Question : Slow Windows 2003 Print Server

We recently migrated to a new print server. I installed everything manually and shared the printers out with the same names as they were on the old print server, trying to make the transition as seamless as possible. I took down the old server, renamed the new one to have the old one's name, and the client workstations picked up the new server, as intended.

However, for reasons unbeknownst to me, this new "faster" server is behaving like a slower machine from the client side of things. While working directly on the server, it is as quick as expected, but when on a workstation, choosing Print from any program causes program lockups or a 30 second - 1 minute long period where the program just hangs while the list of printers appears within the program. Or, it might hang on a "Retrieving Printer Status..." message. This seems to happen on the user's first print of the day, and gets better (less laggy) from thereon after, though it still will happen throughout the day.

I've assigned the server as having a print server role, and it is a member server (not domain controller) within our domain and is completely up to date, as far as Windows updates go. Any ideas what might be causing this and/or how I can fix it?

Answer : Slow Windows 2003 Print Server

If you still have the old server available, download this tool.

http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?familyid=9b9f2925-cbc9-44da-b2c9-ffdbc46b0b17&displaylang=en

Here is a little more info on it:
http://www.microsoft.com/windowsserver2003/techinfo/overview/printmigrator3.1.mspx

It takes an snap shot of all your printers and saves it to a file that can later be recreated on another server.

Once you recreated on the new server, test to see if the printing speed is at all affected. If all works well, delete all the printers on the new server, delete any residual printer drivers and software that remain on the new server. Then recreate the image on the new server.

Sounds a little confusing, but read up on this tool. I used it many times, and it is especially important for us in our 30 printer environment. Use it in the future for any printer moving needs.