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I am having problems with my Kodak Hero 5.1 all in one printer. It has previously been working absolutely fine, though I couldn't pinpoint where in time it went wrong as it's not regularly used.

I currently can not print documents from

  • Any Microsoft Office 2010 Program (Word, One Note, Powerpoint etc.)
  • Adobe Acrobat*
  • The Windows built in test page

But can print from

  • Google Chrome - even using the system dialogue. I can also print PDFs from Chrome that wont in Acrobat
  • The Kodak software's built in test page

* Even more strangely I can print from Adobe Acrobat (using exactly the same settings as I was before) AFTER I have printed at least one page from Chrome successfully. Microsoft programs including the test page still refuse to print after this.

There is no error given (apart from the windows test page which just says unable to print a test page).

The job appears for a split second in the printer queue but then disappears immediately (even when the queue is paused). No printer spool files are created in C:\Windows\System32\spool\PRINTERS (as suggested here).

This is extremely annoying and I have no idea why it would do this.

Things I have tried:

  • Restarting my computer
  • Stopping and starting the print spooler service
  • Completely reinstalling the printer
  • Setting the printer properties to print directly to the printer rather than spooling - this shows a bit more progress as it opens up the "Kodak Spooling..." progress bar and the printer starts to get ready, but then cancels the job (presumably as it hasn't been given anything to spool).
  • Using other printers installed - all print without issue and fill the queue normally

The printer is connected by USB, I'm running Windows 7 and all system updates and printer driver and software updates have been done.

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  • Try it with (1) User Account Control (UAC) turned off, (2) Boot in Safe mode (this might not work if Safe boot decides not to load the printer driver). – harrymc Mar 12 '14 at 12:07
  • (3) Turn off your security software. – harrymc Mar 12 '14 at 15:02
  • @harrymc turning UAC off appears to have done the trick - if you post an answer to that effect explaining what was going on I'll award the bounty assuming it keeps working :D – Rory Mar 13 '14 at 20:50
  • Before I do that : Does the problem return if you now turn it back on? – harrymc Mar 13 '14 at 20:54
  • What Operating system are you running? – G Koe Mar 14 '14 at 0:33
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+100

The usual advice in such cases is to either :

  • Turn off the security software, and if this fixed the problem then replace it.
  • Turn off the User Account Control (UAC), reboot, print, then turn UAC back on.

The explanation for the second fix is probably that some permissions on some files or folders were loused up, so that printing was blocked. Turning off UAC permitted the operation to proceed and the permissions to be redone. Once the permissions are fixed, UAC can be turned on again. In some cases, UAC may need to stay off.

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  • One last follow up question - why could Google Chrome get around this issue and why once it had done this could Adobe Acrobat then print? – Rory Mar 17 '14 at 15:18
  • This permissions problem has never been fully analyzed and there is no precise information, only this workaround. The differences may be in the system calls that Chrome uses which somehow bypass and correct a bit the permissions. All I have are theories. – harrymc Mar 17 '14 at 15:38
  • Just as a note to anyone viewing the answer in future - in this case I have had to leave UAC off in order for it to carry on working. – Rory Mar 18 '14 at 17:54

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