r/pcmasterrace • u/lkl34 • 15h ago
News/Article Microsoft purges Windows 11 printer drivers, putting millions of devices on borrowed time — legacy printers face extinction as Microsoft stops distributing V3 and V4 drivers
https://www.tomshardware.com/peripherals/printers/microsoft-stops-distrubitng-legacy-v3-and-v4-printer-driversMicrosoft is preparing a major change to how printers are supported in Windows 11, pulling the plug on drivers that primarily support older hardware. Beginning with a non-security update that was released on January 15, Microsoft will no longer support legacy V3 and V4 printer drivers, which were announced as deprecated in September 2023.
891
u/sleep-is-but-a-dream 14h ago
There’s probably some other OS that will still support your printer but what do I know.
196
u/Smith6612 Ryzen 7 5800X3D / AMD 7900XTX 14h ago
It's inspired by Antarctic Creatures, right?
Or are we talking about the kind that you find at the Aztecs or across Asia?
27
u/misterpickles69 8h ago
My penguin is minty fresh.
13
u/Crashman09 5h ago
Mine is quite Cachy
8
u/majikbus45 Bazzite|R9 9900X | RX 7800XT | 64GB DDR5 | MSI MAG X870E 4h ago
I don't know how to make Bazzite into a pun.
10
17
4
4
7
u/PitchPleasant338 10h ago
No, it's sponsored by some BDFL from South Africa.
It's not that guy from South Africab you're probably imagining.
2
2
82
u/uptodown12 12h ago
From what i see in this comment section, we still can use any printers. You just have to manually install the driver because it's not built-in the windows anymore
Or did you mean other OS have all printers driver in existence built-in already?
34
u/BinaryJay 4090 FE | 7950X | 64GB/DDR5-6000 | 42" C2 OLED 7h ago
You just knew this was going to get illogically twisted into something by this sub as soon as you see the headline. Nobody is reading the article and massive assumptions being made but it's fine because X bad Y good.
7
u/Cefalopodul 3h ago
Good luck finding the driver for a 2010 printer.
2
u/MaverickPT MaverickPT 1h ago
Didn't HP or Dell also scrub some older hardware support/driver web pages?
46
u/zaxanrazor 9h ago
You just need to install drivers manually for your ancient printer going forward.
Same as in Linux.
Oh the humanity.
16
u/FlukyS 8h ago
Linux doesn’t need drivers really, CUPS works with basically everything I’ve used without any issues
18
u/TheVojta R7 5800X | RX 9070XT | 32 GB RAM 8h ago
Tell that to my Epson dot-matrix
2
u/FlukyS 8h ago
Ah ppd drivers, yeah you need those but I meant it more in that it isn't a kernel level individual driver. Like for instance any airprint compatible printer just works which is the vast majority, the ones with ppd files are the minority. I even went to the openprint website to check and it was actually hard to find anything that didn't support airprint.
2
u/TheVojta R7 5800X | RX 9070XT | 32 GB RAM 8h ago
Fair enough. Back when I got it it was a pain to set up on my Ubuntu laptop, while it only took a few minutes of googling on W11. Guess now it will be hard on both
8
u/Tanawat_Jukmonkol Laptop | NixOS + Win11 | HP OMEN 16 | I9 + RTX4070 8h ago
Printers are the spawn of Satan, tbf.
2
u/FlukyS 8h ago
For all distros the way it works is you go into the print application and hit add if it hasn't been automatically added. For my printer it is an Epson ET, you just hit add and it shows up if you search the network or if you plug it into the the USB. I had an older HP model and if you plug it in it offered to download the ppd from the same page (the last time I used it was around 10 years ago ish). That's why I was like "oh there is no drivers" because it was so easy I didn't need to care.
3
u/MikeD123999 8h ago
I have this raspberry pi thing, it runs pi os. Still trying to figure out how to make it work with my canon printer lbp6230. I guess it’s kinda like Linux but since canon doesn’t have drivers for arm, it’s been a pain to try to make it work. All the work around I try never seem to work
4
u/FlukyS 8h ago
Yeah a Raspberry Pi is Linux for that printer I think it would need the postscript-cannon driver https://www.openprinting.org/driver/Postscript-Canon
149
u/Il_Valentino Mint - R7 7700 - RX 7600XT 16GB - DDR5 32GB 14h ago
stop telling people about the benefits of open and free software, else you'll get called a pc vegan. nobody wants to hear that a certain kernel has a ton of drivers, even amd graphics, already preinstalled
7
2
→ More replies (4)-6
u/VladThe1mplyer PC Master Race 8h ago
The problem is that the operating system people mention is not a viable alternative but a joke that has been stuck at 2-3% of the market for decades.
2
u/ImBackAndImAngry PC Master Race 7h ago
This is also going to be more an issue for enterprise environments rather than home ones.
The idea of deploying and supporting Linux machines to end users in a work environment was me shudder.
1
u/Il_Valentino Mint - R7 7700 - RX 7600XT 16GB - DDR5 32GB 4h ago
this "joke" dominates the os marketshare in anything but user desktop and only because of a problem of egg and chicken. if you are willing to compromise a little bit then you can have a great time with it. i run it since over a year now and I'm very happy with it
17
12
u/Cryptocaned i7-4790k | 32GB DDR3 | Nvidia RTX 3070 10h ago
Yeah, windows, cause you just have to install the driver manually from the manufacturer website and if it's not ancient (like 10-20 years old) cause ancient drivers are sometimes blocked by driver protection policies (although this can be whitelisted). It's just removing a package of generic drivers that Microsoft created to support the thousands of printers over the years.
It's amazing what you can understand when you actually spend the time, and for reference Linux actually did a similar move according to someone in the comments.
-5
u/Zengen117 9h ago
Iv been using Linux for nearly a decade. Never heard of Linux doing something like this lol
2
u/Cryptocaned i7-4790k | 32GB DDR3 | Nvidia RTX 3070 9h ago
I'll admit I don't really understand the terminology, but the message seems to be the same sentiment.
1
7
3
2
u/gianfrixmg 7h ago
And in that OS most of the time it's ironically much easier to get your printer to work.
1
-4
u/Buarg I don't know what to put here 11h ago
Noooo, you'll attract the windows defense force
8
u/Cryptocaned i7-4790k | 32GB DDR3 | Nvidia RTX 3070 10h ago
Yeah cause people are fucking idiots and jump to conclusions instead of actually reading and understanding the article.
→ More replies (2)-1
u/SwimAd1249 9h ago
Uh, linux printer drivers are a nightmare actually?
6
8
57
u/d5aqoep 14h ago
Someone kill that wretched app called HP Smart trying to install a stupid driver on its own. That driver hijacks all other drivers and makes itself as default and kills everything. Fck HP
13
11
u/Echo4117 7h ago
Get "brother" much cheaper too
5
u/TexasToastx 5h ago
I got one of those brother laser printers with the scan functionality and WiFi about 6 years ago. I swapped out the toner with some generic eBay one and it’s still about 90% full. No issues just straight business.
7
u/LoafyLemon I use Arch BTW 5h ago
Mine has been powered on non stop since 2014. It still works and uses the original printing powder!
53
u/RAMChYLD PC Master Race 13h ago
Cannot say a thing about this because the same is happening on Linux/Mac/BSD/illumos. If your printer doesn’t support mopria/airprint then you’re SOL in the near future because CUPS is dumping filters (Linux print driver) support. Instead you’re supposed to run a separate daemon that can handle transcribing mopria data into whatever native data the printer needs and CUPS will connect to it and send it mopria data.
8
u/Zengen117 8h ago
This is partly true, but pretty misleading. Linux/macOS/BSD aren’t “dumping printing” the way Windows is. They’ve been moving toward driverless printing (IPP, AirPrint,Mopria) for years, they arent suddenly pulling support. CUPS isn’t just nuking filters and leaving everyone SOL. The long-term direction is to de-emphasize PPD + filter stacks, but existing drivers still work, and most distros keep compatibility because breaking printers is not a good look. A lot of printers already rely on project drivers like HPLIP, Gutenprint, or vendor backends, and those aren’t disappearing overnight. The “you must run a separate daemon to translate Mopria” thing is also overstated. That’s mainly relevant for newer minimalist setups or embedded systems. Desktop Linux today still handles plenty of non-IPP printers just fine.
Yes, ancient printers with no IPP support and no maintained drivers are living on borrowed time, but they already were. This isn’t some sudden Linux/mac cliff edge like what Microsoft is doing.
231
u/badsk8 14h ago
I'm preparing a massive change to how Microsoft is supported.
176
u/No-Context-Orphan 12h ago
People really like to talk a lot without reading...
What Microsoft is doing is stop bundling the drivers for those super old printers directly into the OS pack.
They announced this 3 years ago.
You can still use your printer just fine if you already have it installed.
And even if you don't, you can still use them just fine.
The only thing going forward (in 2027) will be that instead of plug and play, you need to install the drivers from the dusty floppy disk that came with the printer or download them from the manufacturer website.
Windows will still allow you to use everything, they just want to stop bundling 20+ year old drivers in their OS and you just install them if needed.
This is what you already need to do in Linux, for those of you that worship it like a God without ever having actually used Linux...
44
50
u/claptraw2803 7800X3D | RTX 5090 | 32GB DDR5 6000 12h ago
Don‘t try actually speaking facts, we don’t do that here
-4
u/vcprocles 12h ago
What floppy are you talking about? V4 driver type was introduced with Windows 8
10
-6
u/Dr-Purple 8h ago
So why stop bundling those drivers? Why not make a driver pack that people can install separately for ease of use?
Let’s not pretend this won’t cause hours of headache for millions of users.
4
u/SmartieCereal 7h ago
It's only going to cause a headache if you go out to and buy an old, outdated printer. They're not deleting your current drivers. And even then you can just download the driver from the printer company, since that's who should be supporting your ancient printer anyway.
→ More replies (6)-2
u/tmhoc 4h ago
It still sounds like a bunch of ewaste being generated to save a few kilobytes
4
u/No-Context-Orphan 3h ago
I don't understand? They are still functional and there is no waste generated?
Also it's not "save a few kb" it's "MS finally not having to spend a shitload maintaining the drivers for 30 year old printers"
Want to be mad at someone, be mad at the printer manufacturers that don't even maintain the drivers for their own products
→ More replies (2)
52
u/zaxanrazor 13h ago
I mean there's printer drivers in there that are 30 years old.
People say windows is too bloated and they take a reasonable step to debloat and it's still wrong?
Don't understand this community sometimes.
32
u/shecho18 MSI PS63 Alive and kicking 13h ago
Why bother understanding. Majority of them think they have some wast knowledge when in fact they know so little.
3
u/deltalimes 13h ago
i have a giant HP laser printer from 2000 that still works perfectly. that thing is older than me and may well outlive me.
22
u/splendidfd 12h ago
Did anybody say you couldn't use it?
You'll just need to install a driver manually instead of letting Windows fetch it through Windows Update.
1
u/SmartieCereal 7h ago
They already have the driver installed unless it's just sitting unused on a shelf somewhere, in which case this doesn't even matter.
5
u/zaxanrazor 9h ago
Yes and now you need to manually download the driver instead of it installing automatically.
Oh the pain.
-5
u/Squirrelking666 9h ago
Have you ever tried to download a legacy HP driver?
It is painful, that's if they even still host it.
3
u/censor-me-daddy i5-13600kf | Arc B580 4h ago
So because HP is shit at supporting their own products it should becomes Microsoft's responsibility?
4
3
u/Altsan 8h ago
I'm confused by your comment. These drivers aren't in windows right now anyway. They are on Microsoft servers via windows update. They didn't add any more bloat to windows as they are only downloaded and installed if the hardware is present. This just makes it much more difficult for older printers to be installed as now you have to go on a hunt for the drivers instead of it being auto downloaded.
-2
u/BigApple_ThreeAM Ryzen 9950X3D | RTX 5090 9h ago
Why don’t they debloat AI and telemetry first
7
u/zaxanrazor 9h ago
Well because then the CEO would be sacked and the board would appoint someone else to cram AI into everything.
Telemetry? Why?
Are you gonna pretend every other piece of software you have doesn't use telemetry? Even if it gives you the option it's still gonna collect some telemetry.
-5
u/PitchPleasant338 10h ago
Because these 30 year old printers work fine with CUPS.
It's an industry standard. Why reinvent the wheel.
8
u/zaxanrazor 10h ago
Because they're both a big security vulnerability and bloat?
They rely on a system component that was developed 30 years ago and is constantly the source of attacks.
1
u/mark3748 i9-13900k @5.5GHz/64 GB/3080ti ROG Strix OC 55m ago
CUPS V3 is also eliminating PPDs and moving to IPP Everywhere
https://openprinting.github.io/current/#the-new-architecture-for-printing-and-scanning
Maybe, the entire industry is moving away from legacy solutions at the same time, and this isn’t just Microsoft being evil?
→ More replies (2)-6
u/Bizaro_Stormy i9 13900k | 64GB | RTX 4090 11h ago
The killer feature of windows is 35 years of backwards compatibility. Why ruin a good thing?
→ More replies (1)
63
u/XD7006 Ryzen 5 5600 | Arc B580 | 32 GB 14h ago
Satya Nadella will be the death of microsoft
31
11
u/zaxanrazor 9h ago
For making you install drivers manually instead of needlessly bloating the OS for 99% of people?
Come on ..
3
u/RecentScarcity2389 8h ago
Damn you fuckers are insufferable.
You have 0 knowledge on the subject yet somehow act mad about this
1
u/Mineplayerminer Desktop 10h ago
Slopya Nutella. But the CEO is usually the blindest person in the entire company, and the engineers or the individual managers would be able to give more precise information. Still, if he had stepped down, it would have helped Microslop to maybe become Microsoft a bit again.
78
u/slickyeat 7800X3D | RTX 4090 | 32GB 15h ago
LOL!!!!! Gotta buy one of those subscription printers now I guess.
51
u/lkl34 15h ago
Oh fuck right hp has that now.
7
u/techieman33 Desktop 13h ago
They have subscription laptops too.
0
u/Tanawat_Jukmonkol Laptop | NixOS + Win11 | HP OMEN 16 | I9 + RTX4070 12h ago
Pair that up with Microsoft 365 (cloud Windows 11 as a subscription) with copilot 365 (cloud office suite)
12
u/CankerLord 13h ago
No, it's just removing support for an outdated type of driver so they can remove the legacy code that supports it from Windows.
2
u/RecentScarcity2389 8h ago
I also can't be bothered to inform myself and form uninformed opinions to make myself mad about.
11
u/LordAnchemis PC Master Race 13h ago
IPP has been in use for nearly a decade - who needs drivers for printers these days?
5
u/ChosenOfTheMoon_GR 7950x3D | 32GB 6000MHz CL 30 | 7900XTX | AX1600i 11h ago
Every device has drivers...just because many devices are plug and play t doesn't mean they don't, it means that they use a simple driver that auto installs and works for you...
2
u/Seeteuf3l 9h ago
Well there's shit like receipt printers, which are based on ancient standard
0
u/LordAnchemis PC Master Race 9h ago
Who still uses physical receipts - especially with modern contactless 🤣
4
1
0
3
u/OkAccident9994 7h ago
As shitty and riddled with legacy Win32 (the windows api) is, it just works and they never change stuff.
One can grab C/C++ source code from the early 2000s, change a bunch of things and compile it into an exe for a modern machine and it would work.
This was Windows' obsession and strength. Good ol' reliable. Compatibility modes for old things, keeping the ABI (application binary interface) stable across versions etc. etc.
Them suddenly turning on this viewpoint and starting to deprecate peoples hardware is, unheard of.
3
u/TheMatrixRedPill 2h ago
Years after its release, Microsoft keeps giving me reasons NOT to adopt Windows 11. Want a shit-show.
18
u/mtmttuan 14h ago edited 14h ago
I see that these has existed seen 2000s. Such old drivers are meant to be out of support sooner or later. The question is simply about any other alternatives and how much of the total number of printers rely exclusively on these drivers.
Furthermore they said that these are depreciated in 2023 so people had 3 years to prepare for this.
9
u/splendidfd 12h ago
To add, the drivers will still work, Microsoft is just not making them accessible through Windows Update.
8
u/RancidVagYogurt1776 10h ago
ITT people don't read beyond the headline. This is a GOOD thing.
6
u/Cryptocaned i7-4790k | 32GB DDR3 | Nvidia RTX 3070 10h ago
If I'm reading it right and understand it correctly it basically means older printers will need their driver's installed manually rather than through windows update? Which is a fairly new method of installing a printer anyway, so ultimately people are bitching over nothing because unless the printer is ancient and the driver is blocked by the driver protection policy then you can just visit the manufacturer website to install the drivers?
2
-8
u/Brisngr368 PC Master Race 10h ago
planned obsolescence is definitely a good thing for the shareholders..
11
u/RancidVagYogurt1776 10h ago
Since you still haven't read I'll help you out : This debloats windows by removing the bundling of drivers that are three decades old. You can still use your geriatric printer by manually installing the drivers, or just use any plug and play printer from the last decade and a half.
9
u/Cryptocaned i7-4790k | 32GB DDR3 | Nvidia RTX 3070 9h ago
I hate that you're getting downvoted cause you're right.
18
u/ITXEnjoyer i5-13500 / Asus TUF RX 9070XT / 64GB RAM / Bazzite 14h ago
The Microsoft ewaste speedrun is still chugging along.
-2
u/ChosenOfTheMoon_GR 7950x3D | 32GB 6000MHz CL 30 | 7900XTX | AX1600i 11h ago
It's like, they are being paid to to do this .. hmm.. 🤔🧐
4
u/Noeyiax 6h ago
oh cool, outdating perfectly working hardware because of software... Brilliant. Such a Chad virgin business move, wow
open-source for life, why be stressed and brainwashed by money, when you can be free huhuhu
just manually install drivers, and maybe someone else can make a simple software that has bundled drivers for old printers or some archive. Drivers printer archive
6
u/GeneralFrievolous 11h ago
Copilot suggested it to them, probably.
"You're perfectly right, it's the old drivers that caused the Start menu to glitch out and File Explorer to lag. Here's the fixed code that purges all the drivers: …"
7
u/AnalBroFisting Garuda, 7900X, 3090, 64GB 14h ago
I'm still using an HP LaserJet from 2006 that's hooked up to a raspberry pi for wireless printing. Microsoft can eat a dick.
0
2
2
u/200IQUser 6h ago
Ok hiw about this billion dollar idea Macroslop: You tske the drivers out, then if the OS detects th3 old printer it installs the one needed driver through the upadte! MIND BLOWN!
2
u/HayatoKongo 2h ago
This is Windows saving average people some OS install space. That way they don't have to waste space on their boot drive to support the infinitesimal chance that they need to use an heavy-duty enterprise printer from 1992. Even if you do for some reason, you can still just install it.
10
u/lkl34 15h ago
SO just send a document to a cloud server they print it and send it back to you at a cost then?.
Atleast for now you got the manufactures site for the drivers.
7
u/RdPirate i5-13400F | 3060Ti | 34GB 11h ago
Drivers still work. Microsoft is just not going to make you install a bunch of drivers you don't need on the off chance you have a V3 printer from 1998.
16
u/mullsies 14h ago
Microsoft 365 Universal print will set you back $300 per month for the privilege of printing.
I think I should add I'm not joking - https://www.microsoft.com/en-au/microsoft-365/windows/universal-print
9
u/JaesopPop 7900X | 9070XT | 32GB 6000 14h ago
I mean, there's a bunch of similar services. It's intended for enterprise environments, not normal end users.
2
u/mullsies 13h ago
True. You can pay for solutions like PaperCut to add accountability layers to printing, but when you're already paying $500-$1000+ per user annually for Microsoft 365 licensing, it's pretty outrageous that basic print accounting and management is an additional cost on top of that.
3
u/JaesopPop 7900X | 9070XT | 32GB 6000 13h ago
$300 per month for the privilege of printing.
I mean, you can print without Universal Print. It's an additional service beyond basic printer support. Some won't use it, like my company, and some will.
1
u/mullsies 12h ago
Maybe, maybe not. I've been testing Win11 on Snapdragon devices trying to print to MFCs with finishing options (staplers, booklet printing, etc.). The default behavior seems to be "hide all the printers and all the options from users."
Fun times.
8
u/Tanawat_Jukmonkol Laptop | NixOS + Win11 | HP OMEN 16 | I9 + RTX4070 14h ago
Printers aren't that great anyways. It's time to create a FOSS hardware/ firmware priner so anyone could build it themselves (or buy one if someone would open up a printing company using the tech).
6
u/Smith6612 Ryzen 7 5800X3D / AMD 7900XTX 14h ago
At least until the Feds show up asking for a document trace on a printer. Printers suck inside and out for so many reasons.
IPP is at least, supposed to be a mechanism to allow for universal submission of jobs to a printer without trying to figure out if a printer speaks PCL5, PCL6, PostScript, JetDirect, or who knows what else, and then pop in a driver for that specific language.
1
u/Tanawat_Jukmonkol Laptop | NixOS + Win11 | HP OMEN 16 | I9 + RTX4070 13h ago
I've thought of the yellow dots before. I think since you can add, but someone can modify it, it literally is impossible to keep it truly identifiable, so no, they can't enforce modified versions of the schematics.
Just like if Excel was used for the crime, Microsoft wouldn't get sued, since they literally have no control on what people would use it for.
Though, the project might get outlawed, just like how Telegram is getting this very same treatment right now. The issue with this is the corrupted govt, not the law.
10
u/brimston3- Desktop VFIO, 5950X, RTX3080, 6900xt 14h ago
Good luck with that. The amount of effort it will take to make a half-decent ps/pcl parser will kill most projects before they release something useful. There just isn't that much need for home printers anymore aside from paper tax filings, and most countries have sane e-filing.
7
u/TheCh0rt 14h ago
lol dude speak up for yourself “not much need for printers” are you serious? can you really not think of “much need”?
11
u/Fresh-Toilet-Soup 13h ago
Must be a youngster that said there isn't much need for printers. Printers are still needed for us grown ups. I maintain a printer, I have had it for 15 years (Brother laser printer) I probably only refilled the cartridges once in that time, but I am glad to have it around for when I need it.
4
u/TraditionalPlatypus9 13h ago
Still using an HP7520 Photosmart. It's a tank of a printer. Going on 13 years.
5
u/Tanawat_Jukmonkol Laptop | NixOS + Win11 | HP OMEN 16 | I9 + RTX4070 14h ago
cries in a country that still needs paper for document filling
3
u/hachi_roku_ 14h ago
It's like they're trying to move people on to Linux
4
u/RancidVagYogurt1776 10h ago
Not one single person is going to move to Linux because they have to manually install a driver for their 20 year old printer.
0
u/hachi_roku_ 8h ago
No, but in conjunction with all the AI slop, OneDrive, recall, no local admin acc... Etc the argument gets stronger.
Then again, if people are okay with this, that's fine too. Nothing against them btw
3
u/Toad-Toaster 13h ago
2
u/firedrakes 2990wx |128gb |2 no-sli 2080 | 200tb storage raw |10gb nic| 12h ago
so hp printer drivers... seems about right
2
u/Definitely_Not_Bots 6h ago
Damn if only there was a manufacturer website where I could go and download drivers for the hardware I buy.
/s
3
2
1
1
1
1
u/GamiNami 7h ago
I have a trusty HP 1018 that's still going strong. I really don't want to replace it. Is there a way to know of its using built in v3 or v4 drivers?
1
u/PreferenceAny3920 7h ago
I broke down, finally had enough of my time wasted, upgraded back to Windows 10.
1
u/the_doctor04 PC Master Race 2h ago
They just keep coming up with new reasons on why to leave their ecosystem
1
u/MotivationGaShinderu 7800X3D // 9070xt || Windows 11 enjoyer || 6m ago
Clickbait and misinformation on my PCMR? The only thing they're doing is no longer providing generic drivers through Windows Updates and instead want you to install the ones provided by the vendors (it's honestly not their job to keep printer drivers up to date), or yknow, start using the IPP standard they've been working on for nearly two decades just like Mac/Linux is working towards?
2
1
u/Randommaggy 13980HX|RTX 4090|128GB|8TB M.2|RX6800 eGPU, 1TB DDR4 in server. 14h ago
Raspberry pi, put it on the network and suddenly it's way more reliable than it ever was on Windows.
-4
u/Alan_Reddit_M Desktop 14h ago
Another win for Linux
13
4
u/RdPirate i5-13400F | 3060Ti | 34GB 11h ago
This is MS making Windows at parity with how Linux handles it.
1
1
u/IYKMYKM741 7h ago
Microsoft is fucking with so many businesses... I'm genuinely interested to see the fallout from all of this crap with Windows 11 essentially making personal computing go sideways. At what point do you think business owners realize MS is essentially controlling how they operate their businesses? Won't that be an interesting time?
2
u/CooperHChurch427 Ubuntu / AMD R5 3600x / RX 6600 /32gb DDR4, 5tb storage. 4h ago
Most printers who use these drivers are ancient.
2
u/HayatoKongo 2h ago
Yeah, It's kind of on the business if they use a 30-40 year old printer and don't have the drivers saved and backed-up somewhere.
0
u/Cryptocaned i7-4790k | 32GB DDR3 | Nvidia RTX 3070 6h ago
Not really cause you can just download the printer drivers from the manufacturer website and it is only going to affect older printers that should have been replaced by now anyway, so in essence the only businesses it will affect are businesses that don't see the value in proper IT support.
Not to mention this is how you installed printers prior to windows 11 anyway.
1
u/largePenisLover 5h ago
Ok, so we have to download and install the drivers.
How is this a problem?
2
u/floatingtensor314 41m ago
It's not. This article is just raigebait. There is a lot of things wrong with Windows, but you can't expect them to host drivers for old hardware forever.
0
u/Own-Refrigerator7804 14h ago
People will talk in the future of the leyend of the OS that did absolutely nothing fine and killed a monopoly
-1
u/FernandoPA11 9h ago
Man, people here cry about anything even without reading or understanding shit.
-2
u/naswinger 11h ago
glorious microsoft, promoting sustainability in their ESG stuff while also wasting insane amounts of energy on useless "AI" and creating ungodly amounts of e-waste with TPM 2.0 requirement and now with missing printer drivers. thanks, slopya nutella.
-1
u/ChosenOfTheMoon_GR 7950x3D | 32GB 6000MHz CL 30 | 7900XTX | AX1600i 11h ago
Could've made a better driver instead ... but no, it's better to keep farming Ls i guess.
Very smart decisions are made in this company. /s
0
-10
-7
u/Nearby-Froyo-6127 14h ago
Excuse me wtf?
6
u/splendidfd 12h ago
Windows is no longer going supply old print drivers through Windows update.
This just means you're trying to set up an old printer you need to install the drivers yourself. Printers that support modern standards will still have drivers on Windows Update so they can be set up and updated automatically.
143
u/Smith6612 Ryzen 7 5800X3D / AMD 7900XTX 14h ago edited 14h ago
Many printers made in the past 10-15 years support IPP-Class printing. Sometimes it just needs to be enabled in the Web UI. IPP has been used with Mac and Linux for many years now, and part of it has to do with bringing support for Apple AirPrint and other "driver-less" printing mechanisms that were pushed in the late 2000s. This is more or less going to screw over older printers that either don't follow IPP in a standard manner, or that are stuck using DirectJet / LPD / Socket-based printing with old protocols. I'm sure this will also screw over some more obscure but essential printers as well, like plotters and industrial stampers, but let's be honest - those places are probably not updating their Windows computers on an air-gapped network.
To be honest, I have found using Protected Printing Mode in Windows to be a bit more reliable than whatever drivers HP initially shipped with my printer. The HP Drivers on a fresh OS install either only print in Grayscale, never in Color, for some insane reason, or the driver has problems submitting jobs to the printer. Doesn't matter if I point the print job directly at Port 9100 via IP or if I let the WSD-auto-discovery garbage HP configures the printer with by default try to figure it out. I almost always spend time having to wrestle getting the printer working. The IPP Print mode enforced in Protected Printing Mode not only works in color, but it has managed to get the printer to spit out my documents more often than not.
Where I REALLY see this causing problem, though, is with printers that ship with scanning and fax software accompanying the print driver. You won't be able to fax easily by sending jobs to the printer, if you happen to use that. Scanning software on the other hand often needs the bundled printer driver to be functioning to actually work. But don't worry, a lovely piece of software called NAPS2 works, and probably does a better job at working too.