Vista changes default printer

  • Thread starter Thread starter J
  • Start date Start date
J

J

Sunday

After installing SP1 when booting the computer if the attached printer is
not powered-on, Vista stops
sharing the printer, and changes the default printer

This is annoying at best.

Guidance please

J
 
Troubleshooting Drivers in Windows Vista

For starters, it's always good practice making sure you have the latest Vista updates installed. You can find and download relevant Vista updates using the built-in Windows Update, while hardware driver updates can be found at TechSpot Drivers.


For application-specific updates check the website of vendor of relevant software or use any built-in auto-update facility.

DriverView is a lightweight utility for viewing detailed information of system with a simple GUI interface. You can download and RUN DriverView from the TechRepublic Software Library.
When you launch DriverView, THE following spreadsheet displays,




To view the driver file's properties, just select the driver and press [F8].

For example, Figure B shows the mouclass.sys file's properties.


To view just the driver's properties, just double-click the driver and you'll see all the driver's details in following dialog box.


You can also create HTML Reports containing all the drivers in the list or just those drivers that you select.


Adopt the following procedure


View from menu


HTML Report option.



Driver View Utility | Microsoft Windows

DriverView is a lightweight utility with a simple GUI interface for viewing detailed information about all the installed drivers on your system. There's no installation procedure, just download the zip file, extract the executable DriverView.exe, and run it. You can download DriverView from the TechRepublic Software Library. (Note that DriverView doesn't specifically list Windows Vista in its list of requirements, but the most recent edition, 1.14, was created in 2008 and I've been running it in Vista without any problems.)
 
J said:
Sunday

After installing SP1 when booting the computer if the attached printer is
not powered-on, Vista stops
sharing the printer, and changes the default printer
Click to expand...

Make/model of printer?

Did you install the latest drivers for Vista from the printer mftr.'s
website?

Check with the printer mftr.'s tech support (or their website) to see if
this is a known issue with this model printer and SP1?

Looking at the printer mftr.'s tech support site and updating drivers would
be my first step.

Malke
 
bull hockey.

just because an mvp did not post it does not make it spam.

best get your eyes checked.

shows a pure lack of intelligence.

link in signature removed because of possible spam links.,


(e-mail address removed)



hafizahmad wrote:

Spam. Reported.

Malke
 
Windows has always had the habit of defaulting to the printer if 'finds'
first on startup. If the printer you want as default is not turned on, it
will default to whatever else it finds, whether it's the XPS or a PDF
writer.

Solution, check printer is turned on BEFORE starting computer.... or disable
the other printers in the Control Panel, whether they be 'real' or virtual'.
Personally I never turn my printers off. Other PCs on my network may need
access to them.
 
Cari (MS-MVP) said:
Windows has always had the habit of defaulting to the printer if 'finds'
first on startup. If the printer you want as default is not turned on, it
will default to whatever else it finds, whether it's the XPS or a PDF
writer.
Click to expand...

That may be so (though I have my doubts), quite a few people would be
pleased if that habit would change. The user should decide what he of she
sees as the default, not the one that programmed Windows. I hope Microsoft
changes that.

Regards,
Paul
 
This continues.

And: if the 2nd monitor is not on, it is lost when I turn it on.

This is stupid.
 
Same problem here. In my case this problem is caused by the fact that my
network doesn't work very well under Windows Vista. File and printer sharing
just won't work properly in this OS. There doesn't seem to be a solution to
this, I (and other people) tried everything. However Windows XP works fine
here, so we use that on production machines.
 
Same problem as what?

If the default printer is not powered-on when booting the computer the
default printer is changed. And occasionally sharing of the printer is
disabled.

Quite annoying.

And: if the 2nd monitor is not on during boot it I often have to change the
display settings.

And:occasionally when using remote desktop into this machine, I have to
change the display settings resolution when actually using the computer.
Even thought the resolution is the same with the host and client.

And so it goes with the "OS that limps a lot"

J
 
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