How to fix network printing error 0x0000007c in Windows?

Error 0x0000007c is Windows error 124, ERROR_INVALID_LEVEL: your PC could not finish connecting to a printer that another PC or a print server shares. It most often fails at the driver step. Install the same printer driver on your PC first, then connect again.

Facts checked on 15 October 2026. Steps written for Windows 11 (25H2 and 26H2) and Windows 10 22H2.

What "Operation failed with error 0x0000007c" means

The full message reads "Windows cannot connect to the printer." and, under Show details, "Operation failed with error 0x0000007c." The box is titled Connect to Printer and belongs to the Add Printer wizard. It appears when you double-click a shared printer under Network or add it by name.

0x0000007c is a hexadecimal number. In decimal it is 124. Microsoft's list of system error codes names it ERROR_INVALID_LEVEL with the text "The system call level is not correct". For printing it means that your PC asked the other spooler for printer or driver data at a level that side would not serve, so the connection stops before a page is sent.

Why Windows cannot connect to the printer with 0x0000007c: causes, ranked

Microsoft documents 0x0000007c only as a known issue of the October 2021 updates, fixed a month later. Today the error comes back for other reasons. The ranking below comes from Microsoft's update notes, its Point and Print rules and what users report on Microsoft Q&A.

• Why the driver comes first. Since the August 10, 2021 updates, Microsoft requires administrator rights to install any printer driver through Point and Print. On Microsoft Q&A, users with an HP LaserJet 1020 and 1022, a Brother laser printer and other older models report that installing the driver on the client first ended 0x0000007c.
• Why updates appear. Microsoft listed 0x0000007c among the errors Windows print clients "might encounter" after the October 12, 2021 updates when they connect to a printer shared on a Windows print server.
• Why it is not about your printer. The code comes from the Windows print system before any data reaches the printer. Ink, paper and cables are not the cause.

The 2021 PrintNightmare updates and error 0x0000007c today

Most pages about this error date from late 2021. After the PrintNightmare print spooler flaws, Microsoft tightened Point and Print in several steps. The October 12, 2021 update broke connections to shared printers with three codes, and Microsoft fixed that in the November 22, 2021 preview updates.

How to fix error 0x0000007c: eight fixes in order

Fix 1 and Fix 2 solve most cases and work on the PC that shows the error. Fix 3 to Fix 5 need the PC that shares the printer. Fix 6 and Fix 7 are for special cases, and Fix 8 avoids the shared route altogether.

Fix 1. Install the printer driver on your PC first, then connect to the shared printer

5 to 10 minutesLow riskThe error appears after "Do you trust this printer?" and Install driver, or you print to an older HP, Brother, Epson or Canon model shared by another PC.

When your PC already has a driver with the same name, Windows does not need to pull one from the sharing PC through Point and Print. That skips the step that fails with 0x0000007c. Users on Microsoft Q&A report that this ended the error for several older laser printers.

1. On the PC that shares the printer, open the printer's Printer properties, then the Advanced tab, and note the exact name in the Driver field.
2. On your PC, press Win + R, type printui.exe /s /t2 and press Enter. Print Server Properties opens on the Drivers tab.
3. Select Add, then Next, tick x64 (or ARM64 on an ARM PC) and select Next.
4. Pick the maker and the driver with exactly the name you noted, then Next and Finish. If it is not in the list, download the maker's driver, unpack it and use Have Disk to point at its .inf file.
5. Approve the administrator prompt. A standard user cannot install printer drivers since the August 2021 change.
6. Add the shared printer again by double-clicking it under Network, or by \\HostName\ShareName as in Fix 2.

/s opens the print server properties and /t2 starts on the third tab, which is Drivers; Microsoft's printui reference lists both switches. You can also install the maker's full driver package for your Windows version with its own setup and then connect.

Fix 2. Restart Print Spooler on both PCs and add the printer again by its share name

10 minutesLow riskFor everyone after Fix 1, and first for readers whose printer worked before.

A spooler holding an old connection, or a share whose name changed on the host, makes the request fail. A spooler restart on the host and on your PC, then a fresh connection by the current share name, removes both.

1. On the sharing PC, press Win + R, type services.msc and press Enter.
2. Right-click Print Spooler and select Restart. If it is stopped, double-click it, set Startup type to Automatic, select Start, then OK.
3. Do the same on your PC.
4. On the sharing PC, open the printer's Printer properties, then the Sharing tab. Check Share this printer and note the Share name.
5. On your PC, remove the old printer in Printers & scanners if it is listed.
6. Select Add device, then Add manually, choose Select a shared printer by name and type \\HostName\ShareName. On Windows 10 select Add a printer or scanner, then The printer that I want isn't listed.
7. When asked, enter the user name and password of the sharing PC, or use the same account on both PCs, as Microsoft suggests.

The same restart in Terminal (Admin): Restart-Service -Name Spooler. More on services: Check and restart Windows services. Microsoft's steps for the sharing side are also turning on Network discovery and File and printer sharing under Advanced sharing settings.

Fix 3. Update both PCs, the sharing one first

15 to 40 minutesLow riskOne PC has not been updated for weeks, or the error began right after an update on one side.

Microsoft's own fix for 0x0000007c arrived in the November 22, 2021 updates and is in every cumulative update since. A host or client stuck on an older level keeps the bug, and very different levels on the two sides can disagree on how to hand over the driver.

1. On the sharing PC, open Settings > Windows Update, select Check for updates, install everything and restart. On Windows 10: Settings > Update & Security > Windows Update.
2. Do the same on your PC.
3. Run winver on both PCs and note the version and build.
4. Add the printer again as in Fix 2.

If the error began the day a new update installed and Microsoft's release health page lists a printing issue for it, you can remove that one update as a short test: How to uninstall a Windows update. Install it again with the next release.

Fix 4. Old sharing PC: connect through a Local Port with the printer's share path

10 minutesLow riskThe printer is shared by a Windows 7 PC, Windows Server 2008 R2 or another system that no longer gets updates, and Fix 1 to Fix 3 did not help.

A Local Port named \\HostName\ShareName makes your PC a local printer that sends its jobs to the share. Your PC uses its own driver and does not ask the host for driver data, so the request that fails with 0x0000007c never happens.

1. Install the printer's driver on your PC first, as in Fix 1.
2. Open Control Panel > Hardware and Sound > Devices and Printers and select Add a printer. Select The printer that I want isn't listed.
3. Choose Add a local printer or network printer with manual settings and select Next.
4. Select Create a new port, choose Local Port in the list and select Next.
5. In Enter a port name, type \\HostName\ShareName and select OK.
6. Pick the driver you installed, select Use the driver that is currently installed, give the printer a name and print a test page.

Fix 5. Clean up the printer driver on the PC that shares the printer

20 to 30 minutesRead the warningEvery client fails with this printer, while other printers shared by the same PC work.

If the driver package on the sharing PC is damaged, or a mismatched extra driver sits next to it, the host cannot answer a client's request for it. Reinstalling the maker's current driver on the host gives clients a clean package to download.

1. On the sharing PC, remove the printer in Printers & scanners.
2. Press Win + R, type printui.exe /s /t2 and press Enter.
3. Select the printer's driver, then Remove, choose Remove driver and driver package and confirm. On Windows 11 Pro you can do the same in Print Management (printmanagement.msc) under All Drivers.
4. Restart the PC.
5. Install the maker's current driver for this Windows version and add the printer.
6. Share it again under the same Share name as before, then connect from a client as in Fix 2.

If Remove says the driver is in use, restart Print Spooler and try again. General driver steps: Update, roll back or reinstall a driver.

Fix 6. Windows 11 22H2 and later: match the print connection settings of both PCs

15 minutesRead the warningOne side runs Windows 11 22H2 or later and the other is an older Windows that no longer changes. Needs an administrator.

Since Windows 11 22H2, Microsoft says print connections between PCs use RPC over TCP by default. An older host or client that expects named pipes can then fail to hand over the printer. Matching one side to the other restores the connection.

1. On the sharing PC, check that no third-party firewall blocks incoming TCP port 135 and ports 49152 to 65535 from your local network.
2. If the sharing PC is old and you cannot change it, open Terminal (Admin) on your Windows 11 PC and run the command below.
3. Restart your PC and add the printer again as in Fix 2.

Client: connect to shared printers with RPC over named pipes (1 = named pipes, 0 or not set = RPC over TCP)

reg add "HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Policies\Microsoft\Windows NT\Printers\RPC" /v RpcUseNamedPipeProtocol /t REG_DWORD /d 1 /f

Our guide to error 0x00000709 explains every combination of these settings for host and client.

Fix 7. Copy mscms.dll into the printer driver folder (a user-reported workaround)

5 minutesLow riskFix 1 to Fix 6 did not help and you want to try the workaround users shared in 2021.

mscms.dll is the Windows color management library. Users on Microsoft Q&A and older guides report that a copy of it in the driver folder let some shared printers connect. Microsoft does not document this, and we could not confirm why it works.

1. Open File Explorer and go to C:\Windows\System32.
2. Find mscms.dll, right-click it and select Copy.
3. On 64-bit Windows, open C:\Windows\System32\spool\drivers\x64\3 and paste the file. On 32-bit Windows 10 the folder is C:\Windows\System32\spool\drivers\w32x86\3.
4. Approve the administrator prompt, restart the PC and add the printer again.

Fix 8. Add a network printer by its IP address instead of through another PC

10 minutesLow riskThe printer has its own Wi-Fi or Ethernet connection and the route through a sharing PC keeps failing.

A printer with its own network port does not need a sharing PC. Each PC then talks to the printer directly with its own driver, and no Point and Print request can fail with 0x0000007c.

1. Find the printer's IP address on its control panel or on a network settings page it prints.
2. Open Printers & scanners and select Add device, then Add manually. On Windows 10 select Add a printer or scanner, then The printer that I want isn't listed.
3. Choose the option to add a printer by its IP address or host name and type the address.
4. Let Windows find the driver, or install the maker's driver, and print a test page.
5. Remove the old shared printer entry so apps stop using it.

Still getting 0x0000007c? Where the real cause is written

The error box never says which PC refused the request. Before you try anything else, check what both sides have and what the print system logged. These facts are also what support will ask for.

• What to send to support: both Windows versions and builds, the printer model, the exact share path, both Get-PrinterDriver lists and any PrintService errors with their time.
• On a work PC: printers and drivers are often set by Group Policy. Ask your administrator, because a fix you make may be undone at the next sign-in.
• Is it hardware? No. If the printer prints a test page on the PC it is attached to, the printer is fine and the problem is the connection.

How to keep error 0x0000007c from coming back

The error returns when a new PC joins without the driver, when the host's driver changes, or when one side falls behind on updates. A few habits keep it away.

Frequently asked questions

What does error 0x0000007c mean?

It is Windows system error 124, ERROR_INVALID_LEVEL: "The system call level is not correct." With printers it shows as "Windows cannot connect to the printer. Operation failed with error 0x0000007c." Your PC asked the PC that shares the printer for printer or driver data, and the request was refused. Install the printer's driver on your PC first (Fix 1), then add the printer again after a spooler restart on both PCs (Fix 2).

Why does this error happen? Is it caused by a Windows update?

It was in 2021. Microsoft confirmed that the October 12, 2021 updates KB5006670 and KB5006674 could cause 0x0000007c with printers shared on a Windows print server, and fixed it in KB5007253 and KB5007262 on November 22, 2021. On an updated PC today the usual cause is the driver: since August 2021 only administrators can install printer drivers through Point and Print, and old drivers fail that step.

Are 0x000007c, 0x00000007c and "error 0x00007c" the same error?

Yes. They differ only in how many zeros stand before 7c, which does not change the number. "Erro 0x0000007c" is the same error in a Portuguese Windows. All of them are error 124, and the fixes on this page apply to all. Searches for "0xc00000 7c windows 10" usually mean the same printer message too. Codes such as 0x0000007, 0x00000007, 0x00000077 and 0x000007de are different errors with different causes.

How do I fix 0x0000007c on Windows 10?

The same way as on Windows 11. Install the printer driver on the Windows 10 PC with printui.exe /s /t2 (Fix 1), restart Print Spooler on both PCs and add the printer by \\HostName\ShareName (Fix 2), and install all updates (Fix 3). The menu paths differ slightly and are given in each fix. Windows 10 left support on 14 October 2025, so it gets no new print fixes.

Should I uninstall KB5006670 or KB5006674 to fix 0x0000007c?

No. That advice dates from October 2021, before Microsoft's fix in KB5007253 and KB5007262. Cumulative updates have replaced those two updates long ago, so a current PC does not list them at all. Removing a security update today only leaves your PC exposed. Update both PCs instead (Fix 3), and install the driver on your PC first (Fix 1).

Do the FeatureManagement Overrides registry values like 713073804 still help?

Not on a current PC. In November 2021 users shared values under HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Policies\Microsoft\FeatureManagement\Overrides, for example 713073804 set to 0 on Windows 10 2004 to 21H2, and several reported that they worked then. Those builds are out of support, Microsoft's own fix shipped weeks later, and we could not confirm any effect on Windows 11 or Windows 10 22H2 today.

Can I fix 0x0000007c without administrator rights?

Usually not. The step that fails is installing the printer's driver, and since the August 10, 2021 updates Windows requires an administrator for that by default. An administrator only needs to install the driver once (Fix 1); after that a standard user can connect to the shared printer. On a work PC, ask IT, because driver policies there are set centrally.

Is 0x0000007c a fault of my printer?

No. The code comes from the Windows print system while two PCs set up the connection, before any page reaches the printer. Ink, paper and cables are not involved. Print a test page on the PC the printer is attached to: if that works, the printer is fine and the fault is in the driver, the share or an update level.

Nothing on this page worked. What else can I try?

Take the shared route out of the picture. If the printer has Wi-Fi or Ethernet, add it by its IP address on every PC (Fix 8). If it only has USB, connect it to your PC directly for a test. Then collect the driver names, both Windows builds and the PrintService log as shown in the "still not fixed" section and send them to the printer maker or Microsoft support.