Printer troubleshooting for FamilySearch centers

If the FamilySearch center printer does not work, try these steps:

1. Turn off the printer and the computer it connects to.
2. Turn on the printer, and run a printer self-test. Usually you can press a button other than the power button to print a test page. If the printer does not print, contact the manufacturer.
3. If the printer does not connect directly to the computer, turn it off, and connect it directly to the computer. Turn on the printer. Then turn on the computer. Check all cable connections.
4. Sign in as an Administrator.
5. Click Start.
6. Click Printers.
7. Look for a black check mark by the printer you use, marking it as the default printer. If you do not see the check, right-click the printer, and click Set As Default.
8. Right-click the printer, and click Properties.
9. Click Print Test Page. If the page does not print, follow the troubleshooting steps on the screen. If the page does print but you are still unable to print from a particular application, uninstall and then reinstall the application.

Additional tips

• FamilySearch center printers only work with Windows 10. You cannot print with an older operating system.
• Restart the Print Spooler service. (Click Control Panel, then Administrative Tools, then Services, and then Print Spooler.)
• Replace any old cables.
• If you have new cables, they can be for USB ports. Change your port settings in Windows. See your Windows help files or user manual for information.
• You could need a new printer driver. To learn how to update the driver, see your Windows help files or user manual.
• When you try to print, in case the computer asks for a filename to save the file, check the printer window. If you see a check mark in a box labeled "print to file," remove the check mark, and click OK or Apply.
• If problems persist, contact your printer manufacturer.

Important notes

• North America supports Lexmark printers only, other multi-areas may have additional approved printers that they support.
• Printer must be hard-wired to the network with an ethernet cable or a cat 5–6 cable. We do not support wireless or USB connectivity to the Lexmark printers.
• If they need additional network connections and cables, the center must contact the Facilities Management (FM) group. 

Printer starts to print when you turn it on

Force a delete of print jobs. The following solution is for Windows XP, but a similar approach works on other systems.

1. Click Start.
2. Click Run. 
3. Type NET STOP SPOOLER to stop the spooler service.
4. Browse to the windows\system32\spool\PRINTERS\ FOLDER. Look for files ending in .SPL and .SHD created around the time you tried to print. Delete the files.
5. Click Start.
6. Click Run. 
7. To restart the print spooler service, type this: NET START SPOOLER
8. To examine your print job queue, double-click the printer icon in the lower-right corner of your taskbar.
9. On the View menu, click Refresh.

Printer cancels print job

The steps apply to this message: "This operation has been canceled due to restrictions in effect on this computer. Please contact your system administrator." Centers can see it when they install a printer.

1. Edit the local policy:

   1. Open Local Security Policy.
   2. Go to Local Policies\Security Options.
   3. Right-click Devices: Prevent users from installing printer drivers and go to Properties.
   4. Disable the policy.

   5. Open the Command Prompt, and type: gpupdate /force

      Continue with the next step if this step does not fix the issue.

2. Edit the registry:

   1. Log in to the computer as an Administrator.
   2. Open the registry (press winkey+R and type regedit).
   3. Go to HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Policies\Explorer.
   4. Right-click NoAddPrinter DWORD, and go to Modify....
   5. Set the value to 0 and restart the computer.

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