Sometimes, a rogue printer driver entry gets left behind in your printer list. Sometimes, you cant delete it. Somtimes its even a duplicate of a printer that already exists, perhaps with a slightly different queue name.
Various message sources, like here suggest breaking network connection with the printer in question may be needed before windows “releases” the print queue so it can be deleted.
But what if the printer in question no longer exists at all?
This seems to occur under different circumstances, but one that is often suggestion is it can happen when printer mappings are added to a user profile using scripting.
The suggested solution in this case seems to be to run the following command:
rundll32 printui.dll, PrintUIEntry /gd \\server\printername
I ran into this problem on our Citrix farm.
Here we had 2 print queues for the same printer, the top one being incorrect, but impossible to delete:
\\srv-prt-01\prt052.nob.local
\\srv-prt-01\prt052
I isolated one of the servers so I could play with it without any users on it.
I made sure all scripted mappings to both the old and new queue where disabled.
I even deleted the queue on the server
I tried first disconnecting the printer physically, then trying to delete the errant queue. This did not work.
I tried the rundll32 command, no dice either.
The next step was the more drastic one. I logged onto the desktop of the Citrix server with ILO, disabled the network card, rebooted, and low and behold, I was able to remove the queue.
But when I logged into the server again as a test user, the driver had returned. Even with our scripting turned off, the queues actually deleted on the print server, the queue still appeared for my test user on the Citrix server.
This could only mean the entry was stuck in the user profile.
And indeed, there it was, under HKLU\<user-sid>\Printers\Connections
I deleted the errant entry, and I never saw the queue again, at least not for that particular user!
I wonder how often this happens. I was suprised to not have come across something about the user registry hive when googling this problem.
Now I have to see what I am going to do about all the other users that have this entry. Perhaps it would be better practice to actually delete this entire set of keys when they log out, every time.
The printers get mapped by our logon system anyway when they log in again. It might help keep their printer list a little cleaner in future.
Tags: driver, HKLU, mapping, printer, queue, registry, windows
For those of you following the Gillmore Gang podcast, you may have noticed the feed has not been updated recently.
All queries directed at Steve Gilmore about this, have resulted in him simply pointing us to the live stream of the Gang, as its recorded on Leo Laporte’s site on Friday or Saterday. He gives very little advance warning of when they are going to do a show. And its just down to luck, and your own personal schedule wether you are in the position to listen to this at the time.
After about a month of this, several people, like myself and Dave Winer, have become fed up, and this Friendfeed discussion has resulted in various alternative resources being made available, including a certain “Jack” very helpfully providing us with an alternative RSS feed, coming out of Yahoo pipes.
Here is my own little rant, followed by the complete conversation:
“I cannot understand why they would stop the podcast. I dont care what else they do, as long as I can recieve it as a podcast. The ENTIRE point of podcasting was its time-shifted nature, the fact that we can unshackle ourselves from the -obsolete- broadcasting model. Realtime has its place, but one does not preclude the other. Going live-only is a step back in my opinion. They cut -so- many people out of their listenership, I cant wrap my head around it!”
http://friendfeed.com/davew/4f42347b/torrent-of-this-week-gillmor-gang-just
To summorise, here are the various resources currently available:
Internet Archive:
http://www.archive.org/details/GillmorGang/
Yahoo Pipes conversion from the Internet Archive, into an RSS feed:
http://pipes.yahoo.com/pipes/pipe.info?_id=uFOYFoZN3hGItIPx0j6skA
Feedburner version of above RSS feed:
http://feeds2.feedburner.com/TheGillmorGangShow
ISOHunt Search (rss) for any Torrent with the words “Gillmor Gang” in it:
http://isohunt.com/js/rss/%22Gillmor+Gang%22?iht=
Update 20 July 2009:
After the little Spat with Leo Laporte, Steve has not done another Gillmor Gang.
It looks like we shall have to go without for the forseeable future 
Here are 2 videos I made of how I currently use my G1. I show off some apps and how they work.
I am especially happy with finally finding a descent Jabber client with conference support. (specifically: xep-0045 support)
The app is called jabiru and is quite simple, fast, nice and compact. You can find it on the Android marketplace.
http://jabiru.mzet.net/
With this I can now finally chat in my regular chatroom, the wowcast chat on Bindpoint, which is not actually a Jabber chat at all, but is exposed as such. (I am hoping that they will also expose their chat system as IRC at some point).
Video one: (click here if you cant see the video below)
Video two, Jabiru connecting to Bindpoint: (click here if you cant see the video below)
Its been ages since I did anything in the form of training.
I always loved collecting many of the Microsoft Press books, many of them training books that would lead to official certs, but I would never put the time in to actually train for them.All I ever managed to get was MSCA 2003 and the Exchange 2003 exam.
My enthusiasm about the new job is such that I think now is a good time to invest myself again.There are several products we use at the job that I am currently less than familiar with, Exchange 2007 and VMware being the main ones here, and I could seriously use a bit more depth in other areas like Citrix.
Things have changed significantly in MS cert land since I last had a look around. MSCE no longer exists, instead, Microsoft has chosen to go mainly product-specific. You are able to get a basic cert in just about any MS product, which leads you to become a MCTS or Microsoft Certified Technology Specialist. You can then chose to go deeper and becomes MCITP or Microsoft Certified IT Professional. This latter one is more like the old MCSA, but its still more oriencted towards a specific technology group that MCSA used to be.They are broader, and usually combine 2 MCTS certs with specific MCITP exam.
Its funny though, the MCTS or MCITP are not well known at all yet. Almost no where durign the last 6 months of job hunting, did I come across these terms in job positions. Its gonna take several years for these certs to gain that value that comes of managers and recruiters being “familiar” with them. That is never a strong reason for myself to go for these though.
For me, these certs, but more specifically, the training that goes with them, is a structured way for me to invest myself. I could learn just as much from the internet, all the info is out there, aswell as other great books that are not specifically training books (I love the MS resource kits for example). But I never approach these materials in a structured way.
For myself, based on my own interests but also the job I am now in, the following certs seem the most interesting to me:
MCTS: Microsoft Exchange Server 2007 – Configuration, Exam 70-236
This one comes mostly from the fact that at the job, we run this, and neither me nor my collegue know much about it. As with almost all of the infrastructure, it was built by a third-party, and there has been no time to really get into it.
My own relationship with Exchange has always been a little strange. I have had a distant interest in the technology, but never really got the chance to work with it consistantly.
To this day, I am annoyed at my lack of experience with any version of Exchange. I won’t claim its my first choice for training from the standpoint of personal interest, however going for this one first has 2 large advantages: 1. We are currently working with the product and are unable to adequately support it. 2. It will be a nice introductory for myself back into the MS training scene.
I also plan to get this cert completely on my own. Self-study, and probably even pay for the exam myself. I want to use it as leverage, to show that i am willing and eager. That way, when I ask them to send me on a VMware course, it will be an easier descision for them. In other words, I want to give them this one as a freeby, while giving myself the breathing room to get back into the routine without any external pressures.
To this end, I am ordering the self-paced training book from Amazon this afternoon.
Transition path from MCSA on Windows Server 2003 to MCITP:
I am MCSA+Messaging, and of course there is a transition path to take.
This consists of transision Exam 70-648 which leads to two MCTS certifications:
- Microsoft Certified Technology Specialist: Windows Server 2008 Active Directory Configuration
- Microsoft Certified Technology Specialist: Windows Server 2008 Network Infrastructure Configuration
And then a, what they call “Professional series exam”, Exam 70-646, which leads to: MCITP: Server Administrator. The way its described, seems to place it a little beyond the MCSA level, but not exactly MCSE.
The books that go with this are:
From there on, I may later wish to procede to MCITP: Enterprise Administrator, which requires a further 3 exams, which includes a choice between 2 desktop MCTS certs. (see link).
Lets see if I can get the exchange cert before August. Then it may be realistic to expect myself to get to MCITP: Server Administrator by the end of the year.
Tags: 70-640, 70-642, 70-646, 70-648, Certifications, MCITP, MCITP: Server Administrator, MCTS, Microsoft
I see Jem beat me to the punch, so I’d better post fast to minimize damage.
I am a friend of Jemimus and I am also a (somewhat) fluffy admin. When Jemimus moved his tech blog from geekswithblogs and moved them to a wordpress install on my Linux box we kicked some ideas around, which resulted in me becoming a guest blogger.
I work for a company, which is the biggest internet publisher in the Netherlands, where I currently fill the role of consultant/project manager and have a lot of experience as a systems administrator for the same company. My field of expertise lies in the realm of the open source applications and operating systems, large webfarms, (complex) web applications and even complexer networking environments. I deal with a lot of complex IT projects.
I also used to be a webhoster until recently and am still very active as a coder, writing simple web applications whereever needed.
What can be expected from me, subject wise? Well, mostly internet-related posts, focussed on trends, policy, managers and rants… a lot of rants (mostly about security- and user-related issues). In my current position there is plenty to write about. As such I hope to complement Jem’s interesting posts with mine to make things an even more interesting read.
Interested about me some more? Just take a peek at GrefTek.net. Just don’t surf away, or else Jem will give me a savage beating. 
Tags: greftek, introduction
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