PrintNightmare is turning into an actual nightmare not only for Microsoft, but for IT admins as well. Although the Redmond tech giant keeps pushing out patches and claims that all PrintNightmare security holes are now plugged, after every few weeks or so, we learn that this is not really the case. What"s worse is that these updates sometimes also break printing for organizations with certain configurations. It appears that this has happened once again, as confirmed by Microsoft in a new advisory.
A recent Microsoft advisory spotted by WinFuture (via MSPoweruser) notes that August"s Patch Tuesday update containing KB5005033 is where the issue originates from. Systems with this update or later installed may have issues with printing, which include:
After installing KB5005033 or a later update, certain printers in some environments using Point and Print might receive a prompt saying, "Do you trust this printer" and requiring administrator credentials to install every time an app attempts to print to a print server or a print client connects to a print server. This is caused by a print driver on the print client and the print server using the same filename, but the server has a newer version of the file. When the print client connects to the print server, it finds a newer driver file and is prompted to update the drivers on the print client, but the file in the package it is offered for installation does not include the later file version.
Given that administrative credentials are required each time during printing, this effectively breaks the corporate printing process as you can"t expect an employee to get direct access to these credentials. The problem affects the following environments:
Client: Windows 10, version 21H1; Windows 10, version 20H2; Windows 10, version 2004; Windows 10, version 1909; Windows 10, version 1809; Windows 10 Enterprise LTSC 2019; Windows 10 Enterprise LTSC 2016; Windows 10, version 1607; Windows 10 Enterprise 2015 LTSB; Windows 8.1; Windows 7 SP1
Server: Windows Server 2022; Windows Server, version 20H2; Windows Server, version 2004; Windows Server, version 1909; Windows Server, version 1809; Windows Server 2019; Windows Server 2016; Windows Server 2012 R2; Windows Server 2012; Windows Server 2008 R2 SP1; Windows Server 2008 SP2
The resolution suggested by Microsoft is to ensure that the latest drivers are installed and that this version is the same both on client- and server-side. That said, the company has stated that if this workaround still does not patch the problem, an organization has no option but to contact the OEM of the printer. You can view more details about the issue in the FAQs here, but one thing is certain: The (Print)nightmare continues.