Failed to access print parameters

Owned by Chris Price
Last updated: Nov 05, 2023
2 min read

Problem

You receive an error message stating "Unable to select Printer "Printer Name" - Failed to access print parameters" or there are no Printers available in the dropdown list.

Solution

This error indicates that one of the printers on the machine has a problem printer driver or permissions issues that is preventing us access to all the printer information or that the system has no "default" printer or there is a problem with the Windows WMI system. The way the Revit Print API works is that we ask it what printers are available on the machine, then we set the printer appropriate as per the format settings. However, if any of the printers on the system give us an error, the Revit Print API enters an error state and even if you aren't using that Printer, they all will fail with that message. Only a restart of Revit will clear the error.

The cause is unlikely to be one of the PDF Printers and will most likely be a Physical printer and not necessarily the printer you are trying to use.

Solution 1

First check to ensure the system has a "Default Printer".
In Windows 10/11 there is an option to "Allow Windows to manage my default printer".  If this is set then you have a default printer.  If not, ensure you manually set a default printer from the list.  If this isn't the issue the solution is to identify the problem printer driver by a systematic process of elimination.

Solution 2

  1. Remove 1 printer at a time from the PC (start with ones you don't use very often)

  2. Start Revit-->Xrev Transmit-->Settings-->Formats-->Modify Format-->Edit any Format
    (Opening the format dialog talks the Windows System to see what printersare available, typically it should error here if there is an issue with one of the printers on the machine).

    1. If there is no error, then the last printer you removed was the cause. If can stay removed, then great. If not, then investigate the Printer Permissions or try updating the Printer Driver.

    2. If there is an error, shutdown Revit and repeat steps 1 & 2 until you find the culprit.

Remember if your printers are created each time by a login script, then the problem printer may reappear.  So please work with your System Administrator to resolve the problem printer driver.

Solution 3

If this does not resolve the issue

This can be a result of problem with the Windows' WMI system which is what Transmit uses to query the system for printer information.  This can be resolved by working through the following article and recompiling the .mof files.

Unfortunately, this is quite a technical process and is best to have your IT team assist.