Printers that use ports that do not begin with COM, LPT, or USB are not redirected in a remote desktop or a terminal services session

When you use Remote Desktop Connection or the Terminal Services Client version 4.0, 5.0 or 6.0 to connect to another Windows-based computer from a computer, your local printers are not redirected. As a result, your local printers are not available in the remote desktop or terminal services session.

For example, if your Windows XP-based computer has a multifunction print device using a DOT4 port, it may not be redirected in a remote desktop session to a Windows 2000- or Windows Server 2003-based computer.

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Important This section, method, or task contains steps that tell you how to modify the registry. However, serious problems might occur if you modify the registry incorrectly. Therefore, make sure that you follow these steps carefully. For added protection, back up the registry before you modify it. Then, you can restore the registry if a problem occurs. For more information about how to back up and restore the registry, click the following article number to view the article in the Microsoft Knowledge Base: To fix this problem on a computer that is not running Windows Server 2003 as a Terminal Server, force all ports (including DOT4) on the client computer to be filtered for redirection. To do this, add a DWORD value named FilterQueueType to HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Terminal Server Client\Default\AddIns\RDPDR and set its value data to FFFFFFFF.

Follow these steps:

1. Click Start, click Run, type regedit, and then click OK.
2. Locate and then click the following key in the registry:
   HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Terminal Server Client\Default\AddIns\RDPDR
3. On the Edit menu, point to New, and then click DWORD Value.
4. Type FilterQueueType, and then press ENTER.
5. On the Edit menu, click Modify.
6. Type FFFFFFFF, and then click OK.
7. Close the Registry Editor.
8. Restart your computer.

This enables all ports on the client to be redirected.

To work around this problem on a client computer that has a multifunction print device, change the port that the multifunction print device uses from DOT4 to an LPT port.

For example, to configure a multifunction print device to use an LPT port on a Windows XP-based computer, follow these steps:

1. InControl Panel, openPrinters and Faxes.
2. Right-click the local printer that is not redirected, and then click Properties.
3. Click the Ports tab, click an LPT port, and then click Apply.
   
   The printer should now appear next to that port.
4. Close the Printer Properties window, and then reconnect by using Remote Desktop.

Important When a multifunction printer is using a standard LPT port instead of the DOT4 port, it loses its multifunction capabilities, such as scanning, faxing, or copying. To regain the multifunction capabilities, the print device must use the DOT4 port.

To view the port name for your printer, or to determine whether the device uses a DOT4 port, view the properties of that printer, and then click the Ports(or the Details) tab.