No PrimoPDF window after printing

[PamZK]

I had no problems installing, however after printing a document it is sent directly to the spooler, the primo window never appears, and the printing ends without a pdf.
Help!
PamZK

[Douglas Saltsman]

What OS are you using?

Have you tried creating a printer manually and seeing if there is a primoport available?

[JimJ_57]

I am experiencing the same problem. I can install but when I try to use primoPDF to convert a word file to PDF all it does is send a print job to the printer I am using windows XP home addition and I am trying to convert a Word 97 file. Any suggestions?

[Douglas Saltsman]

Are you choosing "primopdf" as the printer to print to?

[JimJ_57]

Are you choosing "primopdf" as the printer to print to?

Yes! I did select primopdf as the printer, but all it will do is send a print job to the que. No splash screen and it does not create a PDF document from my word document. Any suggestions?

[PamZK]

:confused: It is listed as a printer under the control panel>printers. I can select it from the pull down when I am inside a document. It doesn't matter what software I use, it still doesn't work. My OS is Windows XP.

This is VERY frustrating.

PamZK

[Douglas Saltsman]

This most likely means that the port is not configured properly. Try creating a new printer and assigning the port as the primoport. Also check the configuration of the primoport to make sure that the paths are pointing back to the primopdf directory.

Best thing to do would be to uninstall, then log in as a local admin and reinstall.

[hybridwolf]

I too am having the same problem, I have tracked it down to a corrupt ghostscript file or registry entry that dosen't reside in the GS directory, but don't know how to fix it.


HOW I REACHED THIS CONCLUSION:

Primo was working untill one day it suddenly decided not to!

I have noticed that the PrimoPDF Splash screen now never appears but the spool files in C:\WINDOWS\system32\spool\PRINTERS\ also never dissapear (which they would after a sucessfull print) acting very similar to a print jam...

I then installed ghostscript and a number of other PDF writers that also use Ghostscript and found I had the same result, none of them worked, I tried re-installing ghostscript in various directories and with various versions, none of them worked...

As no program appears to be able to use any version of ghostscript I conclude it must be either:
1. A Corrupt registry setting.
2. A Corrupt file if the windows directory.
3. A Corrupt file if the windows\system directory.



If anyone knows any more please post back so I can fix it, maybee someone knows which system files I would need to manually replace or which registry settings to change...
(This is an obscure hint to the Support Team - HINT!, HINT!)


Hybrid

UPDATE...
I have tried manually deleting all Ghostscript files and registry entries with no luck, I guess it must be a windows component that Ghostscript uses that is causing the problem...

[Douglas Saltsman]

This tells me that primopdf isn't being called at all. There should be a primopdf.ini in your windows folder. That INI file has the paths that are sent to Primorun.exe and should contain the correct paths to primorun.exe Check this ini file for paths that may have been changed due to different environment variables from different users.

[oharrowk]

I'm not sure if this is the same problem as some of you have described or not, but I have had a similar issue with the splash screen not showing up when I tried to print. My problem was resolved after I realized that another user had logged in but never logged off of the system (WinXP's fast user switching). Once I logged into their account there was the splash screen. I've been able to replicate this problem several times, so if you are using XP, make sure you are the only user logged in.

[oharrowk]

Wow, after doing some more testing with the problem I had, I have found some pretty disturbing security issues with primoPDF.

(this occured under Windows XP Pro with fast user switching enabled)

To update my earlier post, if someone else is logged on to a WinXP system other than you and their name appears before yours on the "Welcome" screen, the primoPDF window will open in the other users account when you try to print to pdf. If the other user's name is after yours on the welcome screen, the primoPDF screen will appear as normal.

NOW, for the serious security problems with this. I was printing from an administrator account. After replicating this problem again with a user who is listed before me on the welcome screen, I was able to browse an administrator account under a plain user's account via the primoPDF output location window's browse feature. It didn't stop there. I was also able to open files by right-clicking on them and choosing "open". So, if I didn't know about this little problem and had walked away from the computer, the other user could have returned and viewed any of my files they wished to view because the program allowed access via my login credentials but under the other user's standard user account. :mad:

This is a great program, but I REALLY think this little security SNAFU should be addressed soon. ;)

[Chipper]

I found the following PrimoPDF.ini on two systems. One works properly, one doesn't. Both are Win XP Pro.

[General]
Description=PrimoPDF, brought you by activePDF,Inc.
Command=C:\Program Files\ActivePDF\PrimoPDF\primorun.exe
Arguments=C:\Program Files\ActivePDF\PrimoPDF\primopdf.exe
ShowWindow=2
RunAsUser=1
Delay=300
LogUse=0
LogDebug=0
PrinterError=0
Output=0

Now what?

[Douglas Saltsman]

Wow, after doing some more testing with the problem I had, I have found some pretty disturbing security issues with primoPDF.

(this occured under Windows XP Pro with fast user switching enabled)

To update my earlier post, if someone else is logged on to a WinXP system other than you and their name appears before yours on the "Welcome" screen, the primoPDF window will open in the other users account when you try to print to pdf. If the other user's name is after yours on the welcome screen, the primoPDF screen will appear as normal.

NOW, for the serious security problems with this. I was printing from an administrator account. After replicating this problem again with a user who is listed before me on the welcome screen, I was able to browse an administrator account under a plain user's account via the primoPDF output location window's browse feature. It didn't stop there. I was also able to open files by right-clicking on them and choosing "open". So, if I didn't know about this little problem and had walked away from the computer, the other user could have returned and viewed any of my files they wished to view because the program allowed access via my login credentials but under the other user's standard user account. :mad:

This is a great program, but I REALLY think this little security SNAFU should be addressed soon. ;)

There's really no way around this.

In order to Call a CoCreateAsUser to spawn child processes you need to grab a security token from the logged on user. Windows Fast user switching is what is causing the problem with the environment variables and is the reason that the splash screen is appearing on the other users profile. There's no way for us to use the functionality we need to without spawning processes as the logged in user, nor would it be fair or expected of us to shut down other user accounts.

If you can imagine a way around this I'd consider incorporating it, however fast user switching seems to be the root here.

[Douglas Saltsman]

I found the following PrimoPDF.ini on two systems. One works properly, one doesn't. Both are Win XP Pro.

[General]
Description=PrimoPDF, brought you by activePDF,Inc.
Command=C:\Program Files\ActivePDF\PrimoPDF\primorun.exe
Arguments=C:\Program Files\ActivePDF\PrimoPDF\primopdf.exe
ShowWindow=2
RunAsUser=1
Delay=300
LogUse=0
LogDebug=0
PrinterError=0
Output=0

Now what?


Just need to make sure those are both there. Next thing for you to look for would be the ports available when you install a printer. You should verify that both of those paths (in the INI point to valid executables) also you should notice in your port configuration (for the primo port) that it points to the same files. That should be about it.

[samtsang]

I have th same problem on PrimoPDF 4.0. When I print a word file to PrimoPDF, I see the primopdf printer popup then nothing happening. Then I found out that Primopdf is working fine if I login as local administrator account, I can create pdf without any problem. However, When I login as user account, I get this problem. Then I think that may be user permission problem. The first thing I have tried is to grant users group to have modify rights permission, no need Full rights permission to c:\windows\temp folder. Then the problem resolved. I hope this can help for somebody.