Canon Printer – Windows XP SP2 compatibility patch

Here’s an unhappy story that, fingers crossed, should have a happy ending. After installing Windows XP Service Pack 2, you may find that your Canon printer no longer works. You may get the following errors:

• ‘Multipass: unable to communicate with device. Please start MPService from the Services Applet…’
• ‘Print Job Failed: The print job failed to complete. Reason: Unable to communicate with device…’ [Note: the print job may have actually completed!]
• ‘Server Busy: The action cannot be completed because the other program is busy…” [You press Switch or Retry and the error reappears].

Canon give this answer: 'The MPC190 and MPC200 software, in its original form, is incompatible with Windows XP Service Pack 2'. Unfortunately, that doesn't say much about why it happens - the underlying cause lies with the way Windows XP SP2 blocks ports. In other words, the enhanced security of Windows XP SP2 stops it talking to certain Canon printers, namely the MPC190 and MPC200. Looking over the error messages above, you may be able to guess it is a communication problem, but you would hard pressed to realise it was due to a newly blocked port.

The good news is that Canon have a patch, it's small and all reports show that it is effective. It's also tiny - the way a patch should be.

Canon

mp4x0tMPSxpsp2.zip

117KB

Windows XP SP2 and a Canon MPC190 or MPC200

DOWNLOAD Canon Printer – Windows XP SP2 compatibility patch