Event ID 1103 — Remote Desktop Services Printer Redirection

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Applies To: Windows Server 2008 R2

Remote Desktop Services provides printer redirection, which routes printing jobs from a server to a printer that is attached to a client computer or to a shared printer that is available to the client computer. When a user establishes a remote session with an RD Session Host server, the redirected printer will be available to applications running in the remote session.

By default, an RD Session Host server that is running Windows Server 2008 or Windows Server 2008 R2 first tries to use the Remote Desktop Services Easy Print driver. If the client computer does not support this driver, the RD Session Host server looks for a matching printer driver installed on the RD Session Host server. You can either install a matching printer driver on the RD Session Host server, or you can create a custom printer mapping file.

Event Details

Product: Windows Operating System
ID: 1103
Source: Microsoft-Windows-TerminalServices-Printers
Version: 6.1
Symbolic Name: EVENT_NOTIFY_PRINTER_REDIRECTION_FAILED
Message: An internal communication error occurred. Redirected printing will no longer function for a single user session. Check the status of the Remote Desktop Device Redirector in the System folder of Device Manager.

Resolve

Enable the Remote Desktop Device Redirector Bus or fix Rdpdr issues

To resolve this issue, enable the Remote Desktop Device Redirector Bus. If you cannot enable the Remote Desktop Device Redirector Bus, replace the existing Rdpdr.sys file. If the problem persists, replace the RDPDR registry subkey.

To perform these tasks, refer to the following sections.

Enable the Remote Desktop Device Redirector Bus

To perform this procedure on the RD Session Host server, you must have membership in the local Administrators group, or you must have been delegated the appropriate authority.

To enable the Remote Desktop Device Redirector Bus on the RD Session Host server:

  1. On the RD Session Host server, open Device Manager. To open Device Manager, click Start, click Run, type devmgmt.msc, and then click OK.
  2. If the User Account Control dialog box appears, confirm that the action it displays is what you want, and then click Yes.
  3. Expand System devices.
  4. Right-click Remote Desktop Device Redirector Bus, and then click Properties.
  5. On the Driver tab, click Enable.
  6. Restart the computer so that the changes take effect.
  7. Start Device Manager, and then view the properties of the Remote Desktop Device Redirector Bus. In Device status, ensure that the message This device is working properly appears.

Replace the existing Rdpdr.sys file

If the Rdpdr.sys file is missing or corrupted, copy the Rdpdr.sys file from the Windows Server 2008 R2 installation media into the %systemroot%\system32\drivers folder on the RD Session Host server, where %systemroot% is the folder in which the operating system is installed. By default, this folder is located at c:\windows.

To perform this procedure on the RD Session Host server, you must have membership in the local Administrators group, or you must have been delegated the appropriate authority.

To copy the Rdpdr.sys file:

  1. Insert the installation media.
  2. On the RD Session Host server, click Start, click Run, type expand source destination, where source is the path to the file that you want to expand on the installation disk, and destination is the path to the location where you want to save the file, and then click OK.
  3. Restart the RD Session Host server.

Replace the RDPDR registry subkey

If copying the Rdpdr.sys file does not resolve the problem, the RDPDR registry subkey may be corrupted.

To resolve this issue, use either of the following methods.

To perform these procedures, you must have membership in the local Administrators group, or you must have been delegated the appropriate authority.

Method one

Replace the RDPDR registry subkey.

To replace the RDPDR registry subkey:

Caution:  Incorrectly editing the registry might severely damage your system. Before making changes to the registry, you should back up any valued data.

  1. On a working RD Session Host server, open Registry Editor. To open Registry Editor, click Start, click Run, type regedit, and then click OK.

  2. If the User Account Control dialog box appears, confirm that the action it displays is what you want, and then click Yes.

  3. Locate the HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Enum\Root\RDPDR registry subkey.

  4. Right-click RDPDR, click Export, and then save the .reg file. Copy the .reg file to the RD Session Host server that is having the problem.

  5. On the RD Session Host server that is having the problem, double-click the .reg file that you created in the previous step.

  6. If the User Account Control dialog box appears, confirm that the action it displays is what you want, and then click Yes.

  7. Click Yes, and then click OK.

  8. After the registry subkey is imported, start Device Manager, expand System devices, and then click Remote Desktop Device Redirector Bus.

  9. On the Action menu, click Scan for hardware changes.

  10. Right-click Remote Desktop Device Redirector Bus, and then click Properties. In Device status, make sure that the message This device is working properly appears.

    Note:  You might have to restart the RD Session Host server for the changes to take effect.

If this method does not work, uninstall and then reinstall the Remote Desktop Session Host role service.

Method two

Uninstall and then reinstall the Remote Desktop Session Host role service by using Server Manager. For more information about uninstalling and reinstalling the Remote Desktop Session Host role service, see the Remote Desktop Session Host Help in the Windows Server 2008 R2 Technical Library (https://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/?LinkId=177721).

Important:  If you uninstall and then reinstall the Remote Desktop Session Host role service, you may have to reinstall existing applications.

Verify

To verify that printer redirection is working properly, establish a remote session with the RD Session Host server and check that the redirected printer is available and is functioning as expected.

Remote Desktop Services Printer Redirection

Remote Desktop Services