Unable to load client print control from ASP.NET Website?

Question

The other day we installed SQL Server 2005 SP3 on our reporting server. Since that point our ASP.NET 3.5 website, which uses the Report Viewer web control, is giving the error message "Unable to load client print control" whenever someone tries to print.

The reports and printing work fine if we go to the Report Manager directly, it is only giving this problem through the ASP.Net site. It also works correctly when running the website from our local dev PCs, just not on the web servers.

We've tried upgrading to the Report Viewer version 9 on the web servers, as that's what we're running locally since we have VS2008 installed... but that didn't help.

What is causing this, and how do we fix it? I know there are methods to push the correct print control out, however most of the people who use this site are external customers so we cannot push a control out to them. We need the site's automatic download functionality to work.

Answer 1

That print control is activeX and it needs to be downloaded and installed on the client browser. On the systems that cannot print do they have enough privileges to install the activex control? If they don't then I would expect that they would get that error.

The following link gives some details about this problem: http://www.kodyaz.com/articles/client-side-printing-silent-deployment-of-rsclientPrint.aspx

In cases where the client cannot install the activex control you could create a "Problems Printing?" link with instructions about how to ask their IT dept about getting the control installed, etc.