Delay Connecting to a Printer Added in a Terminal Server Session (290737)

IMPORTANT: This article contains information about modifying the registry. Before you modify the registry, make sure to back it up and make sure that you understand how to restore the registry if a problem occurs. For information about how to back up, restore, and edit the registry, click the following article number to view the article in the Microsoft Knowledge Base:

256986 Description of the Microsoft Windows Registry

SYMPTOMS

Terminal Server users who use a printer on a print server may occasionally experience a long delay (from two minutes to hours) while adding a printer through a Terminal Server session. Users who view the printer queue status (which is already connected at this time) may receive a "Failed to connect, retrying" error message when the problem starts to occur. While the delay occurs, running the net view command for the print server may return error code 1727 ("The remote procedure call failed and did not execute"). During the delay, Terminal Server users who receive the error message may be able to connect to other print servers. Also, the print server that is involved may still allow new sessions from other computers and from other Terminal Server-based servers.

CAUSE

This behavior may occur if the maximum open file handle limit (2048) is reached for the virtual circuit between the Terminal Server-based server and the print server. Typically, all Terminal Server sessions multiplex file handle operations over a single virtual circuit; it is possible to reach this limit.

RESOLUTION

WARNING: If you use Registry Editor incorrectly, you may cause serious problems that may require you to reinstall your operating system. Microsoft cannot guarantee that you can solve problems that result from using Registry Editor incorrectly. Use Registry Editor at your own risk.

To resolve this issue, set the MultipleUsersOnConnection redirector parameter to 0 on the Terminal Server-based server. Making this change forces each client to negotiate its own virtual circuit when connecting with a remote server. To set the MultipleUsersOnConnection redirector parameter to 0:

Verify that the Terminal Server-based server is running Windows NT 4.0, Terminal Server Edition, Service Pack 4 or later.
On the server, start Registry Editor (Regedt32.exe).
Locate and click the following registry key:
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Services\Rdr\Parameters
On the Edit menu, click Add Value.
Add the following value:
Value name: MultipleUsersOnConnection
Data type: REG_DWORD
Data value: 0
After you make this registry change, quit Registry Editor, and then restart the server.

MORE INFORMATION

The MultipleUsersOnConnection registry value was introduced in Windows NT 4.0 Service Pack 4 to overcome the 2,048 open-file limit. In Microsoft Windows 2000, this limit is 8,192. The MultipleUsersOnConnection registry entry is named MultiUserEnabled in Windows 2000 Terminal Servers.

For additional information, click the following article numbers to view the articles in the Microsoft Knowledge Base:

818528 Problems when more than one user accesses the same file through Terminal Services

190162 Terminal Server and the 2048 open file limitation