PrintNightmare “Un-Fix”

Quick tricks to “un-fix” PrintNightmare changes to Windows to make certain older printers work. Don’t do this unless there is not a newer driver available for your device.

Symptoms:

  • When adding a printer that is shared from a Windows 10 or Windows 11 computer (host machine) to another Windows 10 or 11 computer (guest machine) by means of the host machine’s UNC path, you may receive: Windows cannot connect to the printer. Access is denied

Cause:

Changes to Windows to secure vulnerabilities in the printing subsystem.

Fixes:

  • Allow Guest Access on both machines
    • Disable Password Protected Sharing on both “host” and “client” machines.
      • Control Panel -> Network and Sharing Center
      • “Change advances sharing settings” at left
      • Under “All Networks” section, select “Turn off password protected sharing”
    • Enable Guest account on both “host” and “client” machines.
  • Set Group Policies on Host PC
    • Run gpedit.msc
    • Go to Computer Configuration > Administrative Templates > Printers
    • Select “Configure RPC connection settings”
    • Select “RPC over Named Pipes” in the top drop-down, and click Apply.
  • Set Registry Policies on Host PC
    • Go to HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Policies\Microsoft\Windows NT\Printers\RPC
      • Add or set the following dword-32 bit values
        • “RpcUseNamedPipeProtocol“=dword:00000001
        • “RpcProtocols“=dword:00000007
        • “ForceKerberosForRpc“=dword:00000001
      • You may also need to add the following dword-32 bit values, but the Group Policy step above should have done this for you already
        • “RpcOverTCP”=dword:00000000
        • “RpcOverNamedPipes”=dword:00000001
    • Go to HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\System\CurrentControlSet\Control\Print
      • Add or set the following dword-32 bit value
        • “RpcAuthnLevelPrivacyEnabled“=dword:00000000
  • Restart Print Spooler Service on the Host PC
  • Try adding the printer to the Guest PC using the normal method.