Windows 10 1803 printing issues

agrinnall

I have updated both of my notebooks to Windows 10 [STRIKE]1809[/STRIKE] 1803. On my Lenovo Yoga 2 Pro I have been unable to print, although on my other notebook it works fine to the same printer (a wifi attached Samsung M2835DW laser) so I've just been transferring anything I need to print to there.

When I attempt to print a test page I get

Operation could not be completed (error 0x0000bbb)

Unable to create a print job

I've tried reinstalling the print driver and also stopped and restarted the spooler, with no success. One thread I found on the HP support forum (I was a little surprised to find that Samsung printer support has now been transferred to HP) ended with resolution by doing a Windows 10 Fresh Start.

https://h30434.www3.hp.com/t5/Printer-Software-and-Drivers/Unable-to-create-print-job-error-0x00000bbb/td-p/6629937

I hadn't come across the Fresh Start description before but it seems to be a form of clean install, is that right? And would you recommend it as something to attempt?

forgotmyname

WIA (Windows Image Acquisition) in services.

Goto properties and logon... You may find this account ticked and a random password.

Tick local system account and tick the box to allow to interact with the desktop, save/apply and exit.

grumpycrab

agrinnall wrote: »

I hadn't come across the Fresh Start description before but it seems to be a form of clean install,

Yes, a clean install but with latest version of windows rather than than last one installed locally. But you already have 1803 (or 1809 if you are a time traveller :-)

pmduk

I was wondering about windows 1809, have I slept that long!

agrinnall

forgotmyname wrote: »

WIA (Windows Image Acquisition) in services.

Goto properties and logon... You may find this account ticked and a random password.

Tick local system account and tick the box to allow to interact with the desktop, save/apply and exit.

I think that was one of the things I did previously, certainly the settings that you recommend are what is in place now.

grumpycrab wrote: »

Yes, a clean install but with latest version of windows rather than than last one installed locally. But you already have 1803 (or 1809 if you are a time traveller :-)

Damn, the secret of my time machine has slipped out .


Yes, 1803, not 1809, fuddled brain after the 3-3 draw between Spain and Portugal! Corrected now.



I'll give the Fresh Start a try (after backing up of course).

agrinnall

For those who might be interested, I have managed to get printing working but it wasn't the most straightforward of processes.


I started with a backup of all personal files, which was the right thing to do because although the Fresh Start process claims to leave files untouched it actually deleted them all. The one thing I forgot to do was run Mozbackup to take copies of my Firefox and Thunderbird profiles, more on that later.


So the Fresh Start worked quite smoothly, but bizzarely it installed Win 10 1607, which appears to be either out of support or due to go out of support later this year, so it's a strange version for MS to pick when there are 3 later versions available.


Anyway, I installed my printer and it worked, not that surprising as it had worked in 1607 before anyway. I also installed Firefox, Office 365 using my subscription and MS Money (I had to have two stabs at this as the first attempt hung), and restored my files from my backup.



I then thought I'd try the 1803 update, reasoning that if the printer stopped working again I could revert to 1607 and maybe try to re-update at 1709. The update was slow but got there in the end, and this time the printed continued to work.


In my restored files I managed to find old backups of my Firefox and Thunderbird profiles, so after installing Thunderbird I used Mozbackup to restore those profiles to at least give me a better starting point, and I'm now not too far away from being in a position that I'm fairly comfortable with.

agrinnall

Well, it worked OK for a few days, but now I have a different problem. Now every time I try to print it tries to save a print file rather than actually sending it to the print queue. Troubleshooting suggests there is an unspecified problem with the printer, but the printer itself works fine from my other laptop, so I'm a bit puzzled by what's happening.



Any suggestions for diagnostic steps to take gratefully received.

DoaM

Obvious question alert ... you are printing to that printer? (i.e. check that your default printer hasn't changed to something like Microsoft XPS Document Writer).

agrinnall

DoaM wrote: »

Obvious question alert ... you are printing to that printer? (i.e. check that your default printer hasn't changed to something like Microsoft XPS Document Writer).

It's worth asking the question but yes, it is that printer, my default action while I've been having these problems is to do a test page print from the printer's entry in Settings (although I also tried it from Word just to make sure, same result there).