run... in your start menu and enter dcomcnfg.


2. Under Applications (in W2k or NT) scroll down to PQServer and select it, click Properties. For WinXP this is under Component Services-Computers-My Computer-DCOM Config.



3. Under the General Tab set the "default authentication level" to "None".



4. Under Identity Ensure it is set to This user, and a domain user with admin rights to all servers and print queues PQM will be managing is selected.



5. Then click OK to exit out of the PQServer Properties.



6. Click OK to exit out of dcomcnfg.



7. Go to your services again and start the service. The service should now start and the APM will now be working.



8. In the Printer Properties Window for the Printer you want to run the APM on, select the Advanced Tab, UNCHECK Enable Advanced Printing Features, and select Print After Last Page is spooled.

Issue:

Recent Microsoft Security Patches require the latest version of Print Queue Manager along with the following registry modifications to handle this issue.

Solution:

1. Ensure you have version 3.0.0.6 or later of Print Queue Manager.
2. Open your Registry with Regedit



3. Broswe to your:
   "HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\
   Control\Print\Printers" Key



4. Expand it and locate the Printers you wish to use APM and/or Drag and Drop Features with.



5. Expand that printer key, locate and edit the string value named "SpoolDirectory"



6. Put in the location of your spool directory.   *Windows default is C:\WINDOWS\system32\spool\PRINTERS



7. Reboot your Print server (In most cases, restarting the Print Spooler and Print Queue Manager Service will work)

APM keeps pausing jobs or it won't function.

Issue:
The APM feature keeps pausing jobs or it doesn't perform its function whatsoever. Apm will load, but doesn't do anything.?

Solution:
On all printers ensure that the following is set:

1. "Enable advanced printing features" is not checked
2. "Print spooled documents first" is checked
3. "Spool print documents so program finishes..." is selected
4. "Start printing after last page is spooled" is selected
5. This should remedy the situation.