PDF Creator Server spooler crash

Hello,

Recently we upgraded from the old free PDF Creator to the new PDF Creator Server edition and have been experiencing an issue with the spooler. It would appear it might be causing a corrupted spooler file, because the spooler service is unable to start until we clear C:\Windows\System32\spool\PRINTERS.

Print jobs are set to render on clients computer and after the last spooler crash we have disabled the advanced printing features to hopefully reduce the number of errors on the servers spooler.

Here are some additional details from event viewer:
Faulting application name: spoolsv.exe, version: 6.3.9600.17480, time stamp: 0x54585db9
Faulting module name: pdfcmon.dll, version: 0.9.6.0, time stamp: 0x58ee2136
Exception code: 0xc0000409
Fault offset: 0x0000000000005202
Faulting process id: 0xe28
Faulting application start time: 0x01d331773108ff96
Faulting application path: C:\Windows\System32\spoolsv.exe
Faulting module path: C:\Windows\System32\pdfcmon.dll
Report Id: eee7ccfa-9e4e-11e7-80e8-00155d022162
Faulting package full name:
Faulting package-relative application ID:

Hi,

please enable logging for the pdfcmon.dll by adding the following DWORD value to HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Control\Print\Monitors\pdfcmon in your registry
name : Logging, value :1
This will cause PDFCreator to create an advanced logfile at %Windir%\Temp\_pdfcmonLog.txt , which will hopefully contain some additional infomation on the issue. So far, this is an unknown issue which hasn’t been reproted by other users and isn’t reproducible on our test server.

Best regards,

Robin

I see a file named _pdfcmonLog_PS, but not just _pdfcmonLog. Is this the same file you are talking about?

Unfortunately it looks like it keeps a relatively small log, I went to pull the error we had yesterday and it no longer has any logs going back that far. I’ll have to get it right away next time we have an issue.

Okay it happened again today I copied what was available in that log file, is there anyway I can email this over to you?

Hi,

sure, you can mail it to ticket@pdfforge.org and we will have a look at it.

Best regards,

Robin

Are there any updates on this issue? I’m having the same issue on win10

Faulting application name: spoolsv.exe, version: 10.0.14393.953, time stamp: 0x58ba59dd
Faulting module name: pdfcmon.dll, version: 0.9.6.0, time stamp: 0x58ee2136
Exception code: 0xc0000409
Fault offset: 0x0000000000005202
Faulting process id: 0x3594
Faulting application start time: 0x01d363bb5fa8bac2
Faulting application path: C:\Windows\System32\spoolsv.exe
Faulting module path: C:\Windows\System32\pdfcmon.dll
Report Id: ff061b30-df47-48df-97d1-f7f16f8a0ad0
Faulting package full name:
Faulting package-relative application ID:

Hello,

We haven’t had the issue again in a few weeks, so I’m not sure exactly what was causing the issue. I did remove some additional print drivers and settings from a second printer on the server, set jobs to render on clients, and disabled advanced printing features. With the way windows spoopler works it’s possible it was the other printer corrupting taking the whole spooler down, if you use something like cups it should be uneffected by the other printers spooler.

For what it’s worth this replaced the old free PDFCreator software, so there may have been a driver issue. If the issue comes back I’ll be back to provide more information as well.

Hi,

we think we have found/fixed an issue which could potentially have caused this but are still running some tests to ensure it is actually fixed and will include a fixed version of the pdfcmon.dll into the next PDFCreator update if the tests are successful. The issue seems to be caused by very long print job titles, so most likely it will only occur in rare cases when printing from a long URL.

If you’d like to receive a notification once this is available, please write a mail to ticket@pdfforge.org, I will also try to keep this thread updated.

Best regards

Robin

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Hi,
After troubleshooting the issue, I was able to verify that the print spooler issue/pdfcmon.dll issue was caused by the length of the URL being 218 characters. When I print with Pdfcreator that has a shorter url, the issue does not repeat.

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Hi,

thank you very much for the feedback, which does align with what we found out in our tests. We will a fix here to allow strings of any length in the future.

Best regards

Robin

Hi Robin,
we have exactly the same Problem with the PDFCreator TerminalServer Edition.
Could you please tell us when this problem will be fixed?

Hi,

we are currently finalizing the new version which will contain the fix, with all tests it should be here next week by Tuesday at the latest. If this is causing major problems in your environment, we could probably send you the preview version of the pdfcmon.dll containing the fix, please let us know if this is the case.

Best regards

Robin

I can't print files or reinstall PDF creator. I keep getting this message when I try to print the file to PDF " Unauthorized changes blocked, Controlled Folder Access blocked from making change to the folder %common_desktop%" and also the same message during reinstalling. Also, during installing or reinstalling either version 2.5.3 or 3.0.2 I get the message
image

Thank you.

Hi,

this is a malfunction/false alert in your “virus & threat protection” software, I am afraid you will need to contact their support or have a look of the settings of the security software you are using. There is nothing we can really do to help with this issue.

Best regards

Robin

Robin,

Any update on getting this fixed? I checked the download page and I still see the same 1_1_9994 executable.

Hi,

there hasn’t been any update of PDFCretor Server yet, so currently the issue is only fixed in the Terminal Server edition.
Since it should be possible to replace the faulty pdfcmon.dll without actually updating PDFCreator Server, I will check if we can send you the fixed version of the dll itself. Is the email connected to your profile still up to date? Of course this also applies to anybody else who might be suffering from the issue.

Best regards

Robin

Yes the email connected to my profile is a valid email, if you could send it I’d be glad to test it.

Hi,

it seems there are 2 versions of the file (for x86 and x64 environments), is the machine x64?

Best regards

Robin

64 bit.

It won’t let me post unless there are 20 characters, so that’s why this sentence is here. :slight_smile:

Hi,

I have sent you the file by mail, not sure if it will go though all filters, as it is a DLL…

Best regards

Robin