'Unable to start print job'

Mary Stein
I've fixed this problem a few times this year on over 8 machines running Vista... Its a permissions problem, except now I CAN'T find solution online anymore. there is a file in Adobe that has too tight permissions and thats why PDFs won't print as soon as I change file to permit everyone. the problems fixed for good. reinstalling only fixes the issue for a moment.

This forum is for FULL Acrobat - ask Reader questions Here
http://www.adobeforums.com/webx?13@@.3bbf42f7

Tried everything above. Nothing worked. Went Start - Settings - Printers and Faxes - Right click target printer - properties -advanced - printing defaults - quality - graphics - apply. Worked for me.

After trying fixes above I'm still getting the "unable to start print job. is printer available?" message. I have Adobe Reader 8.1.2 installed to server X and clients run it from there. All works fine when I run Adobe Reader at server X or when fully installed to my client PC. Help/F1 not displaying is another issue. Anyone else run Reader in the same server/client scenario?

This problem just cropped up for me today for the first time, very similar to everyone else's description of problem. Luckily, googling for "adobe reader unable to start print job" led me here, and after reading through the various solutions, started with the Help>Repair Adobe Reader Installation approach. Voila! Problem fixed. Let's hope it doesn't continue to recur!

I am running windows XP and recently downloaded Adobe Reader 8.1.2. When I try to print any .PDF document (new or old), I get a "Unable to start print job. Is printer available? message. I checked the printer, nothing is in the que and the printer works fine with every other program, except the PDF files. I have tried uninstalling it and it will not. I have tried to install updates and it will not. It asks me to check on a patch, and I don't know how to do that. I have tried installing version 7 and it tells me no, I have a more recent version...

I have tried changing the comments and forums drop down menu; Advanced: print as image or not; and also switching print to file, off. All result in the same error message: "Unable to start print job. Is printer available" I have spent countless hours with the tech support for the HP 3 in one Printer, and there is nothing wrong with the printer. It would appear that a patch is missing to solve this problem? Please help :)

Have been trying the solutions in this thread, thought it fiexed the problem but then it stopped working.

Start with: Was getting Unable to start printer issue.
Tried: Reinstalled Adobe 8.1.1 and that fixed it, but then the next day tried to print PDF file and didn't work? Any ideas?

User can print everything else ok.

Thanks a lot. I had the same problem with Adobe 8
Indeed, First close all your windows!
Then open Adobe reader, then look on top and klick
===>Help ==> Repair Adobe Reader Installation.
Wait a minute and you can print whatever you like hahaha

I had the same problem with Acrobat Professional 8.1 which was fixed by going to "Help - Repair Acrobat Installation".

The UNABLE TO START PRINT JOB. IS PRINTER AVAILABLE? error message is due to a corrupt installation. Not caused by you (Reader) or by your computer but, I believe, by an error in Adobe'e installation program. I only came across this after allowing Adobe Reader 8.0.0 to update itself to 8.1.0 but it may also affect others. I am running XP, not Vista.

Solution:
1. Go into Control Panel, Add/Remove Programs, and remove Adobe Reader. If required at this point, restart your system. Now go into My Computer, click on the Folder button, and on LHS navigate to C:\Program Files\Adobe and delete any Reader folders found there (prior to your uninstall there would have been duplicates - which is the cause of the problem). Remove any Desktop shortcuts and entries for Reader in your Startup List.

2. Go to Adobe's website and download afresh. After the installation, restart your computer. You should not have the problem again.