Can't Add HP Printers on Windows 10 1809. There is not enough memory...

[OUP-LJK]

I'm working on a Windows 10 1809 (Build 17763) image for future deployment, but I've hit a major snag with adding HP printers from our print server.

I can add Canon, Xerox, and Brother printers to this new 1809 image just fine, but not HP.

When I attempt to add an HP printer, it gives me the error "Windows cannot connect to the printer. There is not enough memory to complete this operation."

This is happening only on physical machines, a virtual machine running Windows 10 1809 does not have this issue. If we were on VDIs, that'd be great, unfortunately we're not there yet.

Test Desktop:
Dell 7040 - Intel Core i5-6500 @ 3.20Ghz (Quad-Core), 8GB RAM (6.4GB free during testing), Hynix 128GB SATA SSD.

Print Server:

Windows 2012 R2
HP Universal Print Driver PCL6 (v6.2.0) 61.185.1.20412
HP Universal Print Driver PCL6 (v6.7.0) 61.225.1.23989 (Newest version for Windows 10 x64 from HP)

Printers Involved:
All HP printers on the server, using an HP LaserJet 4250dn for testing.
Tested with LaserJet 4250dn, P3013, and M401n, all with identical results.

Other Operating Systems Tested:
Windows 7
Windows 10 1607
Windows 10 1703
Windows 10 1803

Printer adds without a problem on all the tested OSes.

I have searched for this problem, and 99% of the results are referencing Vista having problems adding printers. The other 1% is people on HP forums complaining about drivers not being compatible with Windows 10 1809. I don't have a good idea of which HP Universal PCL6 Driver is certified to work with Windows 10 1809 because HP claims that all their Windows 10 drivers work with 1809 which is patently untrue.

The workaround they provide is to add the printer locally using a TCP/IP port instead of going through the network printer. This is not an acceptable solution, since we have 500+ printers and most of the reason we have a print server is to prevent people from needing to add printers locally.

On top of that, adding the printer using a local IP port doesn't work. It receives the error message "Unable to install printer. The stub received bad data." I have tried this with multiple HP printers and both versions of the universal driver.

I'm not surprised that Microsoft re-introduced a bug from Vista into Windows 10, but I wish they would stop changing subsystems just to change them.

I have attempted to install the drivers locally before trying to add the printer from the server, the result is the same, cannot add.

Has anyone had any experience with this type of issue? I really need to be able to add HP printers to our 1809 image and I would appreciate any guidance in solving this issue.

[John_Getzke]

There are many techniques for installing network printers from a print server:

- MS IPP Webpage from the Print Server (asp.net)

- Various scripts like Powershell, VBScript, Javascript, etc.

- Add a printer wizard from Win10

- Group policy

It is not clear which technique you are using in your scenario but you do suggest that the add a printer wizard is not working for you with the current UPD.  In my experience the UPD on the print server plays a roll when it comes to installing a queue on the client PC.  The print server queue needs to be setup with the correct permissions to transfer the files to the client PC and create a new queue.  Thus is you are not using the correct x64 or x86 version of the print driver on the server then problems could appear.

Something that may help you isolate the problem further is to test a local network printer queue instead of going through the print server.  Install the UPD on a test machine and setup a test queue direct to the printer.  This should work unless there is a conflict with the UPD and your OS install.  If you cannot install the driver locally on the client PC then you know the conflict is with the UPD version, not the printer or the print server.

> I don't have a good idea of which HP Universal PCL6 Driver is certified to work with Windows 10 1809 because HP claims that all their Windows 10 drivers work with 1809 which is patently untrue.

Start with the latest and work your way backwards.  

> The workaround they provide is to add the printer locally using a TCP/IP port instead of going through the network printer. This is not an acceptable solution, since we have 500+ printers and most of the reason we have a print server is to prevent people from needing to add printers locally.

This is where I am not following you.  I assume you mean to say that you are automatically installing print queues for people from a script of some kind.  Or you might offer a website like the MS IPP Page and let users install their own printers like we do where I work.  Many others prefer to use automatic printer installs based on GP, but that doesn't work well in my environment due to the complexity of our floor designs.  A local "print queue" (the object in Windows that talks to the spooler and coordinates with the driver to send jobs to the network printer) is pointing to a network IP Port.  If you can install a local print queue then you know the issue is isolated to the permissions and security on the print server.  Focus your attention on the print server moving forward.  

Installing from the Add a Printer wizard also isolates out issues with browser based installations incase any of your security policies did not transfer over from one OS version to the next.  point is, try a few different techniques to see which ones work and which ones dont fore more clues.

> On top of that, adding the printer using a local IP port doesn't work. It receives the error message "Unable to install printer. The stub received bad data." I have tried this with multiple HP printers and both versions of the universal driver.

That suggests that the installation was blocked or interfered with according to your desired installation technique.  See the isolation suggestions above for ideas on figuring out which part is messed up.

> I have attempted to install the drivers locally before trying to add the printer from the server, the result is the same, cannot add.

OK that might confirm one of my theories.  If you know you cannot add a local print queue to the network printer then your print server is off the hook.  Now you have a print driver and OS compatibility issue to sort out.  Could also be something to do with local permissions when creating a queue that might not have migrated from one OS version to the other.  This also isolates out browser based installation issues like ASP.net, trusted sites and whatnot.

Have you tried installing the print queue locally As Admin?  you can launch the printers and faxes window from a command window as Admin with the "Control Printers" command.  Kicking off the add a printer wizard should be elevated at that point.

You could also try checking the event viewer to see if there are any errors around the time of your recent installation attempts.  Might be some clues for you here on security or other conflicts.

One last thought would be to try and install a model specific print driver instead of a UPD.  Just to see if the problem has somethign to do with the x86 or x64 version of the UPD you are trying to use or not.  This will give you more ammo if you decide to contact HP for support later on and help isolate the issue to the UPDs and 1809.

[OUP-LJK]

I'll address the entire message later, but I want to clear things up.

Start

Type \\NameOfPrintServer

Press Enter

Find the Name of the Printer in the List

Double Click on the Printer.

This is the method that is failing.

I am not using any wizard, or scripting, or group policy. Straight up direct to the server like we've always done.

The drivers are successfully installed locally, however, adding the printer fails with the message in my original post.

[OUP-LJK · Accepted solution]

Alright, I solved the issue by loading the UPD on the image VM and creating a new image to deploy.

As with a previous problem involving an Intel NIC driver not loading, this solved the issue.

Weird bug in 1809, but that's Windows 10 for you.