same USB printers cause new hardware detection

[Guest Terry R.]

On one network I admin, we have over a dozen laptops used for "check-in"

purposes. When I configure them for printing, I use just one of the

printers, all of which are identical. Whenever many of them are used, I

would get reports that printing didn't work.

 

Yesterday I reconfigured 3 laptops with one printer and checked okay.

Yet when a user hooked 3 laptops to 3 printers, two of them wouldn't

print. I was onsite at the time and found that Windows had re-installed

drivers and created copies of the printer and the default printer no

longer would print at all. A few of the laptops still have LPT1 ports

and printing that way isn't an issue. Only USB.

 

What would cause Windows to see each of these printers differently even

though they are all the same make and model (Zebra TLP 2844-Z)? As a

last resort, I guess we can mark each laptop specifically for a printer,

but that is a PIA, since there are many staff that also use their

laptops occasionally and if someone else is using "their" printer,

they're out of luck.

 

Thanks for any suggestions,

--

Terry R.

 

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[Guest smlunatick]

Re: same USB printers cause new hardware detection

 

On May 21, 10:14 am, "Terry R." <F1ComNOS...@pobox.com> wrote:

> On one network I admin, we have over a dozen laptops used for "check-in"

> purposes.  When I configure them for printing, I use just one of the

> printers, all of which are identical.  Whenever many of them are used, I

>   would get reports that printing didn't work.

>

> Yesterday I reconfigured 3 laptops with one printer and checked okay.

> Yet when a user hooked 3 laptops to 3 printers, two of them wouldn't

> print.  I was onsite at the time and found that Windows had re-installed

> drivers and created copies of the printer and the default printer no

> longer would print at all.  A few of the laptops still have LPT1 ports

> and printing that way isn't an issue.  Only USB.

>

> What would cause Windows to see each of these printers differently even

> though they are all the same make and model (Zebra TLP 2844-Z)?  As a

> last resort, I guess we can mark each laptop specifically for a printer,

> but that is a PIA, since there are many staff that also use their

> laptops occasionally and if someone else is using "their" printer,

> they're out of luck.

>

> Thanks for any suggestions,

> --

> Terry R.

>

> ***Reply Note***

> Anti-spam measures are included in my email address.

> Delete NOSPAM from the email address after clicking Reply.

 

This is caused by the Plug and Play (PnP) system. Each and every

printer would have their own unique device ID and the PnP system will

re-install the newly detected printer. One possible way is to connect

these printers to a print server on the network. These laptops would

not detect the printer and you would need to configure the IP

address(es) to access these printer.

[Guest Terry R.]

Re: same USB printers cause new hardware detection

 

The date and time was 5/21/2008 7:45 AM, and on a whim, smlunatick

pounded out on the keyboard:

> On May 21, 10:14 am, "Terry R." <F1ComNOS...@pobox.com> wrote:

>> On one network I admin, we have over a dozen laptops used for "check-in"

>> purposes. When I configure them for printing, I use just one of the

>> printers, all of which are identical. Whenever many of them are used, I

>> would get reports that printing didn't work.

>>

>> Yesterday I reconfigured 3 laptops with one printer and checked okay.

>> Yet when a user hooked 3 laptops to 3 printers, two of them wouldn't

>> print. I was onsite at the time and found that Windows had re-installed

>> drivers and created copies of the printer and the default printer no

>> longer would print at all. A few of the laptops still have LPT1 ports

>> and printing that way isn't an issue. Only USB.

>>

>> What would cause Windows to see each of these printers differently even

>> though they are all the same make and model (Zebra TLP 2844-Z)? As a

>> last resort, I guess we can mark each laptop specifically for a printer,

>> but that is a PIA, since there are many staff that also use their

>> laptops occasionally and if someone else is using "their" printer,

>> they're out of luck.

>>

>> Thanks for any suggestions,

>>

>

> This is caused by the Plug and Play (PnP) system. Each and every

> printer would have their own unique device ID and the PnP system will

> re-install the newly detected printer. One possible way is to connect

> these printers to a print server on the network. These laptops would

> not detect the printer and you would need to configure the IP

> address(es) to access these printer.

 

Thanks for the response. Unfortunately, these need to be mobile so

using a print server won't work. It looks like USB isn't "plug & play"

at least in this situation.

 

--

Terry R.

 

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[Guest Lanwench [MVP - Exchange]]

Re: same USB printers cause new hardware detection

 

Terry R. <F1ComNOSPAM@pobox.com> wrote:

> On one network I admin, we have over a dozen laptops used for

> "check-in" purposes. When I configure them for printing, I use just

> one of the printers, all of which are identical. Whenever many of

> them are used, I would get reports that printing didn't work.

>

> Yesterday I reconfigured 3 laptops with one printer and checked okay.

> Yet when a user hooked 3 laptops to 3 printers, two of them wouldn't

> print. I was onsite at the time and found that Windows had

> re-installed drivers and created copies of the printer and the

> default printer no longer would print at all. A few of the laptops

> still have LPT1 ports and printing that way isn't an issue. Only USB.

>

> What would cause Windows to see each of these printers differently

> even though they are all the same make and model (Zebra TLP 2844-Z)? As a

> last resort, I guess we can mark each laptop specifically for a

> printer, but that is a PIA, since there are many staff that also use

> their laptops occasionally and if someone else is using "their"

> printer, they're out of luck.

>

> Thanks for any suggestions,

 

This sounds pretty normal to me, honestly. The same thing would happen if

you had a bunch of identical USB hard drives. You would get a different

drive letter for each.

[Guest Lanwench [MVP - Exchange]]

Re: same USB printers cause new hardware detection

 

Terry R. <F1ComNOSPAM@pobox.com> wrote:

> The date and time was 5/21/2008 7:45 AM, and on a whim, smlunatick

> pounded out on the keyboard:

>

>> On May 21, 10:14 am, "Terry R." <F1ComNOS...@pobox.com> wrote:

>>> On one network I admin, we have over a dozen laptops used for

>>> "check-in" purposes. When I configure them for printing, I use

>>> just one of the printers, all of which are identical. Whenever

>>> many of them are used, I would get reports that printing didn't

>>> work. Yesterday I reconfigured 3 laptops with one printer and checked

>>> okay. Yet when a user hooked 3 laptops to 3 printers, two of them

>>> wouldn't print. I was onsite at the time and found that Windows

>>> had re-installed drivers and created copies of the printer and the

>>> default printer no longer would print at all. A few of the laptops

>>> still have LPT1 ports and printing that way isn't an issue. Only

>>> USB. What would cause Windows to see each of these printers differently

>>> even though they are all the same make and model (Zebra TLP

>>> 2844-Z)? As a last resort, I guess we can mark each laptop

>>> specifically for a printer, but that is a PIA, since there are many

>>> staff that also use their laptops occasionally and if someone else

>>> is using "their" printer, they're out of luck.

>>>

>>> Thanks for any suggestions,

>>>

>>

>> This is caused by the Plug and Play (PnP) system. Each and every

>> printer would have their own unique device ID and the PnP system will

>> re-install the newly detected printer. One possible way is to

>> connect these printers to a print server on the network. These

>> laptops would not detect the printer and you would need to configure

>> the IP address(es) to access these printer.

>

> Thanks for the response. Unfortunately, these need to be mobile so

> using a print server won't work. It looks like USB isn't "plug &

> play" at least in this situation.

 

Well, it *is* plug and play, but each printer is a new one to the computer

the first time you connect it. You haven't really explained what doesn't

work. So you connect a printer, it detects it, and it doesn't print at all?

[Guest Uwe Sieber]

Re: same USB printers cause new hardware detection

 

 

This happens when an USB device has an unique USB hardware

serial number. Good for USB drives, not so good for printers...

 

You can make Windows ignore the USB hardware serial either

for one certain product or for all USB devices. Here I've

shown how to do this for USB drives, for USB printers it's

almost the same game:

http://www.uwe-sieber.de/usbtrouble_e.html#identical_drives

 

You find USB vendor and product in the device manager at

the printers 'Details' tab.

 

 

Uwe

 

 

 

Terry R. wrote:

> On one network I admin, we have over a dozen laptops used for "check-in"

> purposes. When I configure them for printing, I use just one of the

> printers, all of which are identical. Whenever many of them are used, I

> would get reports that printing didn't work.

>

> Yesterday I reconfigured 3 laptops with one printer and checked okay.

> Yet when a user hooked 3 laptops to 3 printers, two of them wouldn't

> print. I was onsite at the time and found that Windows had re-installed

> drivers and created copies of the printer and the default printer no

> longer would print at all. A few of the laptops still have LPT1 ports

> and printing that way isn't an issue. Only USB.

>

> What would cause Windows to see each of these printers differently even

> though they are all the same make and model (Zebra TLP 2844-Z)? As a

> last resort, I guess we can mark each laptop specifically for a printer,

> but that is a PIA, since there are many staff that also use their

> laptops occasionally and if someone else is using "their" printer,

> they're out of luck.

>

> Thanks for any suggestions,

[Guest Terry R.]

Re: same USB printers cause new hardware detection

 

The date and time was 5/21/2008 8:59 AM, and on a whim, Lanwench [MVP -

Exchange] pounded out on the keyboard:

> Terry R. <F1ComNOSPAM@pobox.com> wrote:

>> The date and time was 5/21/2008 7:45 AM, and on a whim, smlunatick

>> pounded out on the keyboard:

>>

>>> On May 21, 10:14 am, "Terry R." <F1ComNOS...@pobox.com> wrote:

>>>> On one network I admin, we have over a dozen laptops used for

>>>> "check-in" purposes. When I configure them for printing, I use

>>>> just one of the printers, all of which are identical. Whenever

>>>> many of them are used, I would get reports that printing didn't

>>>> work. Yesterday I reconfigured 3 laptops with one printer and checked

>>>> okay. Yet when a user hooked 3 laptops to 3 printers, two of them

>>>> wouldn't print. I was onsite at the time and found that Windows

>>>> had re-installed drivers and created copies of the printer and the

>>>> default printer no longer would print at all. A few of the laptops

>>>> still have LPT1 ports and printing that way isn't an issue. Only

>>>> USB. What would cause Windows to see each of these printers differently

>>>> even though they are all the same make and model (Zebra TLP

>>>> 2844-Z)? As a last resort, I guess we can mark each laptop

>>>> specifically for a printer, but that is a PIA, since there are many

>>>> staff that also use their laptops occasionally and if someone else

>>>> is using "their" printer, they're out of luck.

>>>>

>>>> Thanks for any suggestions,

>>>>

>>> This is caused by the Plug and Play (PnP) system. Each and every

>>> printer would have their own unique device ID and the PnP system will

>>> re-install the newly detected printer. One possible way is to

>>> connect these printers to a print server on the network. These

>>> laptops would not detect the printer and you would need to configure

>>> the IP address(es) to access these printer.

>> Thanks for the response. Unfortunately, these need to be mobile so

>> using a print server won't work. It looks like USB isn't "plug &

>> play" at least in this situation.

>

> Well, it *is* plug and play, but each printer is a new one to the computer

> the first time you connect it. You haven't really explained what doesn't

> work. So you connect a printer, it detects it, and it doesn't print at all?

>

>

>

>

>

 

I did explain what happens. I configure one printer. A user plugs in an

identical printer (just not the one I used). Windows detects it as new

hardware, installs another printer. Windows will then not print from the

one I had set as default. I can't expect the users to go through the

process to reset the Windows default printer, open the Check-in program

and select a new printer every time another one is detected by Windows.

There are over a dozen printers and a couple dozen laptops for this.

 

--

Terry R.

 

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[Guest Terry R.]

Re: same USB printers cause new hardware detection

 

The date and time was 5/21/2008 9:49 AM, and on a whim, Uwe Sieber

pounded out on the keyboard:

> Terry R. wrote:

>> On one network I admin, we have over a dozen laptops used for "check-in"

>> purposes. When I configure them for printing, I use just one of the

>> printers, all of which are identical. Whenever many of them are used, I

>> would get reports that printing didn't work.

>>

>> Yesterday I reconfigured 3 laptops with one printer and checked okay.

>> Yet when a user hooked 3 laptops to 3 printers, two of them wouldn't

>> print. I was onsite at the time and found that Windows had re-installed

>> drivers and created copies of the printer and the default printer no

>> longer would print at all. A few of the laptops still have LPT1 ports

>> and printing that way isn't an issue. Only USB.

>>

>> What would cause Windows to see each of these printers differently even

>> though they are all the same make and model (Zebra TLP 2844-Z)? As a

>> last resort, I guess we can mark each laptop specifically for a printer,

>> but that is a PIA, since there are many staff that also use their

>> laptops occasionally and if someone else is using "their" printer,

>> they're out of luck.

>>

>> Thanks for any suggestions,

>

>

> This happens when an USB device has an unique USB hardware

> serial number. Good for USB drives, not so good for printers...

>

> You can make Windows ignore the USB hardware serial either

> for one certain product or for all USB devices. Here I've

> shown how to do this for USB drives, for USB printers it's

> almost the same game:

> http://www.uwe-sieber.de/usbtrouble_e.html#identical_drives

>

> You find USB vendor and product in the device manager at

> the printers 'Details' tab.

>

>

> Uwe

 

Thank you for the info Uwe. It looks like in this instance

GlobalDisableSerNumGen would be the simplest method, except for user

laptops not used specifically for Check-in. If I try the individual

setting, is the product ID unique for each printer, or can I just enter

the vendor (Zebra) and use only one ID? If I only need one ID, I can

create a REG file to import the key quickly to all of them.

 

--

Terry R.

 

***Reply Note***

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Delete NOSPAM from the email address after clicking Reply.

[Guest Uwe Sieber]

Re: same USB printers cause new hardware detection

 

Terry R. wrote:

> The date and time was 5/21/2008 9:49 AM, and on a whim, Uwe Sieber

> pounded out on the keyboard:

>

>> Terry R. wrote:

>>> On one network I admin, we have over a dozen laptops used for

>>> "check-in" purposes. When I configure them for printing, I use just

>>> one of the printers, all of which are identical. Whenever many of

>>> them are used, I would get reports that printing didn't work.

>>>

>>> Yesterday I reconfigured 3 laptops with one printer and checked okay.

>>> Yet when a user hooked 3 laptops to 3 printers, two of them wouldn't

>>> print. I was onsite at the time and found that Windows had

>>> re-installed drivers and created copies of the printer and the

>>> default printer no longer would print at all. A few of the laptops

>>> still have LPT1 ports and printing that way isn't an issue. Only USB.

>>>

>>> What would cause Windows to see each of these printers differently

>>> even though they are all the same make and model (Zebra TLP 2844-Z)?

>>> As a last resort, I guess we can mark each laptop specifically for a

>>> printer, but that is a PIA, since there are many staff that also use

>>> their laptops occasionally and if someone else is using "their"

>>> printer, they're out of luck.

>>>

>>> Thanks for any suggestions,

>>

>>

>> This happens when an USB device has an unique USB hardware

>> serial number. Good for USB drives, not so good for printers...

>>

>> You can make Windows ignore the USB hardware serial either

>> for one certain product or for all USB devices. Here I've

>> shown how to do this for USB drives, for USB printers it's

>> almost the same game:

>> http://www.uwe-sieber.de/usbtrouble_e.html#identical_drives

>>

>> You find USB vendor and product in the device manager at

>> the printers 'Details' tab.

>>

>>

>> Uwe

>

> Thank you for the info Uwe. It looks like in this instance

> GlobalDisableSerNumGen would be the simplest method, except for user

> laptops not used specifically for Check-in. If I try the individual

> setting, is the product ID unique for each printer, or can I just enter

> the vendor (Zebra) and use only one ID? If I only need one ID, I can

> create a REG file to import the key quickly to all of them.

 

The product ID is identical for all printers of the same model,

somtimes for a series of model which are completely software

compatible.

So, you need one IgnoreHWSerNumVVVVPPPP=1 entry per printer model

in use.

GlobalDisableSerNumGen is not good because it changes the behaviour

of USB drives too when attached to a different USB port. When

attached for the first time to a port USB devices are detected

as new. Manually assinged drive letters become port specific...

 

 

Uwe

[Guest Terry R.]

Re: FIXED - same USB printers cause new hardware detection

 

Re: FIXED - same USB printers cause new hardware detection

 

The date and time was 5/22/2008 12:09 AM, and on a whim, Uwe Sieber

pounded out on the keyboard:

 

This is the procedure used to allow multiple identical USB printers to

not trigger the "New Hardware Detected":

 

How To Stop USB Detection of Identical Printers

 

Used link below to learn how to disable detection, and then my steps to

locate the Vendor ID (Vid) & Product ID (Pid) values, and create a REG

file for importing into workstations.

 

http://www.uwe-sieber.de/usbtrouble_e.html#identical_drives as a reference:

 

1. First remove the printer from Printers and Faxes. This is required

because after the registry modification is done below, the printer needs

to be installed clean. This will be the last time you will see New

Hardware Detected for this printer.

2. Open regedit

3. Navigate to HKLM\SYSTEM\ControlSet001\Control\DeviceClasses

4. Press Ctrl-F and enter ##?#USB#

5. When Find stops, expand the sub keys in succession until you see the

Device Parameters key below it. If the printer you want is there, write

down the Vendor ID and Product ID numbers that are found located in the

prior selected key (that begins with ##?#USB#). There should be four

digits after Vid_ and four after Pid_ . Those are the digits you enter

in creating the Binary value key: IgnoreHWSerNum11119999=01, where 1111

is the Vid and 9999 is the Pid, as used in the example on the web page.

(Note: you may find multiple listings of the same printer. The Vid & Pid

should all be the same.)

 

If the printer name in Device Parameters is not the one, press F3. This

will bring you to the next key. Follow step 4 and use F3 each time

until the correct printer is located.

 

6. Per the web page, navigate to

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Control\UsbFlags

and click on the key UsbFlags.

7. On the right side, right click and select New > Binary Value. Type:

IgnoreHWSerNum

and enter the four digits from the Vid first and then the Pid without

any spaces, and press Enter.

8. Double click on the new value and enter: 01 and press Enter.

 

If this will be used on multiple machines, right click on UsbFlags and

select Export. Name it something like UsbFlags and click Save (no

extension needed as REG is added). Right click on the REG file and

select Edit. I removed everything except three lines:

 

Windows Registry Editor Version 5.00

[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Control\UsbFlags]

"IgnoreHWSerNum04710302"=hex:01

 

The eight digits at the end of IgnoreHWSerNum will vary on every device,

so make sure yours is correct. Save the file.

 

Now you can merge the REG file into any workstation using identical

printers, by copying the REG file to the workstation, right clicking on

the REG file and selecting Merge. Answer Yes to add the information to

the registry.

 

Plug in the USB printer and Windows will detect the new hardware.

Swapping identical printers will no longer trigger the detection.

 

Thanks to Uwe Sieber for his web page and related information.

 

 

--

Terry R.

 

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