Error Message: The Server on Which the Printer Resides Does Not Have a Suitable Printer Driver Installed

ID: Q180545

The information in this article applies to:

Microsoft Windows NT Workstation versions 3.5, 3.51, 4.0
Microsoft Windows NT Server versions 3.5, 3.51, 4.0
Microsoft Windows NT Server, Enterprise Edition version 4.0

SYMPTOMS

When you attempt to connect to a Windows NT server or workstation print share and automatically download a printer driver that is known to be installed on the share, you may receive the following error message:

The server on which the printer resides does not have a suitable
<type of printer> printer driver installed. Click OK if you wish to
install the driver on your local machine.

CAUSE

This behavior can occur if the %SystemRoot%\System32\Spool\Drivers folder (or a folder below it) does not have the correct NTFS file system permissions to allow you to access the printer driver files. Instead of receiving an error message stating that access is denied, you receive the error message listed above.

RESOLUTION

The system administrator must assign you sufficient permissions to access the files. The system administrator may also need to check the share-level permissions for the printer share if the default permissions were changed. The default permissions are:

%SystemRoot%\System32\Spool\Drivers (and subfolders)

Administrators - Full Control
Creator/Owner - Full Control
Everyone - Read (RX)
Server Operators - Full Control
System - Full Control

The Print$ share contains the Everyone group by default and has read permissions.


Keywords          : kbprint kbbug4.00 ntprint NTSrvWkst 
Version           : WinNT:4.0
Platform          : winnt 
Issue type        : kbbug

Last Reviewed: January 31, 1999