What is going on with Microsoft Print to PDF in Win 11 24H2

SonicMojo · Tuesday at 12:17 PM

Just upgraded to 24H2 over the weekend and for the most part - it was successful - but I now that I am diving into a typical day - slowly but surely I am coming across some MAJOR issues - like one that I would have thought would be well worked out by now in Win 11 - MS Print to PDF.

Like many others I have been reading about - I just got stung with the 0kb PDF file result - right in the middle of really needing this to work today

I went deep here for over 30 minutes with practically everything I know about the printing subsystems - will no luck.

Is this thing working for anyone out there? For the record - most of my PDF creation comes from Word and OneNote - and I should mention Office 365 IS brand new to this build and may also be playing a role.

In my prior Windows 10 22H2 build - which was bulletproof for the better part of 4 years - I was using Office 2019 Pro Plus for the duration and Print to PDF was a solid as it possibly could be.

Hoping someone out there has something I have not yet tried - because this thing is utterly broken.

S

bobkn · Tuesday at 12:28 PM

Works for me. But I get "Save as PDF" rather than "Print to PDF".

SonicMojo · Tuesday at 12:37 PM

bobkn said:
Works for me. But I get "Save as PDF" rather than "Print to PDF".

Can you expand on where you see this and in what app?

For example - if I hit Print in OneNote (AND MS Print to PDF is the default) - I get this:

Hitting Print here gives me this:

Looks normal - except this results in not only a zero-byte PDF file:

But the actual PDF print job get stuck in the print spooler for the MS Print to PDF "device":

The only option is to dump the print queue - which does nothing positive.

This is a complete dead end.

S

IanMosley · Tuesday at 1:00 PM

SonicMojo said:
Hoping someone out there has something I have not yet tried - because this thing is utterly broken.

This tool - PDF24 Creator- should be of more use to you

Berton · Tuesday at 1:17 PM

Not having any issue with Microsoft Print to PDF, use it daily for saving Web content instead of saving a Web page, complete. I save only the relevant pages avoiding the additional 'stuff' of other pages.

SonicMojo · Tuesday at 1:26 PM

Berton said:
Not having any issue with Microsoft Print to PDF, use it daily for saving Web content instead of saving a Web page, complete. I save only the relevant pages avoiding the additional 'stuff' of other pages.

View attachment 125020

Are you running Win 11 24H2?

Just tried to print this thread from Edge to MS Print to PDF and it too was a bust. AND - I installed CutePDF and it worked perfectly.

Whatever is going on here - this thing is hopelessly broken.

S

Berton · Tuesday at 1:28 PM

SonicMojo said:
Are you running Win 11 24H2?

Just tried to print this thread from Edge to MS Print to PDF and it too was a bust. Seems that nothing can print to this thing here.

S

Yes, have been for a couple months on 2 Desktops and 4 Notebooks, since 12/2/2024.

Forgot to mention, it works on either Edge or Firefox, just a bit of difference in accessing the Print command. Edge has it right-click of a page, Firefox has it on the Menu bar.

bobkn · Tuesday at 1:30 PM

SonicMojo said:
Can you expand on where you see this and in what app?

(snip)

I spoke too soon.

Depending on what I'm printing from, I get "Save to PDF" or "Microsoft Print to PDF". (Those may not be the only versions.)

Both work for me.

krism · Tuesday at 1:48 PM

I got a 47kb file
works perfectly for me.

KevTech · Tuesday at 1:48 PM

Tested in Edge and Firefox both worked just fine with Microsoft Print to PDF.
Could print a test page which will tell if you Microsoft Print to PDF is installed correctly.

Setting > Bluetooth & devices > Printers & scanners > Microsoft Print to PDF > Print test page

SonicMojo · Tuesday at 1:54 PM

krism said:
I got a 47kb file
works perfectly for me.
View attachment 125043 View attachment 125045 View attachment 125046

Just did the same test - from notepad. Job goes thru perfectly. But still get a 0KB PDF file.

S

SonicMojo · Tuesday at 1:55 PM

KevTech said:
Tested in Edge and Firefox both worked just fine with Microsoft Print to PDF.
Could print a test page which will tell if you Microsoft Print to PDF is installed correctly.

Setting > Bluetooth & devices > Printers & scanners > Microsoft Print to PDF > Print test page

Test page goes thru perfectly = just 0KB result.

S

krism · Tuesday at 1:56 PM

use a different test page please.

SonicMojo · Tuesday at 1:57 PM

krism said:
use a different test page please.

Not sure I understand this statement...

S

krism · Tuesday at 2:02 PM

You are using a particular page to test this. pick a different text page and try that, or, click on notepad, type in some stuff, SAVE IT SOMEWHERE, and then try to print it to pdf.

KevTech · Tuesday at 2:04 PM

Test page should create a PDF that says it is installed correctly.

SonicMojo · Tuesday at 2:43 PM

krism said:
You are using a particular page to test this. pick a different text page and try that, or, click on notepad, type in some stuff, SAVE IT SOMEWHERE, and then try to print it to pdf.

Have done this with every test. New file. Save As. Name file. Save File. Open file. Print File. 0kb PDF. All apps. All files.

S

KevTech · Tuesday at 3:01 PM

Try disable and enable the feature which will reinstall the files.

Type in search box "turn Windows features on or off"

Click on the result.

Scroll down to Microsoft Print to PDF and uncheck it then restart PC.

After restart go back to the same place and check mark Microsoft Print to PDF.

Restart PC then test.

SonicMojo · Tuesday at 3:15 PM

KevTech said:
Try disable and enable the feature which will reinstall the files.

Type in search box "turn Windows features on or off"

Click on the result.

View attachment 125082

Scroll down to Microsoft Print to PDF and uncheck it then restart PC.

After restart go back to the same place and check mark Microsoft Print to PDF.

Restart PC then test.

No change. Option was correctly removed. Restart. Reintroduce feature. No change - 0KB PDF file.

S

KevTech · Tuesday at 3:28 PM

Open Administrator command prompt.

Hit enter after each line entered.

Code:

net stop spooler

dism /Online /Disable-Feature /FeatureName:"Printing-PrintToPDFServices-Features" /NoRestart

dism /Online /Enable-Feature /FeatureName:"Printing-PrintToPDFServices-Features" /NoRestart

net start spooler

What is going on with Microsoft Print to PDF in Win 11 24H2

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