printer problems in XP

**daveleau** · October 30th, 2002, 12:10 AM

One of my instructors today asked me about a printer problem he is having and I didn't have an answer. He knew very little info since he is not a techie, but this is the problem:

His friend's teenage daughter's XP system keeps losing the drivers that are installed. He would install the driver,t eh printer would work and after reboot the printer and all associated files would be gone. The original drivers and the DLed drivers both get lost. He said the drivers were XP compatible, but he couldn't remember the printer type...

lol

Does anyone know of any general problems that might cause the files to go missing? He said he'd search for the printer driver files, but they'd not be there after a reboot.

Thanks for any help
Dave

**EvilRick** · October 30th, 2002, 12:18 AM

I'll be the first to say... that is just bizarre.

Is he loading the drivers as "Administrator". Maybe he needs to try that to make sure the stick.

**daveleau** · October 30th, 2002, 12:29 AM

Thanks, I'll ask him how what his priveleges were.

I also thought that a virus might be a problem, but I have never heard of one that does something like that.

**originel** · October 30th, 2002, 12:32 AM

and i'll be the second to say... that is just bizarre.

i would think maybe priveledges like EvilRick said. also is it a USB or a Parallel printer? if it's USB, maybe the comp isn't recognizing the printer and just dumps the "unused" drivers (i know it's a stretch)

**Atomic Rooster** · October 30th, 2002, 12:34 AM

That's one of the strangest things I've ever heard. Here's an idea. Is she logged on as the administrator or primary user? I'm not sure how the whole user accounts thing works, but it's an idea.