no bug Win10 x64: No print dialog

[_vt_]

From time to time I need to print large batches of images for which the batch print functionality available through File > Thumbnails is excellent. However, when I recently had to do some printing of this sort I noticed that it was no longer possible on my computer running Windows 10 x64 in spite of the fact that printing from other applications to any of the available printers was OK. What I mean by this is that the print dialog wouldn't even show up in IrfanView after pressing Ctrl+P/selecting File > Print/clicking the respective toolbar icon. At that time I used v.4.36 x86.

I tried the following to fix the issue:

• Search the FAQ: no solution found there.
• Search this forum: I found many threads describing this exact issue but none of them contained any solution (if a thread was marked as "solved" then the..err.."solution" was "it started working again by itself").
• Some posts on this forum suggested that rebooting the computer may help but, alas, in my case it did not.
• Upgrade to the latest version (4.42): first I tried x64 since I run an x64 OS but the problem persisted. So I installed the x86 version as well which, sadly, did not improve the situation one bit.
• Run IrfanView with administrative privileges: no change.
• Run IrfanView in compatibility mode (Win7/8): no change.
• Run IrfanView with administrative privileges TOGETHER WITH compatibility mode (Win7/8) enabled: no change.
• Delete the configuration file from C:\Users\USERNAME\AppData\Roaming\IrfanView and restart IrfanView: no change.

Is there anything else I might try in order to be able to print from IrfanView again?

Thanks.

[Bhikkhu Pesala]

I noticed this too. No doubt it was because the printer was not switched on!

Still, the print dialogue should show up. After all, I might want to print to a PDF printer driver.

I sent a bug report to Irfan Skiljan.

[_vt_]

Hmm, interesting... Still, I do not think this is the case. When I open "Devices and printers", it shows one local printer (which is always switched on), two network MFDs (again, always switched on), and three virtual printers installed with MS Office (Microsoft Print to PDF, Microsoft XPS Document Writer, Send to OneNote 2016). In other words, all the available printers should always be online.

Anyway, thanks for filing the bug report. Hopefully the problem will be fixed soon.

[Bhikkhu Pesala]

I got this reply from Irfan Skiljan

This is not IrfanView
IrfanView has no idea if there is a printer or not, it is alive or not ... the same printing API will be called, since years.

=> nothing in IrfanView ... maybe a "feature" or option in Win10.

If my suggestion of switching on the printer works, then I suggest that you use that. In my opinion, the print dialogue should still be shown as other applications manage OK, but technically, it's not a bug in IrfanView as it is calling the Print API provided by Windows. As he says, maybe there's an option in Windows 10 to show the print dialogue when no printer is detected?

[_vt_]

=> nothing in IrfanView ... maybe a "feature" or option in Win10.

It may very well be so. For the fun of it, I have just now tested the latest x86 version of IrfanView on another computer running a slightly different flavour of Win10 x64 (Pro vs Edu on the original computer) and lo and behold -- all works as expected. This points to some issue with Win10 on the original machine.

If my suggestion of switching on the printer works

No; unfortunately it doesn't. If only it did... :-|

[Bhikkhu Pesala]

I suggest sending another bug report to Irfan Skiljan (see Help, About for his email).

[_vt_]

Just as an afterthought: is there any way to enable some kind of a hidden debug mode in which IrfanView would write a log file containing all the encountered errors, warnings, etc.? If so, then I could perhaps try it and then pore over the log file and, hopefully, find something that would help isolate the issue.