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Q151452: Print Jobs Fail to Print to Printer Pool if Printer is Offline

Article: Q151452
Product(s): Microsoft Windows NT
Version(s): 3.50 3.51
Operating System(s): 
Keyword(s): 
Last Modified: 08-AUG-2001

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The information in this article applies to:

- Microsoft Windows NT Workstation versions 3.5, 3.51 
- Microsoft Windows NT Server versions 3.5, 3.51 
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SYMPTOMS
========

When you print to a printer pool configured under Windows NT, if a printer on
one of the ports is unavailable, a job sent to that port times out and has to be
deleted.

WORKAROUND
==========

If a printer that is part of a pool is unavailable, remove that port from the
pool.

MORE INFORMATION
================

When printing to a printer pool, the spooler will send waiting jobs to alternate
ports. If the original or alternate ports are not available, either from the
network being down, the printer being off-line or turned off, or a parallel or
serial cable being unplugged, the spooler will still send a job to the
unavailable port and all other jobs will continue to print on the available
ports. This is normal behavior under Windows NT.

If a printer is unavailable, the spooler always attempts to print to it and
produces an error when the print job times out. A printer pool with multiple
ports still results in the same behavior on a port-by-port basis.

Currently, the spooler cannot redirect jobs from one port to another, so once the
job has been directed to a port that is not available, the job will have to be
canceled.

Additional query words: prodnt hang
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Keywords          :  
Technology        : kbWinNTsearch kbWinNTWsearch kbWinNT351search kbWinNT350search kbWinNTW350 kbWinNTW350search kbWinNTW351search kbWinNTW351 kbWinNTSsearch kbWinNTS351 kbWinNTS350 kbWinNTS351search kbWinNTS350search
Version           : 3.50 3.51

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