Access denied to UNC printer share on Windows Server 2025

We replaced our Windows print server with Windows Server 2025, migrating the printers over.

We are unable to access the UNC printer shares remotely on the new server using:

copy file \\servername\printername

As with the previous server. This fails withAccess is denied from Windows 11 25H2 and on the server itself.

Access to file shares works. Net Use of the printer share works. The account attempting to copy is a domain account that is an administrator on the local client and on the new print server. Printer security is correct, the Printers spooler file security allows Write access by Users and Full Control by Administrators and SYSTEM.

Any suggestions on what is different about printer shares on Windows Server 2025?

Well, copy to \\server\printershare was never really a supported way to interact with a shared printer... Right, older Windows releases were pretty forgiving and let a lot of stuff slide, but after the whole PrintNightmare saga Microsoft has been locking the print spooler down pretty aggressively, especially in Server 2022 and 2025. So, \\server\printershare you see listed is a print provider endpoint, not a regular SMB file share, and while net use may still enumerate it or even establish a connection, copy isn't something that's expected to work anymore. Getting an Access is denied error is pretty much the new normal.

If your goal is simply to install or connect to the printer, stick with the supported methods:

1. rundll32 printui.dll,PrintUIEntry ...
2. Add-Printer
3. Group Policy
4. Browse to \\server and double-click the printer you want.

Long story short, if your app is using copy as some kind of compatibility or sanity check, that's probably the thing that finally bit the dust, not printer sharing itself. Microsoft has been killing off a lot of legacy spooler behavior over the last few Windows releases, and this looks like just another casualty of those security hardening changes.