I know this error is infuriating — you hit print, and Windows throws 0x0000011b in your face, usually after a Windows update broke something that used to work fine. Let's fix it.
The real culprit is a security patch Microsoft pushed to close a PrintNightmare vulnerability. It tightened the rules around who can load printer drivers over the network. Shared printers that used to connect without a fuss now get blocked. The error code is Windows saying "I don't trust that print driver connection anymore."
The fix that works on most machines
You'll need admin rights. If you're on a work laptop and IT locked down the registry, stop here and call them — this edit gets reverted by group policy anyway.
- Press Win + R, type
regedit, hit Enter. Click Yes on the UAC prompt. - Navigate to:
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Control\Print - Right-click Print, choose New > DWORD (32-bit) Value.
- Name it
RpcAuthnLevelPrivacyEnabled. - Double-click it, leave the value at
0, click OK. - Close Registry Editor.
Now restart the Print Spooler service. Open an elevated Command Prompt and run:
net stop spooler
net start spoolerOr if you prefer PowerShell:
Restart-Service -Name Spooler -ForceTry printing again. Nine times out of ten, it just works. If it doesn't, reboot — sometimes the RPC service needs a full restart to pick up the registry change.
Heads up: you'll also need to apply the same registry change on the computer sharing the printer, not just the client trying to connect. I've seen people fix one side and pull their hair out over the other.
Why this actually fixes it
That registry key controls how strict the RPC authentication is for printer connections. After the PrintNightmare patches (KB5005565 on Windows 10, KB5005565 and later on 11), Windows defaults to requiring full RPC privacy — meaning the client has to authenticate at a very specific level before the spooler will talk to it. Older printers and drivers don't speak that language. Setting RpcAuthnLevelPrivacyEnabled to 0 relaxes the requirement back to the old behavior for print traffic only. It's not a blanket security downgrade, but it does reopen the door that the patch closed, so think about whether you trust every device on your LAN before you flip it.
If that doesn't work: less common variations
The printer's on a different subnet or behind a VPN
RPC over TCP doesn't traverse most VPNs cleanly. If you're remote and trying to hit an office printer, the 0x0000011b error is a symptom, not the problem. Use a print server with IPP instead, or connect via a cloud print service. No registry tweak will make RPC work through a split-tunnel VPN.
You're on Windows 11 22H2 or later
Microsoft re-tightened things again in 22H2. You may need a second key: RpcAuthnLevelPrivacyEnabled under HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Policies\Microsoft\Windows NT\Printers\PointAndPrint. Set it to 0 there too, then restart the spooler.
Third-party print drivers fighting back
Some HP and Brother universal drivers still refuse to connect even after the registry fix. Uninstall the driver completely using Print Management (printmanagement.msc), then remove the driver from the Drivers node, and add the printer fresh. Don't just "Remove device" from Settings — that leaves the driver behind.
Print spooler keeps crashing
If the spooler dies every few minutes, you've got a corrupted print job stuck in the queue. Stop the spooler, delete everything in C:\Windows\System32\spool\PRINTERS, then start it again. Don't try to open the files — just delete them.
net stop spooler
del /Q /F C:\Windows\System32\spool\PRINTERS\*
net start spoolerKeeping it from coming back
- Pause Windows updates for a week before big rollouts. PrintNightmare patches have broken printers three times now. Waiting a few days for the community to find the workaround saves you an afternoon.
- Stop using shared printers over SMB. If your printer has an Ethernet port or Wi-Fi, connect directly via IP. You skip the whole RPC mess.
- Document the registry key. If you support a small office, save the fix somewhere. You'll use it again.
- Check vendor drivers quarterly. HP, Canon, and Brother have all released updated drivers that work with the new RPC defaults. The generic Microsoft driver is not your friend here.
That's it. Registry key, spooler restart, and a bit of prevention. If you're still stuck after all that, the printer itself may be the problem — try it on a different machine to rule that out before you keep digging in Windows.