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Recurring print issues

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Issue: Users that we support, who are using firefox, are randomly unable to print. There is no discernible pattern as to when the issue is encountered and it persists until a tech goes into the browser, about:config, and toggles the print.print_via_parent setting. We have tried preemptively toggling the setting from True to False, but it doesn't prevent the error and we just end up toggling it again later, like flipping a breaker when it blows. We can resolve the symptom, but I'm hoping someone can help us ID the root so we can fix the problem for good.

Specs: The computers being affected are Dell E7470s running Windows 10 (64-bit). There aren't many users with specialized programs that might affect printing, and most users are not tech savvy enough to install browser add-ons.

What we've tried:

Does anyone have ideas as to what the root issue might be and how we can fully resolve it? Thanks.

Issue: Users that we support, who are using firefox, are randomly unable to print. There is no discernible pattern as to when the issue is encountered and it persists until a tech goes into the browser, about:config, and toggles the print.print_via_parent setting. We have tried preemptively toggling the setting from True to False, but it doesn't prevent the error and we just end up toggling it again later, like flipping a breaker when it blows. We can resolve the symptom, but I'm hoping someone can help us ID the root so we can fix the problem for good. Specs: The computers being affected are Dell E7470s running Windows 10 (64-bit). There aren't many users with specialized programs that might affect printing, and most users are not tech savvy enough to install browser add-ons. What we've tried: * Toggling the print.print_via_parent setting is the only successful thing we've tried so far but this doesn't really resolve the issue because it will resurface later. * all the steps here- https://support.mozilla.org/en-US/kb/fix-printing-problems-firefox * and all the steps here- http://kb.mozillazine.org/Problems_printing_web_pages Does anyone have ideas as to what the root issue might be and how we can fully resolve it? Thanks.

All Replies (2)

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print.print_via_parent / print_via_parent for search terms

That's a preference that I haven't seen before. Not in Firefox 45; appears in Firefox 57 - I don't currently have the "in-between" versions installed to see when it made its debut. And like the Bible, the Firefox source code is something a sane person only reads completely once; for me that was over 10 years ago. My guess it is related to e10s for multi-process windows.

I did search Mozilla documents a bit and got hits in these Bug reports.

https://bugzilla.mozilla.org/show_bug.cgi?id=1156742 https://bugzilla.mozilla.org/show_bug.cgi?id=1309205 https://bugzilla.mozilla.org/show_bug.cgi?id=1329274 https://bugzilla.mozilla.org/show_bug.cgi?id=1343813

Beyond the scope of this Firefox end users support forum. Maybe post a question here for developers to see (course it's Friday now): https://stackoverflow.com/questions/tagged/firefox+or+firefox-os+or+html5-apps

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There are some comments in this source file about what is different with printing via parent process vs. within the content process:

https://dxr.mozilla.org/mozilla-release/source/layout/printing/nsPrintEngine.cpp#582

But why it would work either way until it stops working is a mystery.