Firefox printing problem
Recently I've noticed that I am unable to print from Firefox. It doesn't matter if I print to a PDF or a real printer: I get the same error every time: "Print Preview Error, An error occurred while printing." If I do attempt to print to a PDF, the result is a malformed file that throws a sharing violation if I attempt to view it before closing Firefox.
I have tried all the various reset printer config settings on the help page Mozilla printer help , and even tried reinstalling FF. Everything else is OK.
Suggestions are welcome.
All Replies (14)
What virus software are you running? Can you disable it and try again? If that doesn't work, try Firefox in safe mode. Hold the shift key, then click on Firefox and then click Start in Safe Mode.
Thanks for responding.
I use just Windows AV.
Disabling that doesn't help.
Running safe mode does get rid of the error message, but when printing to PDF still produces files that are locked until FF closes, and afterwards are corrupt.
Try to set print.tab_modal.enabled on the about:config page to revert to the old dialog to see if that works better.
You can open the about:config page via the location/address bar. You can click the button to "Accept the Risk and Continue".
It was set to true. I changed it to false.
Same problem.
Does Firefox keep a log somewhere? I tried Windows Event Viewer but it doesn't appear to log any issues.
Can you log into another windows account. Open Firefox, but do not log into the Firefox account and try again.
Good call. Printing works OK on a freshly created local user account.
By the way, prior to that I had uninstalled FF completely, then reinstalled. With a fresh profile printing was still a no-go. I have since pointed FF back to the original profile.
I guess this turns it into a Windows issue, though FF is the only program I know of that has a problem.
Sorry to continue this; but while yes, printing does work if I use a fresh user account, that doesn't help me make it work with my normal user account.
Clearly it must be SOMETHING in my user account settings, but I would appreciate some advice on where/how to look.
Any ideas?
This is something the developers should look into. Can you report this over on https://bugzilla.mozilla.org/ where they can help investigate more deeply?
I don't think it's a bug if it works in another account. drmdemmer, you should log into the 2nd account where it's working and log into your Firefox account and let all your add-ons sync and try again. If it still works in the 2nd account while logged into your Firefox account, then you're going to have to compare what's running in your main account that's not running in your 2nd account to find what could be causing the issue.
I would run the below tools from Microsoft to see what's running and to see what programs are started when you logon.
Autoruns for Windows v13.98 https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/sysinternals/downloads/autoruns
Process Explorer v16.32 https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/sysinternals/downloads/process-explorer
May the Schwartz be with you. ;-))
Modified by jonzn4SUSE
I should provide some context. I'm the lead developer on Firefox's current print overhaul project. From our telemetry we're aware that some users are encountering errors preventing them from printing. We just don't know what has gone wrong. Whatever a user has in their current profile, it should not be causing an "An error occurred while printing" error. We consider that a bug and would very much like to figure out the issue(s) and fix them. It will require help from someone who is experiencing these errors though.
Thanks to both of you folks.
I did check out the utilities recommended by jonzn4SUSE. I was hoping to see some sign in the process list when the printer error occurred. No luck there.
Jonathan Watt: I will take you up on the bug report, then. At least there's nothing intermittent about the issue for me. Not much, but it's something.
Jonathan Watt: I should ask -- is there an existing bug you would prefer me to use? Or start up a new one?
Please start a new one. We may end up combining it with another bug at some point, but since there seem to be multiple different root causes. It's better to do the root cause analysis in a separate bug so we don't have multiple overlapping conversations with different bug reporters, which can get confusing. Thanks you!
I've been suffering from the same problem for several weeks. Though I didn't keep notes, it probably happened on the 86.0 upgrade. (BTW, I'm using Linux, Centos 7.x)
here's output of what goes wrong as shown in the browser console:
Uncaught (in promise)
Exception { name: "NS_ERROR_FAILURE", message: "Component returned failure code: 0x80004005 (NS_ERROR_FAILURE) [nsIPrinterList.systemDefaultPrinterName]", result: 2147500037, filename: "chrome://global/content/print.js", lineNumber: 903, columnNumber: 0, data: null, stack: "getPrintDestinations@chrome://global/content/print.js:903:32\nasync*init@chrome://global/content/print.js:230:22\nasync*@chrome://global/content/print.js:91:45\nEventListener.handleEvent*@chrome://global/content/print.js:88:10\n", location: XPCWrappedNative_NoHelper }here it is again with most of the folded items expanded. if you need to see some specific items in their expanded form, let me know.
Exception
columnNumber: 0
data: null
filename: "chrome://global/content/print.js"
lineNumber: 903
location: XPCWrappedNative_NoHelper
QueryInterface: QueryInterface()
length: 1
name: "QueryInterface"
<prototype>: ()
apply: function apply()
arguments:
bind: function bind()
call: function call()
caller:
constructor: function Function()
length: 0
name: ""
toSource: function toSource()
toString: function toString()
Symbol(Symbol.hasInstance): function Symbol.hasInstance()
<get arguments()>: function arguments()
<set arguments()>: function arguments()
<get caller()>: function caller()
<set caller()>: function caller()
<prototype>: Object { … }
asyncCaller: XPCWrappedNative_NoHelper { QueryInterface: QueryInterface(), filename:
, name:
, … }
asyncCause: null
caller: null
columnNumber: 32
filename: "chrome://global/content/print.js"
formattedStack: "getPrintDestinations@chrome://global/content/print.js:903:32\nasync*init@chrome://global/content/print.js:230:22\nasync*@chrome://global/content/print.js:91:45\nEventListener.handleEvent*@chrome://global/content/print.js:88:10\n"
lineNumber: 903
name: "getPrintDestinations"
nativeSavedFrame: SavedFrame { source: "chrome://global/content/print.js", sourceId: 1242, line: 903, … }
sourceId: 1242
sourceLine: ""
toString: function toString()
<get asyncCaller()>: function asyncCaller()
<get asyncCause()>: function asyncCause()
<get caller()>: function caller()
<get columnNumber()>: function columnNumber()
<get filename()>: function filename()
<get formattedStack()>: function formattedStack()
<get lineNumber()>: function lineNumber()
<get name()>: function name()
<get nativeSavedFrame()>: function nativeSavedFrame()
<get sourceId()>: function sourceId()
<get sourceLine()>: function sourceLine()
<prototype>: Object { … }
message: "Component returned failure code: 0x80004005 (NS_ERROR_FAILURE) [nsIPrinterList.systemDefaultPrinterName]"
name: "NS_ERROR_FAILURE"
result: 2147500037
stack: "getPrintDestinations@chrome://global/content/print.js:903:32\nasync*init@chrome://global/content/print.js:230:22\nasync*@chrome://global/content/print.js:91:45\nEventListener.handleEvent*@chrome://global/content/print.js:88:10\n"
<prototype>: ExceptionPrototype
columnNumber:
data:
filename:
lineNumber:
location:
message:
name:
result:
stack:
toString: function toString()
Symbol(Symbol.toStringTag): "Exception"
<get columnNumber()>: function columnNumber()
<get data()>: function data()
<get filename()>: function filename()
<get lineNumber()>: function lineNumber()
<get location()>: function location()
<get message()>: function message()
<get name()>: function name()
<get result()>: function result()
<get stack()>: function stack()
<set stack()>: function stack()
<prototype>: {…Modified by cor-el