Add Printer Wizard Does Not Work and Previously Installed Printers Are Not Displayed (271248)

SYMPTOMS

When you attempt to add a printer using the Add Printer Wizard, you may experience one or all of the following:

Printers that were previously installed no longer show up in the Printers folder.
When you double-click the Add Printer Wizard, the wizard does not start, and you are returned to the Printers folder.
When you click Server Properties in the File menu in the Printers folder, the Server Properties window does not open and you are returned to the Printers folder.

CAUSE

This behavior can occur if third-party or earlier versions of dynamic-link library (.dll) files are located in both the %Systemroot% folder (\Winnt folder) and the System32 directory. If .dll files are located in the %Systemroot% folder (\Winnt folder) and the System32 directory, the printer subsystem does not function correctly.

This behavior also occurs with the Tektronix Usage Analysis Tool version 1.11.

IMPORTANT: Any existing .DLL files within the %Systemroot% folder (\Winnt folder) may have been added by an improper Windows 2000 installation or a third-party program. Microsoft strongly recommends you back up your system before renaming or removing any files from within the Windows directory structure. Renaming or removing these files may disable other installed programs or otherwise cause those programs to fail.

RESOLUTION

To resolve this behavior, rename all .dll files from the %Systemroot% folder (\Winnt folder), except for the following files:

Twain.dll
Twain_32.dll
Vmmreg32.dll

NOTE: All other .dll files may have been added by an improper installation or a third-party program. If you rename the files, you may disable that program.

After you make this change, restart the computer.

MORE INFORMATION

The third-party products that are discussed in this article are manufactured by companies that are independent of Microsoft. Microsoft makes no warranty, implied or otherwise, regarding the performance or reliability of these products.