Windows PrintNightmare printing issues: Server loses settings, Error while printing (Nov 11, 2021)

[German]The printing issues in Windows collected under the name PrintNightmare, caused by Windows updates, do not come to an end. Even after the November 2021 patchday (Nov. 9), Microsoft admits to printing issues. Further, an administrator has asked if other admins are observing Windows Server 2019 losing default printer settings. And there's a workaround to use network printers struck by PrintNightmare after all. Here's a quick overview of this hodgepodge.

Windows Server 2019 loses default printer

German blog reader Marko S. had already contacted me by mail on October 20, 2021, asking about a printer problem with Windows Server 2019:

do you know the problem that with Server 2019 always the default printer adjusts?

I could not yet find a 100% solution on the net with this problem…..

I was not aware of anything in this regard. During a short web search I only came across the post RDS 2019 Default printer changes after reconnected user session in Microsoft Q&A, which describes something similar for RDS. I asked Marko the other day if the whole thing is still up to date. He answered:

Yes, it is still up to date. I found some solutions in the net, but none of them worked. 

Despite GPO, some users regularly lose the default printer on the terminal server.

Do you have heared anything about that or is a solution known?

Printer patches and other bugs

In October 2021, various Windows updates such as KB5006672 were released by Microsoft (see Patchday: Windows 10 updates (October 12, 2021)). There Microsoft writes in the support pages:

Fixes an issue that prevents an Internet print server from correctly packaging changed printer properties before sending the package to the client.

Would be a cause for the problem that network printers can be recognized and used correctly by the clients. In this comment, a reader responds and states:

KB5006672 update for Server 2019 did NOT fix the issue. Share printers failed installing until the KB was uninstall.

So this update for Windows Server 2019 did not fix any of the printer issues. Microsoft had still released preview updates in October 2021 that were supposed to fix printing issues (see, for example, the blog post Windows 10 V2004-21H1 Preview Update (2021/10/26)). However, feedback from readers revealed that there are still problems with network printing.

For the November 2021 patchday (see Patchday: Windows 10 updates (November 9, 2021)), Microsoft is once again massaging the battered network printer administrator soul, claiming e.g. for update KB5007189 and KB5007206:

Addresses a known issue that might prevent the successful installation of printers using the Internet Printing Protocol (IPP).

For the patches, e.g. the cumulative update KB5007189, Redmond then confirms already known printing issues.

After installing this update Windows may encounter the following errors when connecting to a remote printer shared on a Windows print server:

• 0x000006e4 (RPC_S_CANNOT_SUPPORT)

• 0x0000007c (ERROR_INVALID_LEVEL)

• 0x00000709 (ERROR_INVALID_PRINTER_NAME)

Fortunately, Microsoft has good news and bad news in store. The printer connection issues described are specific to print servers and are not usually observed on devices designed for home use. Print environments affected by this problem are more common in businesses and organizations.

Workaround for network printer issues

Here on the blog, there is always feedback from administrators who are unsuccessful in making network printers available to clients despite all measures taken. The network printers are not being found. German blog reader 1ST1 suggested a workaround in this comment that is actually obvious for such cases.

Here the tip was given to install affected printers quasi locally at LPT1:, and then use [command].

net use \\servername\druckername /persistent:yes

to connect them to the network printer. Folks, this works! Have done this the days with fully patched 10 stations, newly installed (even the preview update is on it) and added to AD, that flatly refused to connect certain printers. With older boxes it works strangely also in such a way. And all in all, the patch status doesn't matter at all, as long as it is reasonably up-to-date (in our case, max. 1 month).

Maybe this hint helps one or the other administrator.

Fix for network printer error 0x00007c

In the blog post Windows PrintNightmare status Nov. 1, 2021 (KB5006674, KB5006670) I had reported that Microsoft had confirmed the error 0x0000007c or 0x00000709 in network printing. This affects virtually all Windows Server versions that have been set up for remote printing.

The colleagues at Bleeping Computer report in this post that Microsoft has begun to pass along a solution to these network printing errors to customers in support calls. In a forum post at Bleeping Computer, one affected person writes:

Hoping I can possibly help others. I have been following this thread like many others. The environment I support hasn't had the exact issues that most here have posted, but I have been plagued with the 0x0000007c error message on the Student endpoints we support. I have had a ticket open with Microsoft while they have been trying to fix the issue with us.

Yesterday M$ support supplied me with an ADMX installer for the local machine that disables/reverts the change made in the October update that broke printing for us. The ADMX installer literally sets the following registry key and printing for us once again functions.

The registry entry in question can be triggered by a .reg file with the following instructions:

Windows Registry Editor Version 5.00 
[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Policies\Microsoft\FeatureManagement\Overrides] 
"713073804"=dword:00000000

The registry entry above triggers the Known Issues Rollback (KIR) feature and applies to Windows 10 versions 2004, 20H2, 21H1 and 21H2. Microsoft also has ADMX installers for Windows 10 version 1809, 1909 and Windows Server 2019. If anyone needs the registry entries, the colleagues at Bleeping Computer have documented the values in this post.  

• Windows 10 2004, 20H2, 21H1 und 21H2: "713073804"=dword:00000000
• Windows 10 1909: "1921033356"=dword:00000000
• Windows 10 1809 und Windows Server 2019: "3598754956"=dword:00000000

The above values can be inserted into the last line of the above .reg file to adapt it to the desired Windows version. It is important to note that the process requires a Windows reboot so that KIR can roll back the affected components of the patch. In the forum post, the administrator writes that Microsoft told him that a fix is planned for December 2021 by Microsoft. Maybe it will help you.

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