We have a WCF service that generates an Excel file off of a template and feeds it back to the client in a byte array. For some reason, we are getting an error when we try to do this:
sheet.PageSetup.CenterHeader = sheet.PageSetup.CenterHeader.Replace("[customerName]", customerName).Replace("[dateTime]", date.ToShortDateString());
When it hits this line, we get this error message:
No printers are installed. To install a printer:
In Microsoft Windows 2000, click Start, point to Settings, and then click Printers. Double-click Add Printer.
In Microsoft Windows XP, click Start, and then click Printers and Faxes. Under Printer Tasks, click Add a printer.
Follow the instructions in the wizard.
The service runs under the LocalSystem account. When we first deployed this service, it was to an x64 machine and had the same issue. Our dev environment is x86 so we moved the service to another server that was x86 and it worked fine for a while. It recently stopped working and is now giving us this error message again. I am pretty sure it was becuase of a mass windows update that was done on the app server recently.
Funny thing is, I tried changing the service to "allow interaction with the desktop" and it didn't work, but when our sysadmin did that same thing, it worked for one file generation but is not working now.
There are printers installed on the machine, both on domain accounts and local accounts. I've also tried running the service under a different account, but then I wasn't able to connect to the service due to some SSPI error. We tried using the Network Service account but then the app couldn't see the service at all. We've restarted the service after each change also to no avail.
What I do know about the "PageSetup" part of the sheet object is that it needs to have a printer installed to access it at all, even if you aren't printing. I was unable to figure out a way to trick the machine into thinking the LocalSystem account has a printer installed.