Printer Name is Invalid

[Mydus]

Hello,

At my current company we moved buildings and changed how our network plotters were configured on our machines. This caused problems since I modified all of our PC3 files to match the new plotters but now all of our standard drawings reference the old plotters in their default *model* page setup. Since all users have their PC3 folder pointed to the same directory I had used this script to get around the error when plotting saying that the PC3 or plotter couldn't be found and it would default to none(ran from startup suite). Maybe I'm wrong but I assumed that DWG to PDF would be the best plotter since it's installed with AutoCAD and not windows/printer server. 

(command)
(command "-plot" "n" "Model" "" "DWG To PDF.pc3" "n" "y" "n")
(princ)

This worked great for a few weeks but now a few users are getting the error "Printer name is invalid" whenever this script is ran. However, each user can still manually print to this plotter using that PC3 even when just mimicking the script manually from the command line. So I don't think there is any issues with the PC3, I even pulled an old version from my backups that has always worked in the past and same issue.

I'm open to ideas in regard to better scripts or a fix to my PC3. Trust me I would love to batch modify the default page setups on the entire file store but that's not gonna fly with my superiors so single drawing Lisp routines are what I'm stuck with for now.

[paullimapa]

I would double check to make sure there isn’t a duplicate DWG to PDF.pc3 file saved in the same folder as the current opened dwg

[dmfrazier]

"This worked great for a few weeks but now a few users are getting the error "Printer name is invalid" whenever this script is ran."

Is there anything you can think of that is different with those users now compared to before?

When you run thru the script manually on the machines where the script fails, are the prompts in line with the script (or are there different, fewer or more prompts)?

Is everyone using the same version of AutoCAD?

[Mydus]

I looked through the folders and couldn't find any duplicates that would have been found by Autocad, in fact the error actually pops up on startup before a drawing is ever opened. I did make sure everything in the PC3 looked correct and was spelled right and didn't see anything amiss.

thanks for your reply.

[Mydus]

There's been no changes at all from what I can find, the PC3 hasn't changed and they're still opening the same drawings. When I run the script manually I'm just typing verbatim what's in the command in the script and it all runs the same. I have ran it after the script ran automatically and with the script disabled. The support section for this error seems to point heavily at a PC3 issue but I feel like I've done pretty well at ruling that out. Not sure if the script is somehow running before drivers are active or what. The users heidi driver file also seems to be fine and hasn't changed since before the script was working.


Also I don't get this issue with what seems to be an identical setup plotter config wise, although a few other users do. And I verified we have the exact same version installed. 2024 mechanical 28.0.91.0 / 2024.0.2

[dmfrazier]

Compare this information on a "failing" machine with a "succeeding" machine:

A difference here might explain the issue.

Even if you see no differences, on the "failing" machine, delete the PC3 and re-create it.

[Mydus]

All users including myself have their printer configuration search path pointing to the same folder using the same DWG to PDF.pc3 along with the same PMP file. Is there any overrides for PC3 files? As in could AutoCAD instead be pulling from its own config even if the Config path is set? All of our other PC3 files show up so I assume not, and system printers are disabled in the app settings.

[dmfrazier]

"...could AutoCAD instead be pulling from its own config even if the Config path is set?"

As you probably know, the Printer Config Support Path in Options is what determines where AutoCAD looks for PC3 files. Apart from that one, I don't know what kind of "its own config" there might be for AutoCAD to use.

What kind of folder is the PC3 shard on?

If the PC3 location is on a network share, is it possible that users occasionally get disconnected from the network? Are these users remote?

[Mydus]

Gotcha, that's what I figured but wanted to make sure I wasn't missing something. Yeah it's all on a file share but there has not been any network issues, we're all hardwired to the server.

[dmfrazier]

Can you show a screenshot of the Printer Config Search Path?

I suspect that for some users (maybe all) there are "moments" when AutoCAD (via the OS - Windows, I assume) doesn't "see" the shared network folder.

You can test this theory by selecting one of the users experiencing script failures and switching their Plotter Config Path to a local folder (e.g. the default folder) containing the same PC3 files and giving it a reasonable amount of time to "fail."

[paullimapa]

if you temporarily moved that pc3 elsewhere & start autocad again does the error disappear at startup?