Tuesday, September 12th 2023

Microsoft Plans to End Third-Party Printer Driver Support

by
T0@st
 Discuss (21 Comments)
Microsoft has revealed that it will phase out support for third-party printer drivers utilized by printing devices on Windows operating systems, thankfully this is not getting limited to Windows 11. Their update document states that: "the release of Windows 10 21H2, Windows offers inbox support for Mopria compliant printer devices over network and USB interfaces via the Microsoft IPP Class Driver. This removes the need for print device manufacturers to provide their own installers, drivers, utilities, and so on. Device experience customization is now available via the Print Support Apps that are distributed and automatically installed via the Windows Store."

A streamlined Windows print platform will be welcomed by folks who have had to deal with unreliable third-party drivers, operating system updates causing printers to stopping working, and getting older models to communicate with modern versions of Windows. Microsoft appears to be confident in their improved solution—the implementation of native support via updates has resulted in: "the end of servicing of the legacy v3 and v4 Windows printer drivers. As this is an impactful change, end of servicing will be staged over multiple years." Techradar has highlighted that the migration will not cause a complete lockout of legacy devices: "it's important to note that even when the switchover is complete, buyers will still have access to any existing third-party drivers. This means your old printer that's still kicking won't be rendered useless once support ends and only first-party drivers are updated."
Timeline Plan:
  • September 2023: Announce legacy third-party printer driver for Windows end of servicing plan.
  • 2025: No new printer drivers will be published to Windows Update. Existing printer drivers on Windows Update can still be updated.
  • 2026: Printer driver ranking order modified to always prefer Windows IPP inbox class driver.
  • 2027: Except for security-related fixes, third-party printer driver updates will no longer be allowed. Existing third-party printer drivers can be installed from Windows Update or users can install printer drivers using printer manufactures installer programs.
Sources: TechRadar, Tom's Hardware, Microsoft Learn, Mopria

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21 Comments on Microsoft Plans to End Third-Party Printer Driver Support

#1
ymdhis
Printer manufacturers will still want to add their own drivers because a lot of them provide extra functionality that way. Well, this will just mean they will have to write new apps for the new frontend.

But, how will this affect Win10? Will manufacturers now have to manage 2 set of drivers (Mopria and traditional), or will this just mean that printers from 2025 onwards will get no Win10 drivers?
Posted on Reply
#2
OneMoar
There is Always Moar
ymdhisPrinter manufacturers will still want to add their own drivers because a lot of them provide extra functionality that way. Well, this will just mean they will have to write new apps for the new frontend.

But, how will this affect Win10? Will manufacturers now have to manage 2 set of drivers (Mopria and traditional), or will this just mean that printers from 2025 onwards will get no Win10 drivers?
if you are still using windows 10 in 2025 you deserve to not have a working printer
sheesh
Posted on Reply
#3
Double-Click
Windows 11 sucks, I'm holding out for 12 if I can.

I think the more relevant question is how many home users still need a printer?
I use one for return shipping labels and official gov't forms/docs that's about it.
Posted on Reply
#4
nomdeplume
OneMoarif you are still using windows 10 in 2025 you deserve to not have a working printer
sheesh
Clearly the response of someone who had issues that disappeared with install of W11. Yet to hear of the opposite.
Posted on Reply
#5
kapone32
I hope this does not go the way of Asus Xonar sound cards that have no support from Asus and no WIn 10/11 driver.
Posted on Reply
#6
unwind-protect
Good move. Makes a lot of garbage quality in-kernel software go away.
Posted on Reply
#7
Luke357
kapone32I hope this does not go the way of Asus Xonar sound cards that have no support from Asus and no WIn 10/11 driver.
You can get the drivers from Softpedia. My father uses his Xonar on Windows 10 with no issues.
Posted on Reply
#8
Icon Charlie
nomdeplumeClearly the response of someone who had issues that disappeared with install of W11. Yet to hear of the opposite.
Interesting. I've not had any real issues that I can remember when dealing with driver issues using Win10.
Posted on Reply
#9
dir_d
kapone32I hope this does not go the way of Asus Xonar sound cards that have no support from Asus and no WIn 10/11 driver.
Still using my STX of course modified drivers.

I welcome this change, i absolutely hate printers and drivers. If people want fancy stuff like scanning they can get up or use scan to email.
Posted on Reply
#10
aktpu
This Applies to drivers that are supplied through Windows Store/Update, not printer drivers in general. Way to make clickbait
Posted on Reply
#11
nomdeplume
Icon CharlieInteresting. I've not had any real issues that I can remember when dealing with driver issues using Win10.
Let's just say a household full of HP printers I was compelled to offer free tech support turned into a large hassle. So much so attempting change to W11 saw a lot of 'client' resistance. From the first boot on W11 printer woes disappeared.
Posted on Reply
#12
OverZerg
That's funny, printers works perfectly in windows 7 and 8, but with windows 10 microsoft itself somehow breaks this part of the system and with updates some troubles with printers appears on and on, so now the most stable way is to connect printer with ethernet cable, but not all printers had network support and even with it somehow it could broke. And now after years of troubles and broken updates they just give up and said we should use their own printer driver? So the problem was in bad drivers from manufacturers, not in windows 10? ) Anyway I want to give it a shot, it said "the release of Windows 10 21H2, Windows offers inbox support for Mopria compliant printer devices over network and USB interfaces via the Microsoft IPP Class Driver" but how to use it?
Posted on Reply
#13
Unregistered
just no installers and no utilities - some driver files will prolly still be downloaded

in loonix we configure printers in a browser

Posted on Edit | Reply
#14
Icon Charlie
nomdeplumeLet's just say a household full of HP printers I was compelled to offer free tech support turned into a large hassle. So much so attempting change to W11 saw a lot of 'client' resistance. From the first boot on W11 printer woes disappeared.
Yea I could understand this and possible incompatibility issues. I own a HP G85 printer. A Xerox colorqube 8580 and a Epison Workforce 7720. I guess I must be one of the lucky ones as I've had no issues at all.
Posted on Reply
#15
trsttte
ymdhisPrinter manufacturers will still want to add their own drivers because a lot of them provide extra functionality that way. Well, this will just mean they will have to write new apps for the new frontend.

But, how will this affect Win10? Will manufacturers now have to manage 2 set of drivers (Mopria and traditional), or will this just mean that printers from 2025 onwards will get no Win10 drivers?
Supplying a printer utility with some added bloat**coff**coff features is not the same as making the device driver that provides the basic functionality.

I think this is awesome, a lot of printers already work out of the box with the drivers windows offers built in but it's a lot of extra bloat on the OS to have support for so many printers because printer manufacturers are morons and don't want to play ball. They should have done this decades ago, slam your trillion dollar fist on the table and say "these are the interfaces printers can use, fucking deal with it!"

Mouses don't have this problem, nor keyboards, nor cameras, nor monitors, nor storage devices, etc. etc. etc.
Posted on Reply
#16
Lionheart
OneMoarif you are still using windows 10 in 2025 you deserve to not have a working printer
sheesh
What a dumb ass comment.
Posted on Reply
#17
Minus Infinity
The greatest beneficiaries will be those stupid enough to have purchased HP printers and having to rely on that scumbag company for drivers.
Posted on Reply
#18
dyonoctis
aktpuThis Applies to drivers that are supplied through Windows Store/Update, not printer drivers in general. Way to make clickbait
Which is the case for many "recent" printers...and downloading the app from the store is not even necessary. I didn't need to instal anything to use the printer that's on my local network.
Posted on Reply
#19
AusWolf
As long as the default Windows 10 driver works with my printer, I'm fine. Otherwise, it's a pretty pointless move, but that's not unusual from Microsoft these days.
Double-ClickWindows 11 sucks, I'm holding out for 12 if I can.

I think the more relevant question is how many home users still need a printer?
I use one for return shipping labels and official gov't forms/docs that's about it.
Agreed, I don't want Spydows 11 anywhere near my PC. It's enough to deal with 10's bullshit from time to time.

As for a printer, I have one for return labels as well, also plane tickets and other occasional stuff.
Posted on Reply
#20
chrcoluk
OneMoarif you are still using windows 10 in 2025 you deserve to not have a working printer
sheesh
This applies to 11 as well, and probably 12 when it comes. Its to their entire update platform.
Posted on Reply
#21
Drash
Am I missing something? My 2 Brother lasers - both over 10 years old have so many features not available in W10 driver, and the Brother driver is a joy to use. I expect they'll keep going for many more years. Why should I ditch them?
Posted on Reply
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