Microsoft to kill off third-party printer drivers in Windows

Microsoft has made it clear: it will ax third-party printer drivers successful Windows.

The decease rattle will beryllium lengthy, arsenic nan timeline for nan extremity of servicing stretches into 2027 – though Microsoft noted that nan dates will beryllium taxable to change. There is, aft all, ever that important customer pinch a unusual aged printer lacking Mopria support.

Mopria is portion of nan Windows' teams justification for removing support. Founded successful 2013 by Canon, HP, Samsung and Xerox, nan Mopria Alliance's ngo is to supply cosmopolitan standards for printing and scanning. Epson, Lexmark, Adobe and Microsoft person besides joined nan pack since then.

Since Windows 10 21H2, Microsoft has baked Mopria support into nan flagship operating system, pinch support for devices connected via nan web aliases USB, acknowledgment to nan Microsoft IPP Class driver. Microsoft said: "This removes nan request for people instrumentality manufacturers to supply their ain installers, drivers, utilities, and truthful on."

The package elephantine besides said that customization tin beryllium performed via Print Support Apps from nan Windows Store. It added: "This model improves reliability and capacity by moving customization from nan Win32 model to nan UWP package improvement framework."

While immoderate wags person dubbed nan model nan "Unwanted Windows Platform", it's ever bully to spot bequest tech being retired successful favour of thing pinch a agleam early up of it.

Microsoft's timeline for nan extremity of servicing will beryllium staged. The adjacent milestone will hap successful 2025 erstwhile nary caller printer drivers will beryllium published to Windows Update – though existing drivers tin still beryllium updated. In 2026, driver ranking will beryllium tweaked to bring nan IPP inbox people driver to nan top, and by 2027 – isolated from for security-related fixes – nary printer driver updates will beryllium allowed.

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To beryllium clear, nan extremity of servicing applies to drivers provided via Windows Update. Manufacturers will, according to Microsoft, "need to supply customers pinch an replacement intends to download and instal those printer drivers." Legacy v3 and v4 Windows printer drivers are facing nan extremity of servicing ax.

Microsoft added that multi-function devices – print, scan and fax – will activity via nan inbox drivers.

Printing and Windows person long been uneasy bedfellows. While Microsoft hopes nan end-of-servicing will return distant immoderate bequest driver headaches, location are plentifulness of different components wrong nan Windows printing subsystem that tin occasionally topple erstwhile poked nan incorrect measurement by a patch. ®