Ask a new question

Word & Excel 2010 can't print after downloading Windows 7 Automatic Updates

Here's a small but annoying issue I'm having:

 

After Windows downloads Automatic Updates, I cannot print in Word or Excel.  They freeze if I try to print, and I have to use Task Manager to close them.  Reopening doesn't make a difference -- they continue to freeze if I try to print until I reboot my PC.  This is before the updates are even installed, and rebooting without installing the updates fixes it.

 

It seems to have something to do with print drivers, because it also happens if I try to Save As PDF or XPS, and when I close Excel without saving changes to a file, it hangs and flashes "Accessing Printer; Press ESC to cancel" in the lower left-hand corner.

 

Again, not a huge problem, but since our employer has us set for Automatic Updates every Thursday morning, I have to interrupt my workday every Thursday  to reboot because of this issue.

 

BTW I'm using Microsoft Office Professional Plus 2010 on Windows 7 Professional 64-bit SP1.

In a corporate environment, I would take this up with your IT people.
Hope this helps,
Doug Robbins - MVP Office Apps & Services (Word)
dougrobbinsmvp@gmail.com
It's time to replace ‘Diversity, Equity & Inclusion’ with ‘Excellence, Opportunity & Civility’ - V Ramaswamy

Was this reply helpful?

Sorry this didn't help.

Great! Thanks for your feedback.

How satisfied are you with this reply?

Thanks for your feedback, it helps us improve the site.

How satisfied are you with this reply?

Thanks for your feedback.

In a corporate environment, I would take this up with your IT people.

Well, my company isn't that big; we have two overworked I.T. people, and I wouldn't ask them to change the time of one user's Automatic Updates for something that's remedied by a reboot.  Anyway I'm curious if there may be a way to fix what seems to be a Windows Update / print driver conflict. 

Was this reply helpful?

Sorry this didn't help.

Great! Thanks for your feedback.

How satisfied are you with this reply?

Thanks for your feedback, it helps us improve the site.

How satisfied are you with this reply?

Thanks for your feedback.

The thing is, since no one else has reported this on this forum, I suspect that it has to do with your update process in your company rather than with what is being pushed out by Microsoft for updates.

This does not imply that it is anyone's fault in your IT department. They may just have a novel way of doing updating that no one else is using.
Volunteering to "pay forward" the help I've received in the Microsoft user community.

Charles Kenyon
Sun Prairie, Wisconsin
wordfaq[at]addbalance[dot]com

Was this reply helpful?

Sorry this didn't help.

Great! Thanks for your feedback.

How satisfied are you with this reply?

Thanks for your feedback, it helps us improve the site.

How satisfied are you with this reply?

Thanks for your feedback.

The thing is, since no one else has reported this on this forum, I suspect that it has to do with your update process in your company rather than with what is being pushed out by Microsoft for updates.

This does not imply that it is anyone's fault in your IT department. They may just have a novel way of doing updating that no one else is using.

I actually did find this very same problem posted on some non-MS sites, but felt it would best be addressed here.  Anyway, I don't see what could be unique about our Automatic Updates -- the only thing our IT dept does is schedule them.  My PC downloads them, and then I get the orange shield on my Shut Down button notifying me to let them install.

Was this reply helpful?

Sorry this didn't help.

Great! Thanks for your feedback.

How satisfied are you with this reply?

Thanks for your feedback, it helps us improve the site.

How satisfied are you with this reply?

Thanks for your feedback.

We have similar problem ,after installed Windows 7 Professional SP1 my excel can not print.

Was this reply helpful?

Sorry this didn't help.

Great! Thanks for your feedback.

How satisfied are you with this reply?

Thanks for your feedback, it helps us improve the site.

How satisfied are you with this reply?

Thanks for your feedback.

It might depend on the Windows Update settings, ie is it set to download both Important Updates and Recommended updates?
Contributor since 2006
Currently win11 Pro & O365 Bus, multiple devices

Was this reply helpful?

Sorry this didn't help.

Great! Thanks for your feedback.

How satisfied are you with this reply?

Thanks for your feedback, it helps us improve the site.

How satisfied are you with this reply?

Thanks for your feedback.

Our Windows Updates are managed by I.T., but from what I can tell, we only get Important updates. 

Anyway, after logging all visible updates, settings and printing conflicts over the past 4 months, I believe the problem may have been caused by Adobe Reader XI updates rather than Windows.

Being that Word & Excel would freeze when I would use Save As (where PDF was an available choice) and not just Print, I checked my Adobe Reader XI and found it was set to automatically install updates, so I changed it to not download or install updates automatically. I also had to uncheck Adobe Reader & Acrobat Manager (AdobeARM.exe) in my Startup Items TWICE (because at one point it prompted me to update to a newer version, which I allowed, and it rechecked it!)... but since then, Adobe Reader hasn't updated, and I haven't had any freezing or printing problems.

Was this reply helpful?

Sorry this didn't help.

Great! Thanks for your feedback.

How satisfied are you with this reply?

Thanks for your feedback, it helps us improve the site.

How satisfied are you with this reply?

Thanks for your feedback.

 
 

Question Info

Last updated October 5, 2021 Views 300 Applies to: