control print queue so old jobs finish before new ones process?

  • Thread starter Thread starter Bryan Ax
  • Start date Start date
B

Bryan Ax

I'm seeing some weird behavior with files passed to the print queue
in a batch fashion. It seems like files get added to the queue, but if
they somehow don't complete before additional print files get added,
they seem to get 'forgotten'. Once all of the files in the batch
are processed, these 'old' files resume processing and complete
successfully. However, if there are a lot of files in the batch job, it
can take a long time before it resumes processing these older files.

Has anyone seen this behavior before? Is there any way to control the
Windows print queue and make it finish these older jobs before starting
new ones?

Sincerely,

Bryan Ax
Software Developer
 
Interesting - I added a printer for this last week - it's set up as a
FILE: printer, and they were setup as Start Printing Immediately. I'll
go ahead and test this - thanks for the pointer.
 
Bryan said:
Interesting - I added a printer for this last week - it's set up as a
FILE: printer, and they were setup as Start Printing Immediately. I'll
go ahead and test this - thanks for the pointer.
Printer Properties, Advanced,
Select
Start printing after last page is spooled

and

Print spooled documents first (this is the default so should already be
set)

--
Alan Morris
Windows Printing Team
Search the Microsoft Knowledge Base here:
http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=fh;[ln];kbhowto
Click to expand...
Click to expand...

Alan:

One other question - if I turn off the Print spooled documents first,
would that also help this situation? Reading the context help for this
setting, it reads, "When this option is disabled, the spooler picks
documents based only on priority". To me, that sounds as if it works
based on a first in/first out situation alone.

Bryan
 
All the jobs have the same priority unless you set this in the document
properties. I normally do not change the priority. A job that takes a
long time to spool to the server can block smaller jobs so I set the
properties so print will not start until the document write has complete to
the server.

The post is for Win2k. If you are using Server 2003, there is another
configuration to try.

--
Alan Morris
Windows Printing Team
Search the Microsoft Knowledge Base here:
http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=fh;[ln];kbhowto

This posting is provided "AS IS" with no warranties, and confers no rights.

Bryan Ax said:
Bryan said:
Interesting - I added a printer for this last week - it's set up as a
FILE: printer, and they were setup as Start Printing Immediately. I'll
go ahead and test this - thanks for the pointer.
Printer Properties, Advanced,
Select
Start printing after last page is spooled

and

Print spooled documents first (this is the default so should already
be
set)

--
Alan Morris
Windows Printing Team
Search the Microsoft Knowledge Base here:
http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=fh;[ln];kbhowto
Click to expand...
Click to expand...

Alan:

One other question - if I turn off the Print spooled documents first,
would that also help this situation? Reading the context help for this
setting, it reads, "When this option is disabled, the spooler picks
documents based only on priority". To me, that sounds as if it works
based on a first in/first out situation alone.

Bryan
Click to expand...
 
I should have clarified that before - yes, we are using Server 2003.
All the jobs have the same priority unless you set this in the document
properties. I normally do not change the priority. A job that takes a
long time to spool to the server can block smaller jobs so I set the
properties so print will not start until the document write has complete to
the server.

The post is for Win2k. If you are using Server 2003, there is another
configuration to try.

--
Alan Morris
Windows Printing Team
Search the Microsoft Knowledge Base here:
http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=fh;[ln];kbhowto

This posting is provided "AS IS" with no warranties, and confers no rights.

Bryan Ax said:
Bryan said:
Interesting - I added a printer for this last week - it's set up as a
FILE: printer, and they were setup as Start Printing Immediately. I'll
go ahead and test this - thanks for the pointer.

Alan Morris [MSFT] wrote:
Printer Properties, Advanced,
Select
Start printing after last page is spooled

and

Print spooled documents first (this is the default so should already
be
set)

--
Alan Morris
Windows Printing Team
Search the Microsoft Knowledge Base here:
http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=fh;[ln];kbhowto
Click to expand...

Alan:

One other question - if I turn off the Print spooled documents first,
would that also help this situation? Reading the context help for this
setting, it reads, "When this option is disabled, the spooler picks
documents based only on priority". To me, that sounds as if it works
based on a first in/first out situation alone.

Bryan
Click to expand...
Click to expand...
 
Also, because these are using a FILE: port, does spooling even help?
These are never being sent to a real printer, just using a printer
driver to create .PRN files at a given FILE: location.

Bryan said:
I should have clarified that before - yes, we are using Server 2003.
All the jobs have the same priority unless you set this in the document
properties. I normally do not change the priority. A job that takes a
long time to spool to the server can block smaller jobs so I set the
properties so print will not start until the document write has complete to
the server.

The post is for Win2k. If you are using Server 2003, there is another
configuration to try.

--
Alan Morris
Windows Printing Team
Search the Microsoft Knowledge Base here:
http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=fh;[ln];kbhowto

This posting is provided "AS IS" with no warranties, and confers no rights.

Bryan Ax said:
Bryan Ax wrote:
Interesting - I added a printer for this last week - it's set up as a
FILE: printer, and they were setup as Start Printing Immediately. I'll
go ahead and test this - thanks for the pointer.

Alan Morris [MSFT] wrote:
Printer Properties, Advanced,
Select
Start printing after last page is spooled

and

Print spooled documents first (this is the default so should already
be
set)

--
Alan Morris
Windows Printing Team
Search the Microsoft Knowledge Base here:
http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=fh;[ln];kbhowto


Alan:

One other question - if I turn off the Print spooled documents first,
would that also help this situation? Reading the context help for this
setting, it reads, "When this option is disabled, the spooler picks
documents based only on priority". To me, that sounds as if it works
based on a first in/first out situation alone.

Bryan
Click to expand...
Click to expand...
Click to expand...
 
Yes the data is still spooled.

Disable the spooler file pooling
add a key named DisableServerFilePooling under
HKLM/System/CurrentControlSet/Control/Print
dword value = 1



--
Alan Morris
Windows Printing Team
Search the Microsoft Knowledge Base here:
http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=fh;[ln];kbhowto

This posting is provided "AS IS" with no warranties, and confers no rights.

Bryan Ax said:
Also, because these are using a FILE: port, does spooling even help?
These are never being sent to a real printer, just using a printer
driver to create .PRN files at a given FILE: location.

Bryan said:
I should have clarified that before - yes, we are using Server 2003.
All the jobs have the same priority unless you set this in the document
properties. I normally do not change the priority. A job that takes
a
long time to spool to the server can block smaller jobs so I set the
properties so print will not start until the document write has
complete to
the server.

The post is for Win2k. If you are using Server 2003, there is another
configuration to try.

--
Alan Morris
Windows Printing Team
Search the Microsoft Knowledge Base here:
http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=fh;[ln];kbhowto

This posting is provided "AS IS" with no warranties, and confers no
rights.


Bryan Ax wrote:
Interesting - I added a printer for this last week - it's set up as
a
FILE: printer, and they were setup as Start Printing Immediately.
I'll
go ahead and test this - thanks for the pointer.

Alan Morris [MSFT] wrote:
Printer Properties, Advanced,
Select
Start printing after last page is spooled

and

Print spooled documents first (this is the default so should
already
be
set)

--
Alan Morris
Windows Printing Team
Search the Microsoft Knowledge Base here:
http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=fh;[ln];kbhowto


Alan:

One other question - if I turn off the Print spooled documents first,
would that also help this situation? Reading the context help for
this
setting, it reads, "When this option is disabled, the spooler picks
documents based only on priority". To me, that sounds as if it works
based on a first in/first out situation alone.

Bryan
Click to expand...
Click to expand...
Click to expand...
 
Alan:

I will give this a shot - are there certain settings I need to keep set
in the print queue properties as well in combination with this registry
key?

Bryan
Yes the data is still spooled.

Disable the spooler file pooling
add a key named DisableServerFilePooling under
HKLM/System/CurrentControlSet/Control/Print
dword value = 1



--
Alan Morris
Windows Printing Team
Search the Microsoft Knowledge Base here:
http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=fh;[ln];kbhowto

This posting is provided "AS IS" with no warranties, and confers no rights.

Bryan Ax said:
Also, because these are using a FILE: port, does spooling even help?
These are never being sent to a real printer, just using a printer
driver to create .PRN files at a given FILE: location.

Bryan said:
I should have clarified that before - yes, we are using Server 2003.

Alan Morris [MSFT] wrote:
All the jobs have the same priority unless you set this in the document
properties. I normally do not change the priority. A job that takes
a
long time to spool to the server can block smaller jobs so I set the
properties so print will not start until the document write has
complete to
the server.

The post is for Win2k. If you are using Server 2003, there is another
configuration to try.

--
Alan Morris
Windows Printing Team
Search the Microsoft Knowledge Base here:
http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=fh;[ln];kbhowto

This posting is provided "AS IS" with no warranties, and confers no
rights.


Bryan Ax wrote:
Interesting - I added a printer for this last week - it's set up as
a
FILE: printer, and they were setup as Start Printing Immediately.
I'll
go ahead and test this - thanks for the pointer.

Alan Morris [MSFT] wrote:
Printer Properties, Advanced,
Select
Start printing after last page is spooled

and

Print spooled documents first (this is the default so should
already
be
set)

--
Alan Morris
Windows Printing Team
Search the Microsoft Knowledge Base here:
http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=fh;[ln];kbhowto


Alan:

One other question - if I turn off the Print spooled documents first,
would that also help this situation? Reading the context help for
this
setting, it reads, "When this option is disabled, the spooler picks
documents based only on priority". To me, that sounds as if it works
based on a first in/first out situation alone.

Bryan
Click to expand...
Click to expand...
Click to expand...
 
Back
Top