Print dialog not showing up on Windows 64 Bit on a AMD CPU
January 22nd, 2010 . by Daniel HölblingImagine the following: Clint calls telling me “Hey Daniel, I just got a new computer with Windows 7 64 Bit installed, everything is working great so far. The Software you wrote a year ago works fine on it too, only problem: I can’t print”
My immediate reaction: “Reboot the system” (ok kinda lame, but I have spent too much time with problems that went away through a reboot to not suggest it).
Well, but the reboot didn’t help here. Even after rebooting the print dialog was still not showing up.
Now, I know for a fact that the Software runs fine on Win7, I also know it runs fine on Win7 x64 (since I developed it running both x32 and x64 Win7 Beta builds back in the day). And since I am using the PrintDialog class provided by the .NET framework I wasn’t really sure what could be the issue. I mean, hey that’s a framework class, those things are supposed to run cross platform and be CPU ignorant. But hey, why not simply ask Google the most stupid question I could think of: “windows 64 .net print dialog” ..
And the answer was right there on Microsoft’s MSDN page as a remark:
Also, The PrintDialog class may not work on AMD64 microprocessors unless you set the UseEXDialog property to true.
WTF? (Ok more words come to mind, but since I don’t want to get hatemail for my language I’ll leave it at that).
We are talking about a class in the .NET BCL that is supposed to work cross plattform (at least Windows), be completely CPU ignorant (fully managed), and yet I have to set UseExDialog to true to see this dialog on a AMD CPU? Are you kidding me Microsoft?
Well, the fix was quite easy (thankfully). I went into my PrintDialogFactory and changed one line of code, packed a new release and sent it to my client, yet my confidence in BCL classes has been severely shaken.
I really don’t know anything about the reasons for this odd (to say the least) behavior, but I can say that I am a bit sad to see it monkey-patched like this. Especially in a VM environment like the .NET framework I expect Microsoft to solve their system-specific problems under the hood where I can’t see them and don’t have to care about them.
It doesn't work on an Intel Quad Core 6600 processor either … Thank goodness for your post !
Well i was looking for a solution to same problem too.
It is not an AMD problem only. I got the same printing problem with INTEL i5 Core.nnAnd thx for your hint. It worked!
It is not an AMD problem only. I got the same printing problem with INTEL i5 Core.nnAnd thx for your hint. It worked!
It is not an AMD problem only. I got the same printing problem with INTEL i5 Core.nnAnd thx for your hint. It worked!
It is not an AMD problem only. I got the same printing problem with INTEL i5 Core.nnAnd thx for your hint. It worked!
It is not an AMD problem only. I got the same printing problem with INTEL i5 Core.nnAnd thx for your hint. It worked!
It is not an AMD problem only. I got the same printing problem with INTEL i5 Core.nnAnd thx for your hint. It worked!
It is not an AMD problem only. I got the same printing problem with INTEL i5 Core.nnAnd thx for your hint. It worked!
It is not an AMD problem only. I got the same printing problem with INTEL i5 Core.nnAnd thx for your hint. It worked!
It is not an AMD problem only. I got the same printing problem with INTEL i5 Core.nnAnd thx for your hint. It worked!
It is not an AMD problem only. I got the same printing problem with INTEL i5 Core.nnAnd thx for your hint. It worked!
It is not an AMD problem only. I got the same printing problem with INTEL i5 Core.nnAnd thx for your hint. It worked!
It is not an AMD problem only. I got the same printing problem with INTEL i5 Core.nnAnd thx for your hint. It worked!
It is not an AMD problem only. I got the same printing problem with INTEL i5 Core.nnAnd thx for your hint. It worked!
It is not an AMD problem only. I got the same printing problem with INTEL i5 Core.nnAnd thx for your hint. It worked!
It is not an AMD problem only. I got the same printing problem with INTEL i5 Core.nnAnd thx for your hint. It worked!
It is not an AMD problem only. I got the same printing problem with INTEL i5 Core.nnAnd thx for your hint. It worked!
It is not an AMD problem only. I got the same printing problem with INTEL i5 Core.nnAnd thx for your hint. It worked!
It is not an AMD problem only. I got the same printing problem with INTEL i5 Core.nnAnd thx for your hint. It worked!
It is not an AMD problem only. I got the same printing problem with INTEL i5 Core.nnAnd thx for your hint. It worked!
It is not an AMD problem only. I got the same printing problem with INTEL i5 Core.nnAnd thx for your hint. It worked!
It is not an AMD problem only. I got the same printing problem with INTEL i5 Core.nnAnd thx for your hint. It worked!
It is not an AMD problem only. I got the same printing problem with INTEL i5 Core.nnAnd thx for your hint. It worked!
It is not an AMD problem only. I got the same printing problem with INTEL i5 Core.nnAnd thx for your hint. It worked!
It is not an AMD problem only. I got the same printing problem with INTEL i5 Core.nnAnd thx for your hint. It worked!
It is not an AMD problem only. I got the same printing problem with INTEL i5 Core.nnAnd thx for your hint. It worked!
It is not an AMD problem only. I got the same printing problem with INTEL i5 Core.nnAnd thx for your hint. It worked!
It is not an AMD problem only. I got the same printing problem with INTEL i5 Core.nnAnd thx for your hint. It worked!
It is not an AMD problem only. I got the same printing problem with INTEL i5 Core.
And thx for your hint. It worked!