Resources for solving printing problems in Windows XP

Introduction

This article describes how to use the printing troubles included in the Help and Support Center of Microsoft Windows XP, along with a list of online support services that may be helpful in troubleshooting printing problems.

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More Information

Printing troubleshooting includes step-by-step instructions for troubleshooting the following printing problems in Windows XP: • Local printer cannot be installed.

• Printed photos are of poor quality.

• The document was not printed at all.

• Some features that came with your printer are not available.

• The printed text or graphics are incomplete.

• The font is missing or different from what is shown on the screen.

• The print speed is unusually slow.

• You cannot print from an MS-DOS-based program or an MS-DOS command prompt.

• You will receive the following error message:

The printer driver is not compatible with a policy enabled on your computer that blocks Windows NT 4.0 or Windows 2000 kernel-mode drivers.

How to Start Printing Troubleshooting

If you are already familiar with Windows XP Help and Support Center, click here (hcp://help/tshoot/tsprint.htm) to automatically start printing Troubleshooting.

If you are not yet familiar with the Help and Support Center for Windows XP, we recommend that you use the following steps to initiate a print troubleshooting (to help you become familiar with this feature): 1. Click Start. Then click Help and Support.

2. Under "Choose a Help Topic," click "Resolve Issues."

3. In the left pane, click Print Question.

4. In the right pane, click Print Troubleshooter.

How to use the print troubleshooter

1. Click the option that describes the problem that occurred, and then click Next.

2. Repeat step 1 until the problem is resolved or you have reached the final step of troubleshooting. Please note that you can click "Previous" to repeat the previous step at any time, or you can click "Back to Home" to start the printing troubleshooting again.