Word won’t print since Fall Creator’s Update

[nl456789]

My PC is running Windows 10 (64 bit). Since I installed the Windows 10 Fall Creators Update on 19 December, MS Word will not send documents to my printer. I can print JPEGs and I can “print to Adobe PDF” from Word and then print from Adobe Acrobat Reader, but nothing else. The PC will not print files created in any Microsoft application (e.g. Excel, Outlook as well), nor emails viewed in Thunderbird, nor webpages from Firefox. In each case the application can see the printer and accepts the print command but nothing then happens and when you open the print queue there is nothing there.

Trying to print a test page from Windows Start Menu/printers produces the error message “Test page failed to print … The parameter is incorrect.”

As a work-around, if I open MS Word (or whatever) as administrator the file will print normally, but that carries security risks and is clearly not an acceptable solution, long-term.

The printer – an HP Envy 5530 – is working properly, it is correctly identified and installed and its software is up to date. Exactly the same errors occur whether I use the HP software driver or the printer driver installed by Windows.

I have spent a lot of time with HP Support, following all the solutions they have suggested, including uninstalling and reinstalling the printer and its software 7 or 8 times now, turning off firewalls and other programs, etc. - but we found no solution. The facts now clearly point to a problem with Windows, probably a glitch or corrupt file in the Fall Creator’s Update.

Clearly Windows is not working as it should. Advice, please, on how to put the problem right.

 

[Regedit32]

Which version of Microsoft Word are you using? 2003, 2007, 2010, something else?

You can remove a registry entry which forces the Microsoft Word Data to reset itself to default, and this would be another way to check whether or not something their has been corrupted, as a reset will allow you to start from a fresh starting point.

But to give you the correct key and value to remove I'll need to know your version of Word.

 

[nl456789]

Which version of Microsoft Word are you using? 2003, 2007, 2010, something else?

You can remove a registry entry which forces the Microsoft Word Data to reset itself to default, and this would be another way to check whether or not something their has been corrupted, as a reset will allow you to start from a fresh starting point.

But to give you the correct key and value to remove I'll need to know your version of Word.

Thank you, Regedit 32, I should have mentioned that I am subscribed to Office 365 and running Word 2016.

You’re the expert so I’m listening to everything you say. However, I will be a bit surprised if it turns out that my problem lies within the Word application itself, for two reasons.

First, I was running Office Professional 2010, hence Word 2010, when I installed the Fall Creator’s Update on 19 December and the printing problem first occurred. A completely separate problem caused by the Update – which I didn’t mention before in this thread – was that it completely screwed up Outlook 2010, freezing all the accounts so Outlook couldn’t receive or send anything and couldn’t display IMAP folders. After trying various options I finally gave up and early in the New Year I upgraded everything on this PC to Office 365, hence the 2016 versions of Word etc. This solved the Outlook problem. However, even with the newly installed 2016 versions none of the Office applications will send documents to the printer – not just Word (which, for brevity, I singled out in the title of this thread) but also Excel and Outlook.

Secondly, as I mentioned, the problem also prevents me printing from Mozilla Thunderbird and Firefox as well, and I get an error message when I try to print a test page from Start menu/printers.

Anyway, your suggestions will be gratefully received.

 

[Regedit32]

Given you also cannot print from Thunderbird and Firefox that rules out the need to try and reset Word data via the Registry key I was alluding to.

In your opening thread you mentioned your HP printer is working properly, but you also mention in this latest post that you got an error message attempting to print a test page. Do you mean a Printer test page, or just a page you created in Word 2016?

Can you print anything at all from the Printer from other applications?

 

[nl456789]

Given you also cannot print from Thunderbird and Firefox that rules out the need to try and reset Word data via the Registry key I was alluding to.

In your opening thread you mentioned your HP printer is working properly, but you also mention in this latest post that you got an error message attempting to print a test page. Do you mean a Printer test page, or just a page you created in Word 2016?

Can you print anything at all from the Printer from other applications?

Test page: I was referring back to my opening thread - if I go to Windows Start Menu/printers, select my printer and click on “Print Test Page”, it produces the error message “Test page failed to print … The parameter is incorrect.”

As I indicated, there are a few cases when I can print. Here is the detailed breakdown:

1. From Word or Excel opened normally, .docx and .xlsx files – won’t print (silence, i.e. print command accepted but nothing in the print queue).

2. From Word or Excel “run as administrator”, .docx and .xlsx files will print normally.

3. From Ourlook opened normally, emails and .msg files – won’t print (“Printer not ready”). For security reasons I haven't tried opening Outlook as administrator.

4. Emails in Mozilla Thunderbird – won’t print (silence).

5. Web pages in Mozilla Firefox – won’t print (error message).

6. Web pages from Google Chrome – will print (I have just discovered).

7. JPEGs viewed in MS Photos – will print normally.

8. PDFs viewed in Acrobat Reader – (a) prepared by others (e.g. downloads) – will print normally.

(b) .docx and .xlsx files saved from Word/Excel using "save as PDF" or “save as Adobe PDF” command – won’t print.

(c) .docx and .xlsx files viewed in Word/Excel and using “Print to Adobe PDF” command – will print when PDF then viewed in Reader.

 

[Regedit32]

So when you are trying to print are you signed-in with Administrator privileges, or using a local account?

For example, if you can print while signed-in as an Administrator account, but not as a local user account, you will probably need to change the permissions on your TEMP folder which your printer may be making use of as it prepares the print queue.

 

[nl456789]

So when you are trying to print are you signed-in with Administrator privileges, or using a local account?

For example, if you can print while signed-in as an Administrator account, but not as a local user account, you will probably need to change the permissions on your TEMP folder which your printer may be making use of as it prepares the print queue.

I am not sure what you mean by “signed in with Administrator privileges”, but perhaps this will answer your question. I am the only user of this PC and am permanently signed in in my own account. Under “Settings/Accounts/Your info” after my name is printed “Local Account; Administrator”.

This is the user account I am using when I run all these applications – and trying to print whenever I need to. I usually run all applications in a normal mode (if that is an acceptable term) and I have never used “run as administrator” before this problem arose. I am only using “run as administrator” now for Word or Excel when I have to do so to get a document to print (this was a work-around mentioned to me by a friend, and which I also spied on an HP Support thread).