While trying to connect to shared printer on a Windows 2003 server (32 bit) from a Windows 7 (32 bit) client, I kept getting a “Windows cannot connect to the printer. Operation failed with error 0x0000002.” I stumbled on an interesting little trick to get around this issue.

First, I created the printer locally and allowed Windows 7 to install the appropriate driver. After the printer has been created, I went into the printer Properties and clicked on the Ports tab. Then, Add Port… Select Local Port, and click New Port… Enter the UNC to the printer share name. For example, \\servername\printersharename.

Then, the printer worked an used the Windows 2003 print share. It is not the cleanest solution, but it does get the printer working using the shared printer on the Windows 2003 server.