Hi Al,

Thanks for responding! This is a rather complicated problem that has been going on for a while but I'll try to distill it to the essentials.

Absolutely everything in the environment is 32 bit. I don't know what version TS is, but it runs on Server 2003 and has for about a year, Workstations run XP SP2. All but 2 of the workstations show \\DC1\LASER in the APrinters() list except the 2 that are having trouble. Those have something like LASER ON DC1 (FROM FK0PBCX1) IN SESSION 18. Technically this is the same printer, but it would appear that the spooler is having trouble figuring that out. The print setup is much like you describe for 2b--printers are accessed from the server; nothing on the workstation is accessible once the user logs into TS. (That creates other problems but I'll save those are for another day!)

I am pretty sure the problem is not with the printers themselves. The app has worked in its present configuration for over a decade and that printer has been used without error for a couple of years.. The problem started at with the first printjob on August 20 after Office 2010 was installed over the weekend. Under automation, the app calls the Word Print Setup Dialog to send printjobs to the selected printer. What has changed, apparently, is that while previous versions of Word would accept "Printer = Device" in that dialog, 2010 wants "Printer == Device". The spooler appears to have trouble finding the proper queue for jobs sent from the 2 non-conforming workstations. To me, it would seem easier to fix the problem at the workstation end than try to get Microsoft to modify their code :-) However, IT says the workstations can't be changed. I'm not sure why, except that I've observed that the fellow doesn't seem to be very energetic.

So here's my question to you: is IT right that there is no way these workstations could use the \\DC1\LASER reference for that printer?