Users can't print from Notepad or IE on Windows 2000 Professional workstations

Question

When users try to print, they get an error saying "An error occurred during this operation"

Symptoms

N/A

Cause

This problem is caused by a registry setting that is set by configuring the:

"Remove folders from 'settings' on Start Menu"

in Ranger Profiles. The problem is caused by the operation of Windows 2000 policies, and is not unique to Ranger.

Resolution

Instructions

Enabling this option removes the sub folders from the "Settings" option in the Start Menu. This is typically removed to stop users seeing and gaining access to the "Control Panel", "Network and Dial up connections" and "Printers" configuration options.

However, with this option removed, Windows 2000 users cannot access the standard "Printers" page displayed via FilePrint in applications:

Notepad will report an error saying "An error occurred during this operation".

Internet Explorer also reports an error dialog that says
"Printing Error: An error occurred during this operation"

To resolve the problem, remove the tick from the policy setting. Since this will show the settings menu, it will be necessary to protect its contents by other methods.

Ie. Add an "anywhere" title check for "Network and Dial-up Connections"
Add an exact match title check for "Add Printer Wizard"
Add an exact match title check for "Taskbar and Start Menu Properties"

Testing

Try to print after applying the resolution.