Error “Unable to load client print control” when printing reports in Reporting Services (summary of possible causes and solutions)

Due to the great confusion I perceive about this error and its possible causes and solutions, I decided to remove my 3 old posts that talked about this error and create a single and more complete posts that I hope helps you resolve all the possible causes of this error when trying to print reports in Reporting Services. 

 

“Unable to load client print control”

 

POSSIBLE CAUSES AND PROPOSED SOLUTIONS:

 

There could be 2 possible causes for this issue, very differnt from each other:

 

1. This error could be caused by a known update to the RSClientPrint control (MS09-062): https://support.microsoft.com/kb/971023

There are some fixes already built for this (1. To fix direct accesses to Report Manager 2. To fix applications that access Report Manager like CRM in your case). See bellow:

1. To fix accesses to Report Manager you should install the following in the Report Server machine:

Service Pack 3 de Microsoft SQL Server 2005

https://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?displaylang=es&FamilyID=ae7387c3-348c-4faa-8ae5-949fdfbe59c4

and

Cumulative update package 8 for SQL Server 2005 Service Pack 3

https://support.microsoft.com/kb/978915

2. To fix accesses to the Reporting Services from an application (like CRM, SharePoint or a web application) you would need to install the fixes bellow. They will be different depending on the version of the Report Viewer control:

To check the version of the ReportViewer control.

1. Open a report for viewing on a client machine
2. Then right click on the report and select “View Source”.

Locate the line that looks like this:
<script src="https://blogs.msdn.com/TestRSClientPrintReportViewer/Reserved.ReportViewerWebControl.axd?OpType=Resource&amp;Version=X.Y.ZZZZ

a) If the control type is “Reserved.ReportViewerWebPart.axd” then this is an issue with SharePoint.

The “Microsoft SQL Server 2005 Reporting Services Add-in for Microsoft SharePoint Technologies” has been updated to work with the new rsclientprint.dll.

Download center link:
https://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?FamilyID=1e53f882-0c16-4847-b331-132274ae8c84&displaylang=en

b) If the control type is “Reserved.ReportViewerWebControl.axd” we should check the following:

We have 2 different major versions here: 8.00.50727 and 9.00.XXXX.
If you see version 8.00.50727 this means you are browsing reports from within CRM or using the ReportViewer control in a custom 2005 web application.
If you see version 8.00.50727 and the version is earlier than 8.00.50727.1843 then you should install Report Viewer Redistributable 2005 Service Pack 1 on the ReportServer or on the CRM server or machine where the web application is running:

Microsoft Report Viewer Redistributable 2005 SP1 (Full Installation)

https://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?familyid=E7D661BA-DC95-4EB3-8916-3E31340DDC2C&displaylang=en

and

Report Viewer Redistributable 2005 Service Pack 1 GDIPLUS.DLL Security Update

https://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?displaylang=en&FamilyID=0dfaf300-2b53-4678-a779-0d805ddfe538

c) If you see version 9.00.XXXX or 9.0.XXXX then you are browsing through Report Manager, Report Server or perhaps a custom web application built with VS 2008.
Then you should install the below on the report server and in the machine where the web application is running:

Microsoft Report Viewer 2008 SP1 Redistributable
https://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?FamilyID=bb196d5d-76c2-4a0e-9458-267d22b6aac6&DisplayLang=en

And

Report Viewer Redistributable 2008 Service Pack 1 GDIPLUS.DLL Security Update

https://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?familyid=6aaa74bd-a46e-4478-b4e1-2063d18d2d42&displaylang=en

After having updated the ReportViewer control you must issue an iisreset command so that the updated controls will take effect.

 

2. Or it could be a permissions issue:

When trying to print reports from Reporting Services, the RSClientPrinty control needs to be downloaded and installed to the client machines. This is done automatically the first time a user tries to print a report and the users need to be administrators or Power Users in order to be able to download the control though the web.

 

Users that are not administrators nor Power Users don’t have permissions to deploy of the RsClientPrint control to IE from the server (not allowed installing ActiveX components)

 

This happens the first time you run a report or after installing some cumulative updates or service packs that modifies this control and needs to be redeployed. Each time the client clicks on the print button; there is a round trip to the server to check if the client has the latest version.

 

The following links explains that you need administrator permissions in order to download the print control to download it from the server:

https://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/ms159190(SQL.90).aspx

2 POSSIBLE ALTERNATIVES:

Deploy the control manually:

 

If the users weren’t administrators or power users, the issue could be resolved by deploying the files manually:

 

1. Go to C:\Program Files\Microsoft SQL Server\MSSQL.x\Reporting Services\ReportServer\bin on the report server and copy the rsclientprint.cab file

2. Extract the files from the rsclientprint.cab file.

3. Copy all the files to the client computer to Windows\Downloaded Program Files (you might need to do it using the command windows)

c:\print\RSClientPrint.dll

c:\print\rsclientprint.inf

c:\print\RsClientPrint_1028.rl

c:\print\RsClientPrint_1031.rl

c:\print\RsClientPrint_1033.rl

c:\print\RsClientPrint_1036.rl

c:\print\RsClientPrint_1040.rl

c:\print\RsClientPrint_1041.rl

c:\print\RsClientPrint_1042.rl

c:\print\RsClientPrint_2052.rl

c:\print\RsClientPrint_3082.rl

4. Register RSClientPrint.dll by opening a command line (Start->Run) regsvr32 [path]RSClientPrint.dll

Or creating a script to install the control using “Run As”

“Run As” is a tool that allows running programs as a different user than the currently logged-on user. It is described in the article:

 

How to enable and use the "Run As" command when running programs in Windows

https://support.microsoft.com/?id=294676

Steps to create the script would be:

1. On a Domain Controller, create a share with the appropriate rights for a "simple user"
2. On this share create a file called runas.vbs with the following code:

'
'RunAs Helper
'Syntax: runas.vbs <username> <command>
'
set args=wscript.arguments
username = args(0)
' Enter the password in the variable pass
pass = "administrator password"
'Get the command arguments
for i=1 to args.count - 1
command = command & args.item(i) & " "
Next
set shell=wscript.createobject("Wscript.shell")
'Run runas.exe
shell.run "runas.exe /user:" & username & " """ & command & """",2,FALSE
'Wait for runas.exe to load, this time could be shorter, but is set to 1000
'to be safe
wscript.sleep(1000)
'Send the password and hit enter
shell.sendkeys pass & "{ENTER}"
wscript.sleep(1000)

3. Extract the dll and inf files from your ActiveX on the share.
4. Download the Windows Script Encoder, available on

https://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?FamilyId=E7877F67-C447-4873-B1B0-21F0626A6329&displaylang=en

and encrypt the original vbs file: original_vbs_file.vbs vbs_encrypted_file.vbe

The script encoder is a command-line tool that allows a scriptwriter to protect the contents of a script from unauthorized copies or modifications while ( at the same time ) allowing the script to run.

       5- Create a logonscript with the following instructions:

net use z: \\server\share <file://\\server\share> 'Map the share to a local drive.

The files need to be local so as to be installed..

z:\vbs_encrypted_file.vbe domain\admin rundll32.exe setupapi,InstallHinfSection DefaultInstall 132 z:\rapport.inf
z:\vbs_encrypted_file.vbe domain\admin rundll32.exe setupapi,InstallHinfSection DefaultInstall 132 z:\vbs.inf
net use z: /d 'Delete the mapping

 

 

I hope this helps,

 

****

Maria Esteban

Reporting Services Support Engineer

Comments

  • Anonymous
    January 03, 2011
    Great post, finally solved my "unable to load print control"  error!

  • Anonymous
    March 17, 2011
    Any idea on the issue when the version 10.0.2775 is in the source of the report? I'm running SQL 2008 SP1 CU 8. I did already install Report Viewer 2008 SP1, but that is version 9.0.30729.1. Currently the control keeps requesting to be installed when you want to print a report

  • Anonymous
    March 24, 2011
    Our Server environment : SQL2008 x64 SP2 Reporting Services on Windows Server 2008 x64, Client PC environment: Windows XP SP2 with IE6 or higher, all users are login to Active Directory, users are not members of local Administrator or power user group. Error: When a user printing a report  getting an error as "Unable to load client print control" Solution that work for us: replace following files in sql 2008 with SQL 2008 R2 Program FilesMicrosoft SQL ServerMSRS10.MSSQLSERVERReporting ServicesReportServerbin RSClientPrint-x86.cab RSClientPrint-x64.cab RSClientPrint-ia64.cab Once you replace the files one server users wont get above error and they do not required local power user or admin right to download Active X. Recommending to add report server URL as a trusted site (add to Trusted sites) via Active Directory GP. Hope this will help for somebody to sort out this "hectic" problem. We had very tough time to find out a proper solution for this "bug". Nishan

  • Anonymous
    March 24, 2011
    Our Server environment : SQL2008 x64 SP2 Reporting Services on Windows Server 2008 x64, Client PC environment: Windows XP SP2 with IE6 or higher, all users are login to Active Directory, users are not members of local Administrator or power user group. Error: When a user printing a report  getting an error as "Unable to load client print control" Solution that work for us: replace following files in sql 2008 with SQL 2008 R2 Program FilesMicrosoft SQL ServerMSRS10.MSSQLSERVERReporting ServicesReportServerbin RSClientPrint-x86.cab RSClientPrint-x64.cab RSClientPrint-ia64.cab Once you replace the files one server users wont get above error and they do not required local power user or admin right to download Active X. Recommending to add report server URL as a trusted site (add to Trusted sites) via Active Directory GP. Hope this will help for somebody to sort out this "hectic" problem. We had very tough time to find out a proper solution for this "bug". Nishan

  • Anonymous
    March 29, 2011
    The comment has been removed

  • Anonymous
    March 31, 2011
    Our environment is SQL Server 2008.And I tried the option c) suggested in your post but sadly  it did not work for us. Still  getting the "Unable to load Client Print Control" error.And our application is a web based application which have reports using SSRS and include the client print button. Any suggestions/Fixes would be of great help.

  • Anonymous
    March 31, 2011
    Thanks Nishan. I can confurm this is a version related error. I did upgrade to 2008 SP2-CU2 and the problem did go away.

  • Anonymous
    April 20, 2011
    When installing locally, I typed the wrong credentials :-( What's the command to unregister please?

  • Anonymous
    October 19, 2011
    Wow, I can see that M$ has not yet fixed this serious bug, 3 years later.  I wonder how long M$ can get away with selling this kind of poor quality technology - it absolutely astounds me how they have hobbled business software development in the last few decades, and no one can hold them responsible.  Bizarre.

  • Anonymous
    March 28, 2012
    The repair for this bug as of 3/29/2012 since the problem has started back in is to upgrade to 2008 or to create and run in a 32-bit internet Explorer (iexplorer.exe). This works on all Window 7 64-bit OS.   Took me forever to figure this out and through trial and error got it.

  • Anonymous
    March 28, 2012
    Also the solutions entered above might as well be cleared out of Maria's Blog as a new KillBit came out in Feb. that makes all of that above not work on a 64-Bit OS system. The Solution is to make your default internet explorer a 32-bit one when opening SQL Server Reports. Cause I did waste 2 weeks looking for a solution and 3 days with MS agents when I found the solution by chance on my own!!!!!!

  • Anonymous
    April 05, 2013
    Can you update this for Windows 7 and Windows 8 and SSRS 2012

  • Anonymous
    February 18, 2014
    What is solution for windows 7 and SSRS 2012

  • Anonymous
    February 18, 2014
    What is solution for Windows 7 and Windows 8 and SSRS 2012. Please help.

  • Anonymous
    April 03, 2014
    RE:  Grim Repair   20 Oct 2011 6:02 AM  # The problem is not fixed now. So 3 years + 3 years = 6 M$ the best

  • Anonymous
    August 11, 2014
    When I come across this problem, I use the most basic method to print - control+p then select the desired printer. Thats basically it. I hope that helps

  • Anonymous
    September 16, 2014
    Nailed it, thanks.  Had no idea it was trying to install anything.

  • Anonymous
    July 15, 2015
    on our enviroment giving the user admin porivileges was not working - but opening IE with "open as administrator" (Right mouse click and the option with icon) worked, i think that UAC confirmation message was messing up installation, when we opened IE as admin and tehere was no UAC message it worked :)

  • Anonymous
    August 30, 2015
    The comment has been removed

  • Anonymous
    October 21, 2015
    Do note the change introduced by SQL Server 2016 - msdn.microsoft.com/.../ms155874.aspx Hopefully no more such errors while printing :) - @vijayreports