C# PrintDialog.PrinterSettings.CanDuplex Reports Wrongly

Question

I'm trying to setup some code to print to different trays on a photo copier depending on what the document is (different sizes, paper colours...). It is one particular type of copier so I am not too worried about the code working in other scenarios. I still want to show the print dialog, just with the settings having better defaults for each document.

I have managed to setup the majority of what I want using properties in

PrintDialog.PrinterSettings.

However on trying to set the duplexing using

PrintDialog.PrinterSettings.Duplex = System.Drawing.Printing.Duplex.Vertical;

It fails, remaining the same as it was before. If I check if duplex is supported using

PrintDialog.PrinterSettings.CanDuplex;

It returns false which is not the case I can change it on the dialog and it prints fine. Has anyone else had this problem? Is there a work around? Perhaps something involving COM (please be gentle not used interop code much)

It's a Gestetner 2212 copier and I believe the print server is a Windows Server 2008 machine.

Edit:

I found this link

http://bytes.com/topic/c-sharp/answers/238860-using-setprinter-c-set-duplex-option-print-prefs

Which seems to be a similar problem it seems to be some kind of problem related to using a networked printer and trying to set duplex. However the link doesn't post the solution it was emailed to them (I hate it when people do that). Anyone know how I can set the duplexing using COM interop code.

Answer 1

Seems network printers duplex property cannot be set in .NET code easily, even when it says it has changed the property it doesn't output correctly. There is a way to do it using com interop but it still requires modifying security levels for the printer so is more hassle than it is worth.