Recently while installing a network printer I encountered a copy error when the install process tried to copy the printer drivers from a network share.
I was using a script that executes RUNDLL32 PRINTUI.DLL,PrintUIEntry to perform the install. The location was correct. All permissions were set properly. Eventually I happened upon the following line in the setupapi.log file.
#-175 SPFILENOTIFY_COPYERROR: Source = “\\MyNetworkShare\hp_cp3525x\hp color laserje\drivers\i386(32 bit – 2000_xp_s2003_vista)\pcl6\hpcp3525.CF_”, Target = “C:\WINDOWS\System32\spool\DRIVERS\W32X86\hewlett_packardhp_cof94c\hpcp3525.CFG”, Flags = 0x00000000, Error = 0x0000001e.
A web search led me to a Microsoft KB article that talked about the same problem when installing drivers in a Windows Server 2008 cluster environment. In the KB article, the problem was that the length of the file path exceeded 128 characters.
I checked the length of my file path and it exceeded 128 characters. I changed the path so that the length was exactly 127 characters. The install worked.
This scenario was consistent on Windows XP (32-bit) machines but not on Win 7 64-bit machines. Interestingly, I have performed numerous installs previously with no problem. Perhaps some Windows update was involved? I don’t know. If you have some insight into this issue, please share in the comments below.
So if you receive a copy error when doing an install, check your file path length. That just might be the problem.
Miscellaneous IT Pimpery 
Oh god, trying to re-install this printer which has a corrupted driver and just keep on running into problem after problem after problem, everything throwing me off and making me think in the wrong direction. Exactly THIS issue was one of the sources to why I couldn’t install a fresh driver, on top of all the other stuff. A big thanks to Microsoft for their printer management model. Pff, and a genuine thanks to Google and you for this post ^^
I’m glad it helped!
Haha sorry for the pessimistic post, was a bit stressed at the time. But yeah, once again thanks for your blog, saved me a lot of headache :)
To anyone viewing this thread, check out Poul’s site by clicking on his name. Lots of good stuff there.
Click it, you know you want to.
Great info ZS, helped me out big time with a client today!
Excellent!
ZS, Tearing out what little hair remains on my head all day today over this! Your tip was the needle in the haystack for me. Thanks again for taking the time to post your findings. best regards
This is exactly what I’ve been looking for. Thank you figuring it out and sharing.
Thanks for the feedback. Glad the post was helpful.
Long Path Tool helped me in this situation. http://PathTooDeep.com
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