A Windows update leads to a network printing error for users – here’s how to fix the problem.
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Windows-Error 0x0000011b: How to fix the printing error
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A Windows security update that was published in January 2021 and has now been rolled out to all users is currently causing problems. Windows users sometimes get the error 0x0000011b when printing on network printers. This is what Bleeping Computer reported.
The security update that was provided as “CVE-2021-1678” is summarized by Microsoft as follows:
“A workaround vulnerability exists in the way the printer remote procedure call (RPC) binding handles authentication for the remote winspool interface. The Windows Update addresses this vulnerability by increasing the RPC authentication level will be increased and a new policy and registration key will be introduced to enable customers to access the
Enforcement mode
Deactivate or activate on the server side in order to increase the authentication level. “
However, installing the security update does not automatically protect users. However, it adds a new registry key that administrators could use to increase the RPC authentication level used for network printing to help mitigate the vulnerability. Say the problem was only fixed when an admin created the following registry key:
[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINESystemCurrentControlSetControlPrint] "RpcAuthnLevelPrivacyEnabled"=dword:00000001
On September 14th, Microsoft activated this setting automatically and for every Windows device – even if the key was not created. As a result, users encountered the 0x0000011b error when printing on network printers. Uninstalling the security update can circumvent the error, but it is also vulnerable to the security holes.
How to fix 0x0000011b printing error
To fix the recent 0x0000011b printing errors without removing the latest Windows Updates (KB5005565), you can instead turn off protection CVE-2021-1678, which is turned on by default this month.
To do this, open the registry editor (Regedit) under Windows and navigate to the key
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE System CurrentControlSet Control Print,
create a new 32-bit DWORD value named
RpcAuthnLevelPrivacyEnabled
and set this to 0 as shown in the registry file below.
[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINESystemCurrentControlSetControlPrint] "RpcAuthnLevelPrivacyEnabled"=dword:00000000
Bleeping Computer has also provided a registry file that contains the fix to a certain extent and does it automatically for you. You can find it here:
Download fix-0x0000011b.reg from Bleeping Computer
As soon as the protection measure has been deactivated, you are no longer protected from the security hole, but you can hopefully be able to print again. If that doesn’t solve your problem, use the enable-RpcAuthnLevel.reg file to revert to the Windows default settings.
Further:
Dangerous printer exploit threatens Windows networks
