Printer and Ports with Long Names Do Not Appear After Upgrade from Windows NT 4.0 to Windows 2000

Printers with names over 220 characters long do not appear in the Printers folder, but do appear in the registry after upgrading to Windows 2000 from Windows NT 4.0.

Printers with names over 259 characters long do not appear in the Printers folder or in the registry.

Printers that are assigned to a port with a name over 255 characters long appear in the Printers folder, but do not have a port assignment.

Note that the Add Printer Wizard allow a printer name length of 242 characters, but you can change the name of the printer up to 259 characters after the printer has been added.

Windows 2000 has a printer name limit of 220 characters; Microsoft Windows NT 4.0 has a limit of 259 characters.

WARNING: If you use Registry Editor incorrectly, you may cause serious problems that may require you to reinstall your operating system. Microsoft cannot guarantee that you can solve problems that result from using Registry Editor incorrectly. Use Registry Editor at your own risk.

To work around this problem, use the appropriate method:

• Shorten the printer name or port length to less than 220 characters before you upgrade.
• To modify the printer name, modify the registry once the upgrade is finished. If the printer appears in the registry, but not the Printers folder, modify the registry entry to shorten the name or port to less than 220 characters. Locate the Name value under the following key in the registry, and modify the data value of the Name value to be less than 220 characters:
  HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Control\Print\Printers\Printer Name
• To modify the printer location, modify the registry once the upgrade is finished. Locate the Location value under the following key in the registry, and then modify the data value of the Location value to be less than 220 characters:
  HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Control\Print\Printers\Printer Name
• To modify the port name, modify the registry once the upgrade is finished. Locate the PortName value under the following key in the registry, and then modify the data value of the PortName value to be less than 220 characters:
  HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Control\Print\Monitors\Appropriate Port Monitor\Appropriate Port

Microsoft has confirmed that this is a problem in the Microsoft products that are listed at the beginning of this article.