Problem with PDF-XChange4 Lite printer on Citrix

alexhover · Post by **alexhover** » Wed Apr 16, 2008 2:13 pm

We want to use the PDF-XChange4 Lite printer in our customers Citrix environment (published desktop on PS4.0 on /windows 2003 sp2). The printer works fine, PDF 's are beautifully made, but every time the user prints, a spooler popup message in the system tray shows up, telling us that the printjob has failed.

I think this error message is because we had to the change the port type from "PDF-XChange 4 Port" to a local port. This was necessary because of our nightly maintenance on our Citrix servers: part of this maintenance is a script which runs and deletes all of the printer registry information (under hklm\system\currentcontrolset\control\print\printers)
The second command in the maintenance script is a printmig command which builds up the printers again in conjunction with a .CAB file. This way the environment is more controlled. I already made a second .CAB file for the PDF-XChange4 printer.
to me it looks like this port type is not compatibel with Citrix or Windows 2k3

When the maintenance script runs and all the registry information is deleted and built up again, the "PDF-XChange 4 Port" is also gone and the printer is in a offline condition. By using a local port the printer is back online, but users are getting the error messages in the system tray about jobs that are failing.

I already tried a number of things, such as not using printmig but an import of a registry file which contains all the necessary hklm settings or changing the properties on the printer itself. Nothing helps.
The strange thing is that it only seems to be working as when i am logged in as a local administrator on the citrix server. Of course it is not a solution to grant our users local admin rights.
Same as with the prevention of error messages in the taskbar (by using Group Policy, in combination with a script which deletes all the failed print jobs in the queue), popping up in the system tray printer icon.

I hope this sounds familiar to someone.
Help here is definately needed, because we already bought a site licence..

The driver information:PXC40UIL.dll = v4.0.0.140, PXC40L.dll = 0.3.0.0.
.

Post by **John - Tracker Supp** » Wed Apr 16, 2008 6:15 pm

Hi Alex,

Thanks for the message and we are investigating - though we know of no problems with Citrix and have many happy users - in the interim - 1 suggestion which may help - please update to the latest V4 build : 4.0146 as this may (or may not help)

https://www.pdf-xchange.com/PDFX4SA_LE.zip

If this resolves please let us know.

many thanks

Post by **John - Tracker Supp** » Wed Apr 16, 2008 6:43 pm

Alex,

on investigation - the issue is caused because you are deleting the PDF-XChange Lite printer Registry info - rather than removing the printing completely.

This causes issues; PDF-XChange uses the monitor to prevent possible erroneous messages due to the Windows local port monitor checking if printing on an attached printer has started, if no data is received to the port monitor in response it treats this as a spooling error - and sends an error to that effect.

As the Registry info has been removed - this causes problems.

If you must run this routine nightly - you will have to fully uninstall the PDF-XChange Lite printer (you can run this silently) and then re-install.

alexhover · Post by **alexhover** » Fri Apr 25, 2008 8:14 am

Hi,
this works for me now, thanks.

But now I have the issue that after installing as an administrator silently form a commandline the user license information (under HKCU\Software\Tracker Software\PDF-Xchange Lite 4.0\Drivers) isn't terminal server compatible. This information is lost for a logged in user (company information is not there under About ) so watermarks are presented in the pdf.

Silen install command:
PDFX4SA_LE.exe /VERYSILENT /NORESTART /PName="PDF-XChange Printer" /DIR="D:\APPS\PDF-XChange Lite 4" "/KEY:xxxxxx "/UserName:aaaaa" "/Organization:bbbbbb"

Running in install mode is not a solution here.
Our license type is Site license

As a workaround I import the necessary user registry information through a login script, but a permanent solution is mostly wanted here.

Fri Apr 25, 2008 11:27 am

Hi Alex,

Apologies - there are some errors in the help file text - though this has been corrected since your last download - please try as follows :

PDFX4SA_LE.exe /VERYSILENT /NORESTART /PName="PDF-XChange Printer" /DIR="D:\APPS\PDF-XChange Lite 4" /KEY:"xxxxxx /UserName:"aaaaa" /Organization:"bbbbbb"

alexhover · Post by **alexhover** » Mon Apr 28, 2008 1:48 pm

Hi,

Infortunately the corrected silent install does not work for me.
the same problem is still there:
The PDF printer installs fine, but only for the logged in user.
When I connect as a TS user the company information is gone when I look at properties printer - about.
And any pdf's that are made contain the 'buy now' watermark.

When i look in the registry under hklm\software\microsoft...\terminal server\install there are no keys for the install.
And this is also not the case when installing in install mode.

any more suggestions ?

Post by **John - Tracker Supp** » Mon Apr 28, 2008 2:01 pm

Sorry - there was still 1 error :

PDFX4SA_LE.exe /VERYSILENT /NORESTART /PName="PDFXChangedriver" /DIR="D:\APPS\PDF-XChange Lite 4" /KEY:"xxxxxx /UserName:"aaaaa" /Organization:"bbbbbb"

alexhover · Post by **alexhover** » Tue Apr 29, 2008 6:28 am

Ofcourse this is not the solution either.

alexhover · Post by **alexhover** » Tue Apr 29, 2008 7:06 am

But it has to do with the silent install, cause
when i run the PDFX4SA_LE.exe by hand it works (although no registry keys are made under hklm\software\microsoft\windows nt\currentversion\terminal server\install)

Tue Apr 29, 2008 11:33 am

Alex,

we have made some small changes in the silent install today and uploaded a fresh build - available from the link below, however - please do ensure that you use copy the string below to use as there was still an error in your string:

PDFX4SA_LE.exe /VERYSILENT /NORESTART /PName="PDFXChangedriver" /DIR="D:\APPS\PDF-XChange Lite 4" /KEY:"xxxxxx" /UserName:"aaaaa" /Organization:"bbbbbb"

Download :

https://www.pdf-xchange.com/PDFX4SA_LE.zip

Please advise if all now goes ok for you.

alexhover · Post by **alexhover** » Tue Apr 29, 2008 12:05 pm

Unfortunately this does not work either.
I knew about the string error (missing quote). This however was not the reason.

But,
I do have another workaround, which seems to be working for me now:

I first install the pdf printer by using a self build MSI. (Altiris job)
Now the licensing information is TS compatible.
In my nightly maintenance script I use the silent uninstall and install of the PDFX4SA_LE.exe. In between I delete the printer registry information as told before.
This works and now I do not have to import the necessary user registry information for key and company information by altering my logon script.
This was something i did not wanted to do.

Post by **John - Tracker Supp** » Wed Apr 30, 2008 8:37 am

Alex,

We strongly suspect it is this :

In between I delete the printer registry information as told before.

that is causing these problems - can you please try the silent install without having performed this in the interim and advise - as we believe this action is making a hash of our own uninstall/install procedure on updating.

alexhover · Post by **alexhover** » Tue May 06, 2008 7:25 am

I tested with the silent install on a clean WTS 2003 server, rebooted and noticed that the license information is not set for a logged on user. As a result pdf 's are seen with a watermark.
For the administrator who installs the pdfprinter it works fine.

When I run pdfx4sa_le.exe by hand, go trough the wizard and reboot the server it works fine for administrator and a logged on user.

so to me it looks that the silent install is not compatible with terminal services.

Post by **John - Tracker Supp** » Tue May 06, 2008 8:12 am

Hi Alex,

this was fixed and a new build uploaded - please try the latest release here :

Download latest Releases
https://www.pdf-xchange.com/downloads/users/

many thanks

alexhover · Post by **alexhover** » Tue May 06, 2008 1:05 pm

Unfortunately the results are the same with this new build.
The company information is still missing, so pdf 's are printed with a watermark.

Post by **John - Tracker Supp** » Tue May 06, 2008 3:07 pm

Can you please copy the silent installer string used - I suspect you have not fully updated as outlined.

thanks

alexhover · Post by **alexhover** » Tue May 06, 2008 3:14 pm

I used:

PDFX4SA_LE.exe /VERYSILENT /DIR="D:\APPS\PDF-XChange Lite 4" /KEY:"xxxxxx" /UserName:"aaaaa" /Organization:"bbbbbb"

Post by **John - Tracker Supp** » Tue May 06, 2008 5:36 pm

Hi Alex,

can you please provide the following information using the registry export option (regedit)

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Software\Tracker Software\PDF-XChange Lite 4.0\Drivers\
HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Tracker Software\PDF-XChange Lite 4.0\Drivers\

and zip and post - thanks.

alexhover · Post by **alexhover** » Wed May 07, 2008 8:56 am

Hello,

I just tested again with the newest build and now it seems to be working
The string i use will be: PDFX4SA_LE.exe /VERYSILENT /NORESTART /PName="PDF-XChange Printer" /DIR="D:\APPS\PDF-XChange Lite 4" /KEY:"xxx" /UserName:"xxx" /Organization:"xxxx"

under HKLM\Software\Tracker software\PDF-XChange Lite 4.0\Drivers I find the values REGCode, Username end Organization filled in.
under HKCU\Software\Tracker software\PDF-XChange Lite 4.0\Drivers I find the same values filled in included with a productID.

I think the reason why it didn't work before was because I did not test it on a clean Windows 2003 TS image. The uninstall string (unins000.exe from the install directory seems to be incomplete - which many uninstalls are)

Under HKCU some of the values REGcode, Organization or productID were missing and so PDF's were printed with a watermark.

Only strange thing is that nothing seems to be written to the places in the registry were I aspected it to be. the keys HKEY_USERS\.Default\Software\Tracker software and/or HKLM\Software\MS\Windows NT\CV\terminal Server\Install\Software\tracker software do not exist.

Wed May 07, 2008 10:38 am

Hi Alex -:

So all resolved now ?

alexhover · Post by **alexhover** » Wed May 07, 2008 10:43 am

I think yes.
but I have not installed it on our representative Citrix test environment.
when you read nothing it will be fine, otherwise i'll reply on this topic.
thanks for now.

Wed May 07, 2008 12:53 pm

ok - thanks Alex.