“No default printer found. Please choose a printer and try again”

users
#1

Hi everybody,

I can't print LO documents on a Samsung ML-1750 printer attached to a USB port of my laptop. The printer doesn't appear in the print dialogue. Moreover, when I select “Printer Settings” in the File menu I receive the message “No default printer found. Please choose a printer and try again”. When I press “OK” I get no response.

I have LO 4.1.4.2 running on Windows 7 Home Premium (64-bit). All other applications print normally. The problem appears in both administrative and standard user accounts, probably after upgrading to LO 4.1.4.2. Temporarily, as a workaround I export LO documents to the PDF format. I am a fan of LO and would appreciate a lot any help.

Best regards,
Yanis

#2

Hi Yanis,

Were you able to print using a previous version of LO with the same
printer connected via USB on the same operating system ?

Alex

#3

I fixed this, once on a Windows system and several time on Linux systems, by renaming the user profile that LO creates for you. There is printer information listed in there.

Sometimes the information in the profile gets mess up. I have had that happen to me several times in the past. Once I have a working profile, I back it up to save the data there. There is some useful information in those files/folders, if you have a need to look at it.

I do not remember where that set of folders/files is kept on Win7. It may be a hidden folder, like it is in Linux. But once you find that, RENAME it by adding "-old" to it or something like that. DO NOT delete it. Then when you restart LO, a new profile should be created.

#4

Hi :slight_smile:
This guide helps you find where the User Profile is on any Operating
System, even Vista (so with Win7 it should be really easy)
* https://wiki.documentfoundation.org/UserProfile

Renaming the User Profile rather than deleting it means you can still
copy back any useful stuff that might have been in templates,
galleries, backups or anything else. When LO can't find the User
Profile it just creates a fresh new one.
Regards from
Tom :slight_smile:

#5

Dear all,

I'll follow your advice and let LO create a new user profile for each user account. I'll let you know the result. Thank you very much.

Best regards,
Yanis

#6

Hi Tom and list,

recreating the user profile might work, but sometimes one would like to know
what is wrong. So, is there a manual explaining the format of

registrymodifications.xcu

Which part of LO is modifying the file?
(I have the problem that calling LO by a command line headless while another
instance of LO is running, the windaow parameters are changed for the next
window to be opened)

Sincerely

Walther

for the Am Dienstag, 14. Januar 2014 schrieb Tom Davies:

#7

Dear all,

I let LO create a new user profile by renaming the old one. Unfortunately, it didn't work. This was rather expected, because, as I said, the problem appeared in both user accounts (administrator, standard user), so we have to assume that something has corrupted both user accounts at the same time, which IMHO sounds highly improbable.

So I restored a previous system image including LO 4.1.1.2 and the printing problem just disappeared. I updated Windows 7 and all applications except LO and again I didn't experience any printing problem. Then I created a new system image and updated LO to the latest version. Guess what! The problem reappeared! This left me no other choice but to restore the latest system image and be content with LO 4.1.1.2.

Thank you again for your time and interest. I appreciate it a lot.

Best regards,
Yanis

#8

Hi Yanis

Yanis Zavakos wrote

This left me no other
choice but to restore the latest system image and be content with LO
4.1.1.2.

Between your current 4.1.1.2 and the latest 4.1.4.2 you have 4.1.2.3 and
4.1.3.2 which you can get from here
http://downloadarchive.documentfoundation.org/libreoffice/old/

It would be great if you could test with those builds and check where the
problem first occurs (and along the way get your system updated to the most
advanced version that suits your needs).
Then you could report the bug at
https://bugs.freedesktop.org/enter_bug.cgi?product=LibreOffice

This would be a nice way to contribute to the project :wink:

Best regards,
Pedro

#9

Dear Tom and Pedro,

It will be a pleasure to test with builds 4.1.2.3, 4.1.3.2 and 4.2.0 and formally report a bug as well. I'll keep you posted.

Best regards,
Yanis

#10

Hi :slight_smile:
Blimey!! Good work doing all that! Sounds like a bit of a nightmare!

It is really disturbing that the 4.1.4 doesn't work but the 4.1.1
does. We don't normally get that type of regression. We do
occasionally get a regression in a newer branch, such as the 4.2.0
(especially when it's still pre-release) but generally the sub-point
releases don't add new features or stir-up lurking problems.

I know you have done a LOT of work already but is it possible to post
a bug-report about this? Also is it possible to test-drive the 4.2.0
easily and see if the problem is also in there? Errr, that 2nd
request is more work than i expect anyone to put in but if it's really
easy then it might help. Similarly for Pedro's requests to try the
4.1.2 and 4.1.3. I think those are less important than trying the
4.2.0 because the regression might have already vanished in the new
branch.
https://wiki.documentfoundation.org/BugReport

LibreOffice usually has 2 branches. One that is "stable branch" and
one that is kinda "new features and extra compatibility with MS Office
formats, errr branch". We don't seem to have a short and snappy title
for the 2nd branch. Obvious contenders, such as "development branch",
are inadequate or just plain completely wrong. Both branches are
actively developed so a "newer release" could be in either branch.

Errr, to cut a long story short = if the 4.1.1 worked then the 4.1.4
should also work but the 4.2.0 might not. This is roughly like
everything working fine in Win7 or Xp but suddenly finding problems
with Win8. So what is disturbing here is that it's happened in the
middle of the branch = like turning on an Win7 machine one day and it
suddenly not working for no reason.

Regards from
Tom :slight_smile:

#11

hi :slight_smile:
There is a way of installing multiple versions of LibreOffice
alongside each other "in parallel"
https://wiki.documentfoundation.org/Installing_in_parallel

It's not quite straight-forwards but hopefully the wiki-guide there
makes it easier. The main thing to avoid is having 2 versions open at
the same time as each other. That kinda means closing the
"Quickstarter" (which i always avoid anyway (except on Windows))

Pinpointing exactly which version first had the regression sounds like
it might help the devs quite a bit!
Thanks and regards from
Tom :slight_smile:

#12

Dear all,

I updated to LO 4.1.2.3 and then to LO 4.1.3.2 whithout the printing problem arising. While installing LO 4.1.4.2, the following message appeared (in Greek):

/The following applications use files to be updated by this installation://
//
//Microsoft Windows Search Filter Host //(Process Id: 3896)//
//
//Close the applications and press Resume //installation to continue//./

I started the Task Manager, selected 'Show processes from all users' and indeed noticed the above process running. It vanished before pressing "End Process", which allowed me to resume installation. The installation stopped again showing a similar message, this time about processes 3616 and 3732, which, however, I didn't identify in the Task Manager. After a while, I pressed 'Resume installation' once again. When the installation finished, there appeared no printing problem. [It is worth noticing that a similar message had appeared the first time I upgraded to LO 4.1.4.2 and at that time I opted to abort installation, restart computer and install LO 4.1.4.2, which produced the printing problem.] Finally, I updated to LO 4.2.0.2 without experiencing the printing problem.

Best regards,
Yanis

#13

Hi Yanis

Yanis Zavakos wrote

I updated to LO 4.1.2.3 and then to LO 4.1.3.2 whithout the printing
problem arising. While installing LO 4.1.4.2, the following message
appeared (in Greek):
<snip>
Finally, I
updated to LO 4.2.0.2 without experiencing the printing problem.

So it seems some problem with the installer/LO printing has sneaked into
branch 4.1 after version 4.1.3 but it is not present in the 4.2 branch...

Could you please try the latest version from the 4.1 branch? It's 4.1.5.1
available from
http://dev-builds.libreoffice.org/pre-releases/win/x86/

It is important to find out if the next "stable" version does not have a
regression...

Thanks!
Pedro

#14

Dear Pedro,

As suggested, I updated to LO 4.1.5.1. No messages appeared during installation. Had to restart Windows 7 to start LO. The printing problem (“No default printer found. Please choose a printer and try again”) arised again.

Best regards,
Yanis

#15

Hi Yanis

Yanis Zavakos wrote

As suggested, I updated to LO 4.1.5.1. No messages appeared during
installation. Had to restart Windows 7 to start LO. The printing problem
(“No default printer found. Please choose a printer and try again”)
arised again.

Ok. So you now have the option to stick with version 4.1.3.2 or to move on
to 4.2.0.2. Be aware that 4.2.0.2 is a Release Candidate for the currently
UNstable branch and is VERY likely to have regressions (since it's a x.x.0
i.e. zero version) but then again branch 4.1 also has regressions...

If you don't mind testing then use branch 4.2 on daily basis and report
whatever problems you find.

Can you create a Bug report for this problem?
https://bugs.freedesktop.org/enter_bug.cgi?product=LibreOffice

If you do, please report on this topic/thread the number of the bug so that
it can be followed.

Best regards,
Pedro

#16

Hi :slight_smile:
This is all brilliant stuff for the bug-report! Many thanks for
testing all this! Really all this should be being done through the
bug-report rather than on this mailing-list.

This mailing-list is really about helping Users with individual
problems and then hopefully moving on when the problem is solved. In
this case the problem has already been solved and the newer branch
doesn't have the problem at all.

So, if you find problems printing the fix is to use 4.2.x

On the other hand it's interesting to try to work at problem usually
handled by other teams to hopefully increase our understanding of what
they do or why they sometimes seem to have an odd approach. So, many
thanks Yanis! :slight_smile:
Regards from
Tom :slight_smile:

#17

Hi :slight_smile:
+1
Good points, as usual. So in this case the 4.1.3 is the most recent
best stable version for all the other machines on your networks but
the 4.2.0 might be interesting on your own machine for only you to
use.
Regards from
Tom :slight_smile: