I have a Windows Server 2008 R2 failover cluster environmental that is having some issues with the print server application. I recently changed it's preferred node from one to the other, and with this change a handful of XP machines, never any of my Windows 7 boxes, began to encounter errors when printing to two specific printers.
The error changes from application to application but most of the time it seems to be a connection error. I temporary fixed it previously by removing the printer and re-adding it. This only worked until a node was rebooted after an update and the application was moved to the other node. Since there is only a small number of users affected, I would really rather not remove and add printers back that encounter this issue every time there is an update or other reason to reboot the machine.
Thanks in advance.
Best Answer
Do both nodes of the failover cluster have the same versions of the printer drivers installed and shared out? I could imagine that clients might get confused if the virtual printer spool that the cluster offered suddenly started "speaking with a funny accent".. ( PCL versus PS, etc.) (I use failover clusters for SQL, not print services, so this is a bit of a shot in the dark)
Also - Are there any 32-bit / 64-bit troubles going on? Are drivers for both architectures shared to clients? I know my cow-orkers sometimes forget that 2K8 R2 is 64 only.