Home HOW-TO How to troubleshoot “Word cannot print there is no printer installed” Error Message

How to troubleshoot “Word cannot print there is no printer installed” Error Message

by Cengiz Kuskaya

Problem Description

After the installing KB3125574 “Convenience rollup update for Windows 7 SP1 and Windows Server 2008 R2 SP1” on Windows 7 SP1 and Windows Server 2008 R2 SP1 you can experience the following error messages if you try to print from Word, Excel, PowerPoint or if you click on the properties of a Xerox print queue object.

In our case it was a Xerox 3615 but this can happen with other Xerox Printer Models too.

Convenience rollup update for Windows 7 SP1 and Windows Server 2008 R2 SP1

Error Messages

  • If you try to print from Word, Excel or PowerPoint you can receive the following error message ;
Word cannot print there is no printer installed.
  • If you click on the properties of a Xerox Print Queue Object you can receive the following error message ;
The 'Xerox Global Print Driver PCL6' printer driver is not installed on this computer. Some printer properties will not be accessible unless you install the printer driver. Do you want to install the driver now ?
  • If you try to install the ‘Xerox Global Print Driver PCL6’ printer driver you can receive the following error message ;
Windows can't install the Xerox Global Print Driver PCL6 kernel-mode print driver. To obtain a driver that is compatible with the version of Windows you are running. contact the manufacturer.

Root Cause

We have updated 180 Windows 7 SP1 PC’s with the KB3125574 and only on 25 PC’s we have experienced this problem. In our case we proceed as follows to figure out the root cause of these error messages and misbehavior. We have backed up the \Spool folder before and after KB3125574 installation on the problematic PC’s.

Afterwards we have compared the \Spool folders with an comparison tool and figured out that some printer driver components from Xerox 3615 “Xerox Global Print Driver PCL6” were definitely deleted. During the installation of KB3125574 on some Windows 7 SP1 PC’s something went wrong.

We still don’t know exactly why the Convenience Update misbehaved on some PC’s. But one thing is clear, its definitely a BUG inside KB3125574 . Further investigation is needed.


Kuskaya.Info | Windows Printing Consulting and Support

OUR SERVICES

• 7/24 Remote Support • Provided Successful Solutions in over 5000 Cases • High Available Print Services Design and Implemention • Troubleshooting Windows Printing related Problems • Root Cause and Forensic Analysis • Windows Print Server Migration • Windows Print Server Health Check •


Solution

There are two solutions available. You can select one of the two solutions which best fits to you.

1. Uninstalling KB3125574 and restarting the PC or Server. This will fix the problem too because during the installation of KB3125574 Windows backups the whole spool folder and restores it back after the uninstallation of KB3125574.

2. You can use rundll32 to re-install the printer driver on to your affected PC. rundll32 is required because the driver installation via the wizard isn’t possible due to the remaining driver components and registry entries.

    • Adding the driver to your local PC with rundll32
rundll32 printui.dll,PrintUIEntry /ia /m "Xerox Global Print Driver PCL6" /f "C:\Xerox3615UPD\UNIV_5.520.6.0_PCL6_x64_Driver.inf\x2UNIVX.inf"

rundll32 printui.dll,PrintUIEntry /ia /m "Xerox GPD PCL6 V3.4.377.6.0" /f "C:\Xerox3615UPD\UNIV_5.520.6.0_PCL6_x64_Driver.inf\x2UNIVX.inf"
    • Adding the driver to a remote PC with rundll32
rundll32 printui.dll,PrintUIEntry /ia /c\\RemotePCName /m "Xerox Global Print Driver PCL6" /f "C:\Xerox3615UPD\UNIV_5.520.6.0_PCL6_x64_Driver.inf\x2UNIVX.inf"

rundll32 printui.dll,PrintUIEntry /ia /c\\RemotePCName /m "Xerox GPD PCL6 V3.4.377.6.0" /f "C:\Xerox3615UPD\UNIV_5.520.6.0_PCL6_x64_Driver.inf\x2UNIVX.inf"

Good luck !