Here's Microsoft's Fix For Printing-Induced Blue Screens After Its Patch Tuesday Fail
Last week, Microsoft pumped out Windows OS builds 19041.867 and 19042.867 in typical Patch Tuesday fashion. This was a minor security update that only had a couple of highlights, but it also had another problem lurking within. When users attempted to use specific printers in some apps, they would receive a blue screen (BSOD) with an “APC_INDEX_MISMATCH.” While there is no patch for this problem yet, Microsoft has published a workaround that we show below.
According to Microsoft, the APC_INDEX_MISMATCH issue only seemed to affect “a subset of Type 3 printer drivers and does not affect printer drivers that are Type 4.” Basically, a type 3 driver makes it so print jobs are processed on the client and are provided by the printer manufacturer it seems. On the other hand, type 4 drivers are more or less generic as the print jobs are processed on the server, so only said server needs the driver. If you want to find out what kind of print drivers you have, you can follow the steps from Microsoft below:
- Press the Windows key+r or select Start and type run and select it.
- Type printmanagement.msc and press enter or select the OK button.
- If Print Management opens, continue to step 4. If you receive the error, Windows can not find 'printmanagement.msc'. then select Start and type manage optional features and select it. Select Add a Feature and type print, select the check box next to Print Management Console and select install. You will now need to start at step 1 again.
- Expand Print Servers, expand your computer's name, and select Printers.
- You can now see the Driver Type for each of your installed printer drivers.
In any case, if you are encountering a blue-screen with the error we listed, follow Microsoft’s video above with the following commands:
- rundll32 printui.dll,PrintUIEntry /Xg /n “KX driver for Universal printing”
- rundll32 printui.dll,PrintUIEntry /Xs /n "KX driver for Universal printing" attributes +direct
- NOTE: Users will need to replace "KX driver for Universal printing" with the name of their printer, as shown in the video
This issue seemed to affect several Windows client and server versions, so Microsoft is likely trying to get out an actual fix as soon as possible. As it stands, the company reports it is “working on a resolution and estimate a solution will be available in the coming week.” Hopefully, we will find out more soon, but the workaround should be fine in the meantime. In any case, did you run into this issue at all? Let us know in the comments below if so and if the fix worked for you.
