Partial beer print horror as Microsoft's printer bug fix, er, doesn't
- Reference: 1616094845
- News link: https://www.theregister.co.uk/2021/03/18/windows_printer_still_broken/
- Source link:
As a reminder, a fresh security update dropped from Microsoft's Windows Update orifice last week [1]that left some Windows 10 users unable to print . Worse, a screen of deathly blue was flashed when a printing operation was attempted – a step up from the error message seen after last year's mishap.
[2]
With impressive speed, [3]Microsoft hurried out an out-of-band optional patch to deal with the affected Windows 10 versions: KB5001567 for Windows 10 2004 and 20H2; KB5001566 for Windows 10 1909; KB5001568 for 1809 and KB5001565 for 1803.
Another Windows 10 patch that breaks printers ups ante to full-on Blue Screen of Death [4]READ MORE
[5]
Sadly, with impressive speed did not come impressive quality. A glance at the support page for [6]KB5001567 indicates that all is not well in the printing department for Windows 10 users.
"You might get unexpected results when printing from some apps," admitted Microsoft. Not a blue screen of death, but formatting problems, blank labels "from some apps or to some printers" and "elements of the document might print as solid black/color boxes or might be missing, including barcodes, QR codes, and graphics elements, such as logos."
So, while your computer might not freeze when printing, what comes out of the printer for affected users might still be absolute garbage.
The Register reader who originally reported the problem to us confirmed the issue and told us that as well as BSODing systems, some drivers were leaving blocks of whitespace.
"The BSOD seems fixed," he said, "but white space is still there. So KB5001567 only half fixes the problem."
One might almost call it "half-arsed", perhaps?
"It also seems to affect how you print," he added, "so printing from some applications is fine whereas right-clicking the same JPG and choosing 'Print...' fails..."
The concerned Citizen illustrated the problem below. On the left, the image was printed by an app. On the right, it was done via right-click and, well, you can see the carnage for yourself.
[7]
Click to enlarge
The horror.
Similar complaints have been made [8]by other users . (About printing, rather than missing beer.)
The Register has contacted Microsoft for an explanation of the latest set of problems, and will update should the company respond.
In the meantime, please join us for a reworking of an old favourite:
[9]
"There was a tech company that put out a fix,
I don't why... they put out the fix,
Perhaps it stic..." - or maybe not. ®
Get our [10]Tech Resources
[1] https://www.theregister.com/2021/03/11/printer_problems_windows_10/
[2] https://pubads.g.doubleclick.net/gampad/jump?co=1&iu=/6978/reg_software/front&sz=300x50%7C300x100%7C300x250%7C300x251%7C300x252%7C300x600%7C300x601&tile=2&c=2YFPbjG-Lq7ns@bD13koF6AAAAFY&t=ct%3Dns%26unitnum%3D2%26raptor%3Dcondor%26pos%3Dtop%26test%3D0
[3] https://www.theregister.com/2021/03/16/microsoft_printer_fix/
[4] https://www.theregister.com/2021/03/11/printer_problems_windows_10/
[5] https://pubads.g.doubleclick.net/gampad/jump?co=1&iu=/6978/reg_software/front&sz=300x50%7C300x100%7C300x250%7C300x251%7C300x252%7C300x600%7C300x601&tile=3&c=33YFPbjG-Lq7ns@bD13koF6AAAAFY&t=ct%3Dns%26unitnum%3D3%26raptor%3Deagle%26pos%3Dmid%26test%3D0
[6] https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/topic/march-15-2021-kb5001567-os-builds-19041-868-and-19042-868-out-of-band-6e0844a2-7551-4b2d-9c4b-4274a5949bf3
[7] https://regmedia.co.uk/2021/03/18/beer_print.jpg
[8] https://borncity.com/win/2021/03/17/windows-10-weiterhin-probleme-mit-der-druckausgabe-mrz-2021/
[9] https://pubads.g.doubleclick.net/gampad/jump?co=1&iu=/6978/reg_software/front&sz=300x50%7C300x100%7C300x250%7C300x251%7C300x252%7C300x600%7C300x601&tile=4&c=44YFPbjG-Lq7ns@bD13koF6AAAAFY&t=ct%3Dns%26unitnum%3D4%26raptor%3Dfalcon%26pos%3Dmid%26test%3D0
[10] https://whitepapers.theregister.com/
I'm sorry
Laughing. Can't type
This is getting like
the credits to "Holy grail"
"The people responsible for the subtitles after the first lot were fired, have been fired"
Move Fast and Break Things,
other people's things that is. It seems that MS does not have any printers to test code on. Drop yours off at the Redmond HQ so they can test future patches on an actual rather than a simulated printer.
Re: Move Fast and Break Things,
It also makes you wonder, at least for me, if the problems are due to the printer manufacturers using "optimized" shortcuts through the API code, in order to claim faster print speeds for example.
The original patch was for a security concern. Why should a security patch break printers, and only certain ones?? It should make you think...
For shame, Richard
I was expecting an "Epic F-Ale" pun.
Oh well. Be of stout heart, printing never gose well. It'll get fixed eventually, probably there's a fix already on the Windows In-cider ring.
Is the glass
Half full, half empty or half missing?
Re: Is the glass
Well as a large chunk of it's missing, it's going to be entirely empty within a moment of the picture being printed. Beer everywhere and sharp glass edges. Thanks, Microsoft.
Sing along!
99 little bugs in the code
99 little bugs in the code
99 little bugs in the code
Take one down, patch it 'round!
117 little bugs in the code
After reading that article a few weeks ago about how Microsoft patched windows and applications with a whole raft of bodges to suit their ISV's and their own errors, I can only say they deserve absolutely everything they suffer from.
What a bunch of morons.
Ah yes
I've got this bug now. Thanks Microsoft - another skilled and professional job done with due care and attention.
Specifically, right clicking and printing using the crappy useless built in Microsoft default print utility produced this effect.
Not something I'd normally do, to be honest, as the "app" is right down at the bottom of Microsoft's shittiest.
It's truly bizarre. Roughly the central third of the image remained blank.
Well beyond my amateur coders' level of understanding.
i.e. Somehow an update to a failed update interacts with Microsoft's own resident printing software to make it in some way delete or divert the print data corresponding to middle third of an image.
(Printed same image from within Irfanview to check and it was perfect)
Beer because above comment may be a "Hold my..." comment.
"right-clicking the same JPG and choosing 'Print...' fails"
Which application is invoked to print from the contextual menu? It's a long time I don't print that way, for several reasons. It should be the default application registered for that file type -maybe something wrong within the UWP stack?