How to Fix Printer Error 0x00000709 on Windows 11/10

Did you get the Printer Error 0x00000709 while attempting to set your default device accompanied by a message “Operation could not be completed”?

Several reasons may cause this error to pop up in the first place like outdated device drivers, corrupted registry entries, etc. Sometimes, letting Windows 11/10 auto-manage the default printer can also trigger similar issues. 

Recent – How to fix printer error code 6a80 in Windows 10

What does Printer Error 0x00000709 mean?

Error 0x00000709 means that there is already a printer set and configured to use on your Windows PC. If you try to add a second printer, you will encounter an error message that states the following –

Operation could not be completed (error 0x00000709)

You should check if the printer name has been added correctly and if so, whether it is connected to the network or not. In addition to this, this error could also occur when Windows does not let you configure the new printer. 

Fix Can’t connect to a network printer, Error 0x00000709

Start with hard resetting your Printer, and modifying the RPC connection settings policy. If the error persists even after this, you may try troubleshooting the Printer, Restarting the Print Spooler service, and a few other fixes. 

In case the error still persists, try changing its default settings and updating printer drivers. Consider renaming your Printer name using the Registry if none of the above solutions work to address this error code on your computer. 

Note: If you are getting this error code after installing a recent cumulative update, make sure to downgrade to the previous version. For all other reasons, you may follow the below workarounds –

1. Perform a hard reset to solve this 0x00000709 Error

Before you go with any solution, check if you can resolve this issue by hard resetting the Printer. To do so, follow these easy steps –

• Shut down your PC and this will result in your Printer stopping as well. 
• Unplug the power cord from your printer and wait for at least 2 minutes. 
• Remove any wired connection between your PC and printer as well. 
• After the wait time of 2 minutes is over, re-plug the power cord and the connecting wires between your PC and printer.
• If you are on a wireless network, check if your printer is now connected to the same network.
• Launch Command Prompt as administrator next, and run these codes –

net stop spooler

del %systemroot%\System32\spool\printers* /Q

net start spooler

• The first and the last command is there to stop and then restart the Print Spooler service. Whereas, the second command runs to delete any cache files or clear any queued files on your computer. 

Now that you have cleared Printer Spooler, restart your PC again. From the next login, check if you can print documents or connect to a network printer without getting into some error code. 

2. Configure the RPC Connection Settings

The next possible to this problem is by modifying a group policy inside your computer titled “RPC Connection Settings”. You may attempt this solution only if you are on Windows Editions Pro, Enterprise, or other premium editions.

Note: Windows 11/10 Home users can’t use this solution. If you are on such an edition, skip this solution, and proceed to the next one. 

Follow the below steps on how to configure this policy in Windows –

• Launch the Run dialog by pressing Win + R.
• Type “gpedit.msc” without quotes on it, and hit OK. 
• When the group policy window opens up, navigate to the below path inside it – 

Computer Configuration > Administrative Templates > Printers 

• Head over to the right pane, and double-click on “Configure RPC connection settings“.
• Tick the Enabled radio button, and select the following using their respective drop-down menus –
  • Protocol to use for outgoing RPC connections: RPC over named pipes
  • Use Authentication for Outgoing RPC Connections: Authentication Enabled
• Click Apply and then OK to confirm the recent changes and restart your computer.

Sign back into your device again and check if this resolves the error code 0x00000709 on your PC. If you encounter this error code again, re-open Group Policy and this time select “RPC over TCP” using the drop-down menu next to Protocol to use for outgoing RPC connections. 

If this doesn’t work as well, try once again with “Authentication Disabled” under the Use Authentication for Outgoing RPC Connections. Play with settings carefully, as one of these configurations should resolve this issue for your printer.

3. Rename the Printer in the Registry Editor

An error 0x00000709 mostly occurs because of the presence of old files from previous printer installation(s). So, when you change the Printer name inside the registry, this might resolve this error code on your Windows PC. Here’s how to perform this task – 

• Press Windows + R to launch the Run dialog.
• Type Regedit on it, and hit OK.
• When the registry editor opens up, navigate to the below path –

Computer\HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows NT\CurrentVersion\Windows

• Head over to the right pane and locate the Device entry. Right-click on this entry, and select Modify.
• A pop-up window will appear next. Add your printer name first inside the Value data field. Make sure to leave other detail as it is. 

Click OK and close the registry. This might result in an error stating – “Cannot edit Device: Error writing the value’s new contents”. If that’s the case, you must set the permissions for this key. Here’s how to do that –

• Go to the left pane, right-click on the Windows folder, and select Permissions from the context menu.

• Go to the Group or user names section, and select Restricted.
• Again, go to the Permissions for Restricted section and mark the checkbox next to the Full Control and Read option.
• Finally, click on Apply and then OK.

Now that you received permissions for the restricted users, re-follow the above steps to add your Printer name inside the Value data field of the “Device” entry. 

Reboot your computer and check if this resolves the current printer issue on your Windows PC.

4. Uninstall Recent Cumulative update

This error once appeared after users installed the latest cumulative update, Oct 2021 Security patch i.e. KB5006670 on their PCs. Microsoft has acknowledged this issue and resolved it by providing a non-security update KB5007262 on Windows 11 and KB5007253 on Windows 10. 

If you received a fresh error 0x00000709, installing the above patches won’t do any good. Instead, what you can do is roll back to the previous Windows 11/10 Build version. Here’s how to remove recent cumulative updates from your computer. 

Note: If you had installed some other cumulative update and started getting this error code, uninstall that update. 

• Press Win + I to launch the Settings window.
• Go to Update & Security > Windows Update next.
• Click the “View update history” option on the right pane.

• Here, you will find an option – “Uninstall updates”, click on it.
• You will be redirected to the Installed updates on the Control Panel.
• Click “Uninstall a program” on the left pane. A list of all recent patch updates will appear on the right side.
• Scroll and locate “KB5006670”, right-click on it, and hit the option – Uninstall.
• When the warning message comes into the display, hit Yes.
• Your device will restart immediately afterward, and start removing the chosen update.
• Wait for this cumulative update to be removed successfully.

After this cumulative update uninstalls, restart your PC again, and see if you can now connect to a network printer.  

How can I remove an update using CMD?

Uninstalling a cumulative update is quite easy using the Command Prompt. However, you need to launch this tool as an administrator to make any system-level changes. 

• Use Win + X and choose Windows Terminal (Admin).
• Press Ctrl + Shift + 2 to enter the CMD screen on Windows 11. 
• Copy/paste the below command and press Enter –

wusa /uninstall /kb:5006670

Note: Do change “5006670” with the actual number of Cumulative Update after which you started getting into an error code 0x00000709.

Command Prompt will immediately start downgrading your device to a previous Build version. Wait for this downgrade and once it is over, check if the problem resolves. 

5. Run Printer Troubleshooter

Troubleshooting is another effective solution to fix error 0x00000709 when other fixes don’t work. Here’s how to initiate this tool on a Windows PC –

• Press Win + R to launch the Run dialog box. 
• In the search box, type the following code and press the Enter key –

msdt.exe /id PrinterDiagnostic

• On the following page, click on the Next button as shown in the below snapshot.

• Do as this troubleshooter says, and you will overcome the Printer error in no time. 

6. Disable the Windows 10 managing Printers automatically 

Windows 10 works on users’ behalf and auto-manages the available printers. If you are facing the 0x00000709 error, you should disable this optional feature by opening the local settings on your PC. Here’s how to perform this task –

• Launch Settings using the Win + I key combinations. 
• Select Devices thereafter Printers & Scanners. 
• Switch to the right pane and unmark the checkbox against “Let Windows manage my default printer“.

• Close all running windows and Restart your PC to save the changes made so far. 

7. Configure PointAndPrint registry 

If the problem persists even after applying the above fixes, check if this is occurring because of the registry entry – PointAndPrint. You may configure this DWORD entry by opening the Command Prompt as admin. here’s how you may modify this key on the registry –

• Open CMD as an administrator.
• When the Windows console opens up, copy/paste the following – 

reg add "HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Software\Policies\Microsoft\Windows NT\Printers\PointAndPrint" /v RestrictDriverInstallationToAdministrators /t REG_DWORD /d 1 /f

• Press Enter and see if this command runs successfully. 
• If it does, restart your PC.

The error 0x00000709 should disappear from the next login. 

8. Update the Printer Drivers

The presence of obsolete printer drivers may also result in Error 0x00000709 on Windows 10 PC. To rule out this section, you must update all the Print drivers using the below steps –

• Right-click on the Win Icon and select Device Manager.
• On the following screen, expand the arrow next to the “Universal Serial Bus Controllers”.
• When this section opens up, right-click again on the “USB composite device” and tap Update driver. See the Snapshot below –

• Next, choose “Search automatically for updated driver software”.
• The System will take care of the remaining things. Wait for a while and let the Device Manager do its task. 

Conclusion

I hope the above solutions indeed help you to overcome the printer 0x00000709 on your Windows 11/10 PC. Let us know in the comment section which solution exactly works in your case.