• If the client can’t print to the same printer from Windows then don’t go any further, sort this issue out first, it’s not Citrix related.
  

• Just in case you are unsure what auto-creation is and how it works then simply put it means when you logon to a terminal services session the printers you have installed on your PC or laptop will automatically be created in your RDP or ICA session.
  

• If you can help it try not to use NT drivers, use only 2000 and above if you can. In Windows 2003 server they make it easier for you by not allowing the install of the older version 2 drivers. If you try to add an old one you may get this message:
  “The current printer driver is not compatible with a policy enabled on your computer that blocks Windows NT4.0 or Windows 2000 kernel-mode drivers.”
  

• Universal Driver – You will see this phrase bandied about a lot in the land of Citrix printing. This is as it says, one of three Universal Drivers built into Citrix that can be used in place of native drivers. You configure client printers to use these through Citrix policies.

• If you want to install a driver across several servers at once you don’t have to install individually as described below, you can simply select replicate from the Citrix Management Console printer/drivers section across the servers you want to replicate to. That said don’t go mad and replicate the drivers to 300 servers in one go especially if the servers are different operating systems or service pack levels.
  

• Not all drivers are compatible with Citrix. If you can then always try and use a driver that you know is compatible, otherwise try it on a test server wherever possible or use the Universal driver.
  

• All of the drivers built in to 2000 or 2003 appear to work OK in Citrix.
  

• I would like to supply a list of each manufacturer and their compatible drivers, however it’s really only HP that seem to supply this information and can be found here HP CTX107322
  

Now for the Troubleshooting

1.) Log on via RDP. Are the printers auto-created? This is not using Citrix, just Terminal Services. If they are not auto-creating now and the driver is installed go to start/run type MMC and add “Terminal Services Configuration”. Under the connections settings you should find both RDP and ICA connections. The RDP relates to your terminal services settings and ICA to the Citrix connection. Right click and select properties, on the client tab ensure that connect client printers at logon and default to main client printer both have ticks in. Check these settings on both the RDP and ICA connections.
If None of the client printers are auto-creating when connected to a particular Citrix Server
The first things to check if this is the case are:

• The Citrix Print Manager Service is running. Try stopping and restarting it.
  

• The Citrix policies are setup correctly within the management console.
  

• Check Windows group policies aren’t affecting the printing. If possible block policy inheritance for testing purposes.
  

• Ensure the ctx_smauser is in the local Power Users group on the problem server. For troubleshooting purposes it can be worth putting it in the local administrators group.

Try printing from Windows directly on the problem server. If you can’t so that it’s probably not a Citrix issue at all.
There is a particular printer that won’t auto-create
If this is the case then try the following:

• Is the driver installed on the server? - To check this logon to the Citrix server and navigate to control panel/printers and faxes. Select File, server properties and then click on the drivers tab. If the driver is not installed you have probably found your problem. The easiest way to add the driver is to add the printer through the add/remove printer applet as you would on your PC. If you do this and the drivers are still not showing in the server properties button this points to a Windows problem which is beyond the scope of this article.

• The next thing now is to check that the drivers have transferred from Windows to Citrix. The way to check this is to open the Citrix Management Console and under the Printer Management node click on the drivers section. Then you need to select the server from the drop down menu at the top. A list of drivers will be displayed. Check that the driver name is spelt exactly the same as on the client device. Citrix is very sensitive about this, case sensitivity or an extra space at the end of the name can be the result of all your problems. If they are different then you will need to download and install the correct driver. If they are correct then try the following.

•    

  Restart the Citrix Print Manager service then right click the drivers icon in the CMC and select “Refresh Drivers”.

• Check your Citrix hotfixes from add/remove programs in control panel, lots of these fix printer issues. Download the latest ones here: http://support.citrix.com/hotfixes.jsp

Still having problems?
As I said at the start there are many problems about. Why not post a question on our support forum?