Operation failed with error 0x0000007e when adding a printer

When trying to add a network printer on Windows 7, the following error may occur:

“Windows cannot connect to the printer.”
Details: “Operation failed with error 0x0000007e”

There are several solutions for this problem:

Solution 1:
You can try to connect to the printer, using a local port. To try this solution, do the following:

  1. Install the printer locally on port lpt2
  2. Open a dos prompt (cmd.exe) and enter the following command:
    net use LPT2 \\computername\sharedprintername /persistent:yes

This is only a workaround, but works for most people. Let’s hope Microsoft can develop a consistent solution in the near future.

Solution 2:
Some printers require the drivers to be installed before you add the printer in Windows. This is the case with some Lexmark printers, as well as some HP Laserjets. When a printer gets a wrong driver assigned (for example a Vista driver instead of a Windows 7 driver), the printer may not connect correctly.

To solve this, make sure you download the latest Windows 7 driver from the manufacturer’s website.

Solution 3:
When you do not have the English language on your Windows 7 machine, you may verify the Language for Non-Unicode.

  1. Go to your Control Panel –> Region and Language –> Administrative
  2. Click Change system locale
  3. Set the Current System Locale to English (United States)

Solution 4:
Download and install the following hotfix:
http://support.microsoft.com/kb/982728/en-us
Follow the instructions on the website

I hope that the solutions described above helps for some of you!

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Anton

thank you a lot! solution 1 worked perfectly for me.

Charlie Sheen

Nice one – This is the first time I’ve seen all the info compiled into one neat area. Thanks

Alexez Solovzev

Man, you are awesome! Thank you!

Piruk

Great ! I tried option 1 and it worked perfectly. Thanks

Roman Zok

Christian, you are a TOP man, thank you so much

Vincentvdl

Hi,
I had this problem and fixed it by completely deleting the shared printer & creating it again from scratch on the print server.
This may become an additional step for your troubleshooting.
Regards,
Vincent

Claudia

I spent HOURS trying to fix the problem – found this post and tried #1 – worked 1st time – wish I had seen this HOURS ago! Thanks So MUCH! God bless!

Sharief

Trying to connect Windows to the network printer and receiving message: operation failed with error 0x0000007e.

Go onto the server and then do a regedit.

HKLM / Software / Microsoft / Windows NT / Current Version /
Printer / Printers / / CopyFiles / BiDi

Deleting the CopyFiles key in the reg entries for those queues allowed them
to be added to the affected Win7 clients.

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