2X Universal Printing broken on 2008 R2

I am also having this issue. Server 2008 R2 (64bit of course). I also have terrible experiences with support(it took a week to get a call back on an issue I had classified as Critical once). I also have had to remove 2X at a couple of clients and use other solutions because I can't get 2X to fix the problems. It's unfotunate because 2X is very easy to use, very cheap, and in many cases seems to be a superior product. Actually, I've had good luck with everything except Universal Printing.

I currently use ThinPrint. Maybe 2X should buy them out?

2X.... Please fix this issue. Please fix your support...the lack of call backs, hangups, dropped calls (which I also get) and days/weeks waiting on call backs is really unacceptable. The sad thing, is this is the kind of support that I regularly get from all of my vendors now... but it's still unacceptable. If we treated our clients like this, we would be out of business in a matter of weeks.

 

Hi all,

There is a beta version 8.1.995 http://www.2x.com/downloads/vds/betaversion/2XVDS.msi
which covers this issue.

As mentioned before the problem was difficult to reproduce and that is the reason for the time taken to fix.

Please test this out (you will also get a few new features) and write feedback about it here.
This will speed up the time to go for release.

Your feedback about this printing issue is IMPORTANT.

Those who had or have problems with support and do have a support contract please put your ticket numbers here and I will check what happened (Ticket 116077 is not valid - Our ticketing system uses a 3 letter - 6 digit id).

Please note that there will be new uploads in the next days.

cheers

 

I downloaded the beta (apparently 8.1.895) and had no change in results. Client prints to 2X Universal Printer which shows the print job (and nearly immediately shows Printed). Nothing happens at the client.

This happens through the Portal, and when using the 2X client directly (which I also updated to 8.1.895).

I also tried changing (in the client) have have it ask which printer to print to, and not print to the default automatically to see if the 2XVDS was even signaling the client that there was a print job, but it did not.

The print job appears to not even reach the client.

 

Mikaelshim >>>>> You said you got Elusiva to work out of the box. Did you actually get it to work with 2X Published Applications, or did it only work when connecting directly with MS' RDP Client? As best I can tell on my install, Elusiva doesnt work with 2X Published Applications but it does work when logging into the server directly with MS' RDP Client. Unforutnately, we kind of need the published applications feature too....

Ugh.

 

The issue tackled in this thread is that the printer does not install correctly on windows 2008 R2.
Please open another thread and describe better your issue.

 

Zippo. Please actually read the posts that I've made (and the original post) and you'll see that my comments are in the right place. Additionally, please dont tell us you want feedback, if you really don't give a shit... If I'd known that, I wouldnt have wasted an hour of my time installing your beta on a production system A) to help you out B) hoping it would fix the problem.

2X absolutely must fix their product (specifically Universal Printing...the rest seems to work ok, although I havent tried Universal Scanning). I've been using 2X for almost 4 years now, and Universal Printing has been Universally Broken. Not ONCE have I ever been able to use it at a client in 4 years....that's pretty sad. Fix it, or take it out and give us other options please.

I think 2X needs a policy of not adding more features until the existing ones work....

I give up. I dont know what to do at this point. Citrix is looking more and more viable with every isntallation I do of 2X. Yes it's more expensive, but if it actually works..who can put a price on something that actually works???

I give 2X a try about once a year....and I'm still finding myself disappointed each time (mostly with Universal Printing).

 

Hi thanks for the feedback and yes there appears still to be some tuning required with this issue.
I would like to remind you it's a Beta version and I believe you should never test on your production environment.
The fix did solve a few of the problems but some of the replicated scenarios are still being fixed.

The universal printer feature has been a life saver to hundreds of companies and I am sorry to hear it never fulfilled it purpose in your situation.

Possible the same reason why it's still not working at your end but at some customers it has already improved might be indicative of some other stumbling issue in your environment.

I assure you that anything that can be done is being done on that.
thanks.

 

Thanks David,

Please let us know.. we need this ASAP man. I have a ~$40M/yr company at it's knees because no one can print PO's or Invoices . We demo'd and tested this with them and everything was great, and now in production this problem popped up. We seriously need the fix like yesterday...or last week. Currently the Corporate Office is printing all of the Invoices and PO's for the remote stores and FAXING them.. this is a total nightmare for them. Please please please please hurry.

I agree, the Universal Printing feature woudl be a lifesaver if it worked Maybe we are just too 'cutting edge' for you guys. We had problems with x64 2003 server, and then we had problems with Vista Clients, and then we had issues with 2008, and then 2008 R2 and Windows 7 clients now. It seems like if we all used 6-12 month old software the 2X Universal Printer would work great.

Like I said.. keep us updated. This fix couldnt come fast enough. (and ThinPrint and Elusiva don't work in this particular environment with this particular peice of accounting software... otherwise those would have already been purchased and installed).

 

nxtgen,

Couldn't your customer's just use their redirected local printers instead of going through all the hassle of sending through faxes from head office?

I know it sucks when 2X Universal Printing is broken and that using re-directed printers is sometimes a bit slower etc, but surely not as slow as calling someone to get them to print and invoice and then fax it to you?

 

Hi OmeGa,

(This part isn't 2X's fault):

Unfortunately this accounting system utilizes some old DOS/16bit code that goes CRAZY and crashes the program when you try to print to a redirected, OR network printer. The only way for this program to print properly is to print to a local printer. The vendor refuses to support it because it's not in Citrix, and they swear that it will not work in Terminal Services or anything but Citrix (they would appear to be correct).

(This part is):
It's sad because it almost appears to work...the print job hits the printer, you see it in the queue and *poof* 2X Universal Printer just makes it disappear. (and just to clarify, this happens with all printing to 2X Universal Printer..not just from this goofy accounting application).

Thanks for the thought though!!!! I promise, I've exhausted like every option

 

Guys I am very glad to inform you that a beta with a much improved printer driver, natively ready for 2008 R2 is uploaded:

VirtualDesktopServer Version 8.1.0 (905) - 18th Aug 2010

Server:
Universal printer driver updated.

There have been many internal improvements though not directly apparent outside besides that now all our test scenarios and 2008 R2 deployments seem to have settled really well.

You can get it here :

http://www.2x.com/downloads/vds/betaversion/2XVDS.msi

NOTE: This is a BETA and is for testing and evaluation purposes only.

DO NOT deploy in production before you are satisfied all the features you use are fully functional.

Let us know your results and fingers crossed !!

Thanks

 

Do we need updated 2X Client's as well?

 

Sorry to report that the issue appears to still be there.

I stopped all 2X Services
I upgraded the Terminal Server to 8.1.905
I restarted the Terminal Server
I disabled 2X Universal Printing in the 2X AS Console and hit Apply
I enabled 2X Universal Printing in the 2X AS Console and hit Apply

I upgraded my client software to 8.1.905

I connected, logged into the application and attempted to print to the 2X Universal Printer with the same results (the print job hits the 2X Universal Printer for a microsecond, then disappears). Nothing arrives at the client.

Additionally, the 8.1.905 Web Portal x64 installer (dont know about the 32 bit one) appears to now be broken. I was unable to upgrade this component with the error "Unable to Access: %systemroot%\Inetpub\wwwroot" I checked, and of course C:\Inetpub\wwwroot does exist, and is where the current 2X Portal is installed. I also tried running this from an administrative command prompt, and well as running it in compatibility mode.

~C

 

First try setting your client to pdf and view job before printing let's see if it got that far.
If that fails then do the following :

Can you enable the printer logs on the terminal server so we see what is stopping on your system ?

Code:

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\2X\Universal Printer   
Log = 1   
LogDestDir = <path where file is written> e.g. c:\

Run a print job or two and send in the log as an attachment here.

Turn the log to 0 once it is done.

Thanks.

 

Yes the client too just to be sure all changes are synched.

 

Check your rights on the folder. ( make sure it's not a DC )

Also the web portal installation requirements are now changed. (manuals are being updated)
FYI IIS 6 management is no longer needed and for now the only change is the IIS management scripts and tools Role service.

More on web portal move to another thread please.

Thanks

 

Also just to state the obvious did you make sure all your users have logged off and not just disconnected ?
then logged on again to try printing ?

 

Yes, I logged off all users before the upgrade to make sure no files were in use. Also, the reboot would have cleared anything random out.

The Web-Portal is on a DC (I'll deal with this later). I did see that the Scripting components needed to be added, and I did that. It's probably a permissions thing related to being on a DC like you said. I'll have to provision another maching to be the portal or something. Currently 2x DCs, 1x TS, 1xAccountingSoftware.

The log file:
2010-08-20 01:23.40.110: CopySpoolFile: CopyFile(\00006.spl, \00006.spl.tmp) failed. Error 2
2010-08-20 01:23.50.141: CopySpoolFile: CopyFile(\00006.spl, \00006.spl.tmp) failed. Error 2
2010-08-20 01:24.00.173: CopySpoolFile: CopyFile(\00006.spl, \00006.spl.tmp) failed. Error 2
2010-08-20 01:24.10.205: CopySpoolFile: CopyFile(\00006.spl, \00006.spl.tmp) failed. Error 2
2010-08-20 01:24.20.236: CopySpoolFile: CopyFile(\00006.spl, \00006.spl.tmp) failed. Error 2
2010-08-20 01:24.30.268: CopySpoolFile: CopyFile(\00006.spl, \00006.spl.tmp) failed. Error 2
2010-08-20 01:24.40.299: CopySpoolFile: CopyFile(\00006.spl, \00006.spl.tmp) failed. Error 2
2010-08-20 01:24.50.330: CopySpoolFile: CopyFile(\00006.spl, \00006.spl.tmp) failed. Error 2
2010-08-20 01:25.00.346: CopySpoolFile: CopyFile(\00006.spl, \00006.spl.tmp) failed. Error 2
2010-08-20 01:25.10.377: CopySpoolFile: CopyFile(\00006.spl, \00006.spl.tmp) failed. Error 2
2010-08-20 01:25.20.409: CopySpoolFile: CopyFile(\00006.spl, \00006.spl.tmp) failed. Error 2
2010-08-20 01:25.30.440: CopySpoolFile: CopyFile(\00006.spl, \00006.spl.tmp) failed. Error 2
2010-08-20 01:25.40.471: CopySpoolFile: CopyFile(\00006.spl, \00006.spl.tmp) failed. Error 2
2010-08-20 01:25.50.502: CopySpoolFile: CopyFile(\00006.spl, \00006.spl.tmp) failed. Error 2
2010-08-20 01:26.00.533: CopySpoolFile: CopyFile(\00006.spl, \00006.spl.tmp) failed. Error 2
2010-08-20 01:26.10.548: CopySpoolFile: CopyFile(\00006.spl, \00006.spl.tmp) failed. Error 2
2010-08-20 01:26.20.579: CopySpoolFile: CopyFile(\00006.spl, \00006.spl.tmp) failed. Error 2
2010-08-20 01:26.30.610: CopySpoolFile: CopyFile(\00006.spl, \00006.spl.tmp) failed. Error 2
2010-08-20 01:26.40.640: CopySpoolFile: CopyFile(\00006.spl, \00006.spl.tmp) failed. Error 2
2010-08-20 01:26.50.671: CopySpoolFile: CopyFile(\00006.spl, \00006.spl.tmp) failed. Error 2
2010-08-20 01:27.00.702: CopySpoolFile: CopyFile(\00006.spl, \00006.spl.tmp) failed. Error 2
2010-08-20 01:27.10.734: CopySpoolFile: CopyFile(\00006.spl, \00006.spl.tmp) failed. Error 2
2010-08-20 01:27.20.765: CopySpoolFile: CopyFile(\00006.spl, \00006.spl.tmp) failed. Error 2
2010-08-20 01:27.30.796: CopySpoolFile: CopyFile(\00006.spl, \00006.spl.tmp) failed. Error 2
2010-08-20 01:27.40.828: CopySpoolFile: CopyFile(\00006.spl, \00006.spl.tmp) failed. Error 2
2010-08-20 01:27.50.859: CopySpoolFile: CopyFile(\00006.spl, \00006.spl.tmp) failed. Error 2
2010-08-20 01:28.00.890: CopySpoolFile: CopyFile(\00006.spl, \00006.spl.tmp) failed. Error 2
2010-08-20 01:28.10.921: CopySpoolFile: CopyFile(\00006.spl, \00006.spl.tmp) failed. Error 2
2010-08-20 01:28.20.952: CopySpoolFile: CopyFile(\00006.spl, \00006.spl.tmp) failed. Error 2
2010-08-20 01:28.30.982: CopySpoolFile: CopyFile(\00006.spl, \00006.spl.tmp) failed. Error 2

 

It's most probably a rights issue!

Can you give me the value of the following registry key

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows NT\CurrentVersion\Print\Printers\2X Universal Printer

Check and report the value "SpoolDirectory"

If this is a DC provision on another some services do not work well on DCs , MS guidelines state that on DCs the default policies are much more restrictive.

The system might not have read/write access to the folder.

tell me your path and we see..

 

There is no Value for SpoolDirectory. It is empty.

This (2X VDS) is not on a DC, it is on a Terminal Server.