Microsoft Office Document Imaging no longer in Printers Folder, Using XP and Office XP Professio

This problem has been mentioned by many other users (in a different thread subject), so I wanted to start a new thread. I have tried many suggestions, but none have worked for me.

My MODI has been a print option for me until just recently. It disappeared from my printers folder. I have repaired, removed, and re-installed Microsoft Office. The MODI will still not appear in the printers folder.

Please Help!

[431 byte] By [vab] at [2008-1-7]

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# 1

I know these didn't work for you, but I thought I'd repost them so they were at the beginning of a relevant thread, rather than at the end of an overly-hijacked thread...

Solution 1.
Type the following into a command prompt window: (unsure if you have to be admin or not)
cscript c:\windows\system32\prnmngr.vbs -a -p "Microsoft Office Document Image Writer" -m "Microsoft Office Document Image Writer Driver" -r "Microsoft Document Imaging Writer Port:"

Solution 2. (Not mine, borrowed from somewhere else.)
1. Close all running applications. If you have any Office application running, the driver will not be installed properly.
2. Go to the "Control Panel" and "Add or Remove Programs".
3. Click on"Microsoft Office 2003" and then click on "Change".
4. Check "Add or Remove Features" and click "Next".
5. On the bottom of the page check "Choose advanced customization of applications." and click "Next".
6. Under Microsoft Office click on the + sign in front of "Office Tools"
7. Locate "Microsoft Office Document Imaging", click the icon and select "Not Available".
8. Click on "Update". This will uninstall the MODI driver.
9. Repeat steps 1 to 6 to go back to the same location you were before.
10. Locate the object "Microsoft Office Document Imaging", click the icon and select "Run from My Computer".
11. Click on "Update".

Solution 3. (Also not mine)
1. Go to Control panel - Printer and fax
2. Add Printer - select local printer attached (Unselect detect Plug N Play)
3. In the port option select Microsoft Document Image Printer Writer Port
4. Select and install a generic manufacturer and use text only printer.

5. Right-click on the generic text/only printer driver and select properties.
6. Click on ports and select "Microsoft Office Document Imaging Driver Port".
7. Click on the advanced tab and change the driver to Microsoft Office Document Image Writer.
8. Click on apply and OK.

Ex at 2007-10-2 >

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# 2

Thank you Ex.

I know the above solutions have helped some, but they did not work for me. If anyone has another solution, please advise. I want my MODI back.

vab at 2007-10-2 >

# 3

Problem solved at:

http://www.microsoft.com/office/community/en-us/default.mspx?query=microsoft+office+document+imaging%2C+&dg=&cat=en-us-office&lang=en&cr=US&pt=3a4e9862-cdce-4bdc-8664-91038e3eb1e9&catlist=&dglist=&ptlist=&exp=&sloc=en-us

vab at 2007-10-2 >

# 4

I had the same problem and the only solution I found was to give up on Microsoft Document Imaging and install PDF Creator (http://www.pdfforge.org/products/pdfcreator).

You can print to PDF's as well as TIFF and other formats. Best of all . . .it's FREE! Oh, yeah, and it actually works.

OnePostOnly at 2007-10-2 >

# 5

I can't get any of these to work!!!

1. Puts it back in my folder as an option, but when you try to print through it, it doesn't work. The printer icon down in the toolbar pops up and acts like it's working, but nothing ever gets saved/printed.

2. Doesn't work.

3. Same as #1.

If there are any suggestions, PLEASE help!!!

HILL2183 at 2007-10-2 >

# 6

Thank you so much! I was wondering what happend to my MODI print feature, because after update my window I could not use it to print the screen. I was going to ask Microsoft finally, and here I found someone who has same question as me and the solutions!!! Great! hopefully I can resolve this problem. I does not easy for me to simply follow those steps which are arranged next. Good luck to me!!!

gals81 at 2007-10-2 >

# 7

I downloaded and installed PDFCreator using the MSI option. Upon installation, I found that the printer that was supposed to be created was not on my PC either. I looked on PDFCreator site for a solution. It referenced me to SetupLog.txt file in the PDFCreator folder, where I found this error - InstallPrinter [PDFCreator]: 1797: The printer driver is unknown. I then googled on that error and came up with this link... http://www.pdfforge.org/node/740/1754#comment-1754, which states to "Uninstall the msi package and use the exe setup." So, I did that. As I was installing the exe version, it noted an error with a corrupted path setting and asked to fix it. So, I let it fix the corrupted path setting, which required a reboot. Upon rebooting, I attempted to install PDFCreator again. This time it loaded as I expected and it created the Printer too.

That got me to thinking, maybe the corrupted path setting is the cause of the Microsoft Office Document Image Writer Printer Disappearing. So, I tried installing it again with these steps:

Uninstall and then reinstall the MODI printer driver feature
using your Office 2003 CD. Instructions courtesy of Windows MVP
Carey Frisch:
1. Close all running applications. If you have any Office
application running, the driver will not be installed properly.
2. Go to "Control Panel" and "Add or Remove Programs".
3. Click on "Microsoft Office 2003" and then click on "Change".
4. Check "Add or Remove Features" and click "Next".
5. On the bottom of the page check "Choose advanced
customization of applications." and click "Next".
6. Under Microsoft Office click on the + sign in front of
"Office Tools"
7. Locate the object "Microsoft Office Document Imaging",
click the icon and select "Not Available".
8. Click on "Update". This will uninstall the MODI driver.
9. Repeat steps 1 to 6 to go back to the same location you
were before.
10. Locate the object "Microsoft Office Document Imaging",
click the icon and select "Run from My Computer".
11. Click on "Update".

Results: Success! My Microsoft Office Document Image Writer Printer was back in place. Woo-hoo! So, it looks like the fix is repairing a corrupted path setting. Not sure how to fix the corrupted path setting other than through PDFCreator EXE install at this time. Good luck if you run into this issue!

JodyWood at 2007-10-2 >

# 8

For the second month running I have noticed MODIW disappearing from Printers and Faxes after using Windows Update

With Office 2003 I found that uninstalling the MODIW feature and reinstalling it did not make MODIW return to Printers and Faxes

I also found that both

the script (cscript c:\windows\system32\prnmngr.vbs -a -p "Microsoft Office Document Image Writer" -m "Microsoft Office Document Image Writer Driver" -r "Microsoft Document Imaging Writer Port:") and
adding a generic printer and changing to MODIW

needed one last manual amendment which is