Fix Printer Sharing Error 0x0000011b on Windows 10/11 (Registry Fix)

It starts like any other Monday morning. You try to print a document from your computer to the office's shared printer, but nothing happens. You check the connection, and you see this annoying error code:

Connect to Printer: Windows cannot connect to the printer. Operation failed with error 0x0000011b.

You didn't change any settings. So what happened? This error is actually a side effect of a security patch released by Microsoft to fix the "PrintNightmare" vulnerability. While it secures your network, it also breaks sharing for older setups.

Many guides suggest uninstalling the Windows Update. Do not do that. It leaves your computer vulnerable to hackers. Instead, use this Registry fix.

Cannot connect to a shared printer? Getting error 0x0000011b? Here is the 100% working Registry Editor fix to bypass the RPCAuth level update without uninstalling security patches

The Registry Fix (Do this on the HOST PC)

You must perform this action on the computer where the printer is physically plugged in via USB (The Host PC), not the client PC.

Press Win + R on your keyboard, type regedit, and hit Enter.
Navigate through the folders to this specific path:

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\System\CurrentControlSet\Control\Print

Right-click on the blank space on the right side > select New > DWORD (32-bit) Value.
Name it exactly (case sensitive): RpcAuthnLevelPrivacyEnabled
Double click the new file and ensure the Value data is set to 0.
Restart the Print Spooler service (via Services.msc) or simply restart the computer.

Why does this work?

By default, the new Windows update requires strict RPC authentication (Kerberos) for printing. Setting this value to 0 disables that strict requirement for the Print Spooler, allowing older clients or mixed networks (Windows 7 and Windows 10/11) to communicate freely again without removing the security patch entirely.

Author: Marg | Daily Innovate Tech