How do you print XPS files?

Question

My printer ran out of black toner and I didn’t have a spare, so I thought it’d be a good idea to “print” documents to .XPS files for now, then print them when the new toner arrives.

So, now I have my toner but I can’t work out how to print the files. I found this great post on Tim Barcz’s blog which seems to indicate I’m not alone: http://www.timbarcz.com/blog/HowToPrintXPSDocumentsEasyAs11a1aI233a45.aspx

I can open them and view them in IE, but if I try to print them it either ignores the command altogether or crashes.

I downloaded the XPS Essentials Pack from the Microsoft website and tried to install it, but it refuses to install and keeps crashing with a ten-page error message. Ironically, I would normally print this message out to deal with it.

My “solution” is to open the .XPS files in IE, then screenshot them and paste them into Paint Shop Pro so I can print them as graphics.

As Tim Barcz says in his post that I linked to:

“That’s it…simple. What I don’t get is why people are so afraid to embrace new technology?”

Answer 1

I have had no problems printing XPS docs from IE. The first thing that comes to mind is what OS are you running, what version of IE, are all service packs installed, etc?

Another option would be to copy the XPS files to a thumb drive (or send over the network) and print from another computer that does not have any issues.

Edit:

Follow up questions...Can you print non-XPS docs? Have you restarted the printer? Is your print spooler messed up?

I have had many instances where I could not print due to a bad print job clogging the spooler. Restart the spooler or restarting your PC usually takes care of this issue.

Answer 2

Windows XP SP3, IE6, all up to date AFAIK.

I use Firefox mostly, so haven't updated IE for ages. Maybe IE7 would be more successful.

The point was that XPS is meant to be some kind of PDF-killer, but the difference is that PDF just works, while XPS has been a disaster. I don't mind errors, but I want it to tell me what is wrong, not just say it didn't work, as I can see that from the lack of pages coming out of the printer.

Answer 3

Nope, all other printing related stuff is fine, and it still doesn't work after a cold restart this morning.

I just gave up in the end.

Answer 4

IE has an issue with printing XPS files to a network printer, is this a network printer?

Answer 5

I had big problems with the XPS essentials pack, too.

After a lot of research and debugging I found the installation of XPS to be damaged somehow, and just scrapped and reinstalled the whole computer.

Afterwards everything XPS did work like charm.

So my guess would be: your XPS installation is faulty. Fix: reinstall. Workaround: print from some other computer.

Answer 6

The short answer to printing XPS is to use the "Microsoft XPS Document Writer".

This 'printer' gets installed when you install Essentials Pack/XPS Viewer on your system. IMHO, it is better to install the former. Note that MS has upgraded the EP from RC to 1.0 sometime back. So, probably, the problem you have is one of using the older EP. Now, downloading and installing the newer EP (i.e. EP 1.0) doesn't work always. The safest bet in this case is to manually uninstall the EP RC Pack, and then install EP 1.0.

Also, remember that you'd probably have to uninstall/upgrade the installed .NET runtime (or reinstall it). Oh, and then there is MS Core XML Services 6.0 that is required for MS XPSDW (the printer I mentioned earlier, remember?) to work. However, a quick look back at MS's site (http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?familyid=993C0BCF-3BCF-4009-BE21-27E85E1857B1&displaylang=en#Requirements) tells us this is supported for upto XP SP2. Check with MS to know if SP3 is supported as well.

In case you manage to get around all this somehow, you'd want to view the output of the prints you fire. I have the IE-tab extension on my browser and I open all XPS files using this one. Recently, however, I've heard that Pagemark has come up with a ff plug-in for viewing XPS files. You might want to check it out (http://www.pagemarktechnology.com/home/xps-test.html).

And of course, check out Wikipedia (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/XML_Paper_Specification)!

Answer 7

My answer: anytime you need to resort to 'steps' to resolve an issue that normally 'just works' in any other format, you have by definition gone beyond 'just works' to that place where you need to do work to make something 'just work'.

Answer 8

How do I get rid of the xps document printer so I can print a document from the computer as I did before the xps document printer apeared?