windows The end of a 30-year war - Microsoft claims to have finally solved Windows printer drivers

[BachChain]

Summary

Microsoft has announced plans to end support for third-party printer drivers in Windows by 2027. Replacing them will be a single "IPP Class Driver" which utilizes the "Mopria" standard for providing a universal interface for compatible printers and scanners.

 

 

Quotes

Quote

With 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.

Quote

With these advancements in the Windows print platform, we are announcing 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.

Quote

What is Mopria?

Mopria Alliance develops standards offering a simple and seamless way to print or scan to any Mopria certified printer, multi-function printer, or scanner. It eliminates the need to install any additional software or drivers allowing you to easily print or scan regardless of the printer or scanner’s brand.

 

My thoughts

About damn time. Although, there's always going to be that one printer that still needs manual drivers for some reason.

 

Sources

https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/windows-hardware/drivers/print/end-of-servicing-plan-for-third-party-printer-drivers-on-windows

https://mopria.org/what-is-mopria

[HanZie82]

Yeah i mean how hard would it have been to find a standard way of getting info to the printer.
But im guessing a lot of manufacturers aren't really helping.

[VaderCraft_]

Finally, holy crap, that took forever. I have an Epson and it literally works only one-fourth of the time that I use it because of driver issues.

[Applefreak]

5 minutes ago, BachChain said:

Summary

Microsoft has announced plans to end support for third-party printer drivers in Windows by 2027. Replacing them will be a single "IPP Class Driver" which utilizes the "Mopria" standard for providing a universal interface for compatible printers and scanners.

 

 

Quotes

 

My thoughts

About damn time. Although, there's always going to be that one printer that still needs manual drivers for some reason.

 

Sources

https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/windows-hardware/drivers/print/end-of-servicing-plan-for-third-party-printer-drivers-on-windows

https://mopria.org/what-is-mopria

Problem is that this new alliance only supports new printers. I've looked all of my current ones including those in the office from 2022 and none of them show up as being supported. So whenever that garbage goes into effect, you won't get any third party drivers anymore and only a select few printers will work. Welcome back to the good old times of Macintosh OS when you had your choice of a couple of printers each generation that would be certified and supported. Another huge step back but with everyone wanting things to be more Apple, being unable to choose seems to be the future right? Odd thing is that Apple is way more compatible now than it ever was when it comes to third party drivers and peripherals.

[HanZie82]

4 minutes ago, VaderCraft_ said:

Finally, holy crap, that took forever. I have an Epson and it literally works only one-fourth of the time that I use it because of driver issues.

Yeah, that should not be the case.
But then they just want you to buy a new one.
Im still on a HP LaserJet 2600n and its 20 years old.
Dont use it enough tho, but drivers seem fine

I wonder what this change would mean for that printer, i wonder if it would still be supported... Oh, yeah guess its ded then.
They better not make these drivers exclusive cus that is effectivly just killing of a lot of old printers.
I dont want to upgrade, i dont need to. It works fine, and now its not filling a hole in some already overfilled landfill.

[Applefreak]

2 minutes ago, VaderCraft_ said:

Finally, holy crap, that took forever. I have an Epson and it literally works only one-fourth of the time that I use it because of driver issues.

Not really what the new standard does. It forces manufacturers to abandon driver support and only use a single driver standard. Older devices are probably not included and if the driver is bad and flawed, millions of devices will be open to attack at the same time. We probably will get forced firmware updates through windows update as well (with an updated driver) to take any chance of using third party ink and toners. 

[HanZie82]

Yeah 2027, no more 3rd party drivers, just their one.
I'm not sure if force-monopolizing printer drivers is the right solution.
But whatever was going on currently did not really work.

 

[Fasterthannothing]

Yeah right I'll see it when I believe it. My parents have a wireless printer from HP the only way I could load the drivers and getting it connected to the network was by compiling the drivers for Linux and then going into the network control panel over USB and manually adding the network configuration. The drivers that it originally came with only worked for Windows Vista and Windows 7 and it refused to run in Windows compatibility mode.

[manikyath]

imagine this.. devices that all do the exact same thing.. actually interfacing to a computer the exact same way.

[dilpickle]

Great now we all have to buy new printers.

[manikyath]

6 minutes ago, dilpickle said:

Great now we all have to buy new printers.

if i have to guess, it'll just end up being third party drivers emulating a "Mopria" device driver.

 

on that note - assuming 2027 falls together with a new version of windows (12) we'll need new print drivers anyways so good luck with your old printer if they dont bother to update, life is poop.

 

at least this is the end of network printers needing their driver to be installed everywhere.

[dilpickle]

10 minutes ago, manikyath said:

if i have to guess, it'll just end up being third party drivers emulating a "Mopria" device driver.

 

on that note - assuming 2027 falls together with a new version of windows (12) we'll need new print drivers anyways so good luck with your old printer if they dont bother to update, life is poop.

 

at least this is the end of network printers needing their driver to be installed everywhere.

In fact my model isn't listed on the mopria website so I guess I'm screwed. Its pretty old but it still works. Then they try to blame the consumer for e-waste.

[manikyath]

1 minute ago, dilpickle said:

In fact my model isn't listed on the mopria website so I guess I'm screwed. Its pretty old but it still works. Then they try to blame the consumer for e-waste.

or.. they have another 4 years to write a driver... presumably whenever the OS that enforces this comes out.

[LAwLz]

The Mopria Alliance was formed in 2013 by Canon, HP, Samsung and Xerox. Since then, others like Brother, Epson, Kyocera, Lexmark, Ricoh and Toshiba has joined.

 

The list of printers, scanners, etc, that support Mopria seems to be very extensive. Chances are the printer you already got at home is supported, unless it's over 10 years old (which a lot of them are).

So honestly, I don't think this will change much. Yet somehow, the printing situation on Windows still seems like a bit of a nightmare. I apparently got a Mopria-certified printer and yet for some reason I still have to fiddle with the software (not necessarily the driver) to get it to work.

[Helpful Tech Witch]

6 minutes ago, dilpickle said:

In fact my model isn't listed on the mopria website so I guess I'm screwed. Its pretty old but it still works. Then they try to blame the consumer for e-waste.

legacy driver support is and has always been a thing. youll be fine. Im positive there will be a legacy support solution, since thats the one thing windows does well.

[dilpickle]

1 hour ago, manikyath said:

or.. they have another 4 years to write a driver... presumably whenever the OS that enforces this comes out.

It's almost 20 years old. If they haven't made a new driver by now I doubt they will in the future. 

[Quackers101]

Now if we could mod the old printers to work with the new stuff.

[SpaceGhostC2C]

2 hours ago, dilpickle said:

Great now we all have to buy new printers.

 

Not really, at least in principe:

 

2 hours ago, HanZie82 said:

 

so, basically, they are removing third-party drivers from windows update, i.e., Windows will not automatically provide those drivers, and Microsoft will not allow new versions to be uploaded. However, you can still choose to use the existing ones (if no "Mopria" driver exist, that's your only choice), and you can still install third-party drivers the regular way, as we've done for most of Windows' history (and as we often still need to do for full feature support).

 

Also from OP's source (italics are mine):
 

Quote

Q: Will vendor-supplied drivers be signed by WHCP (Windows Hardware Compatibility Program)?

A: Printer manufacturers can continue to submit printer drivers through the Partner Center hardware tool for driver validation and signing. However, in 2025 new printer drivers will no longer be published to Windows Update. Manufacturers and independent software vendors will need to provide customers with an alternative means to download and install those printer drivers.

Q: Will Windows prevent installation of new printer drivers?

A: Windows will continue to allow vendor-supplied printer drivers to be installed via separate installation packages.

Q: Will installation of Microsoft-signed printer drivers already released to the market be prevented from installing on Windows?

A: Existing printer drivers can be installed on Windows PCs even after the end of servicing.

So, no, this doesn't seem to sunset existing printers.

[Kisai]

18 hours ago, HanZie82 said:

Yeah i mean how hard would it have been to find a standard way of getting info to the printer.
But im guessing a lot of manufacturers aren't really helping.

That's been around for a long time. That was called POSTSCRIPT. Likewise when printers first got onto the network, the JetDirect and similar things basically just created a Windows shared printer, and whatever device was physically attached to the printer (eg JetDirect, or a Windows PC) just had a copy of all the installed drivers on it.

 

Pain in the behind any time you wanted to use something that wasn't Windows (eg Linux, MacOS) but it was already a solved problem until Microsoft decided they wanted to get Windows on ARM and realized their three decades of vendor lock-in is now biting them in the behind.

 

All the printer vendors are really really late on the ball here. Nobody wants to deal with paper anymore unless it's something like a Birth Certificate or some other official government correspondence. Everything else, from Lease agreements to Bank Loans are all digital now, and you can sign your life away on illegible finger-pen signatures. 

 

I jest, but we're really in a state of the printer vendors, especially Xerox, wanting to stay relevant as long as possible, so making using their printers compatible with smartphones and iPad's is how they get there, but they don't want to write drivers for every weirdo POS computing device, so this has instead been shoved to the OS to have a universal driver instead.

 

Same reason UVC is a thing for webcameras, and HID is a thing for Joysticks, Mice and Keyboards. USB solved the physical interface, and protocols solved the need for having so many stupid bloated drivers. Not every piece of hardware operates at peak efficiency without their proprietary vendor drivers, but at least connecting to your WiFi and selecting your printer is much less of a pain in the ass when you just want to print an envelope or something.

[Arika]

Too bad it won't solve the absolute scumbag practices a lot of printer manufacturers employ regarding ink and subscriptions

[venomtail]

39 minutes ago, Arika said:

Too bad it won't solve the absolute scumbag practices a lot of printer manufacturers employ regarding ink and subscriptions

Which makes remain that aren't scammy about their ink, subscription and service practices? I've got Brother but will need a new printer soon.

[HanZie82]

8 hours ago, Kisai said:

That's been around for a long time. That was called POSTSCRIPT. Likewise when printers first got onto the network, the JetDirect and similar things basically just created a Windows shared printer, and whatever device was physically attached to the printer (eg JetDirect, or a Windows PC) just had a copy of all the installed drivers on it.

 

Pain in the behind any time you wanted to use something that wasn't Windows (eg Linux, MacOS) but it was already a solved problem until Microsoft decided they wanted to get Windows on ARM and realized their three decades of vendor lock-in is now biting them in the behind.

 

All the printer vendors are really really late on the ball here. Nobody wants to deal with paper anymore unless it's something like a Birth Certificate or some other official government correspondence. Everything else, from Lease agreements to Bank Loans are all digital now, and you can sign your life away on illegible finger-pen signatures. 

 

I jest, but we're really in a state of the printer vendors, especially Xerox, wanting to stay relevant as long as possible, so making using their printers compatible with smartphones and iPad's is how they get there, but they don't want to write drivers for every weirdo POS computing device, so this has instead been shoved to the OS to have a universal driver instead.

 

Same reason UVC is a thing for webcameras, and HID is a thing for Joysticks, Mice and Keyboards. USB solved the physical interface, and protocols solved the need for having so many stupid bloated drivers. Not every piece of hardware operates at peak efficiency without their proprietary vendor drivers, but at least connecting to your WiFi and selecting your printer is much less of a pain in the ass when you just want to print an envelope or something.

Oh yeah, i know JetDirect.
I think my HP 2600n has such module to connect to network.
Only reason it still works, as via USB is an option that was broken 10 years ago already. (maybe more)
But original drivers are no longer supported, now some collection of drivers for old HP printers that did lose a liot of functionality. afaik.

 

7 hours ago, venomtail said:

Which makes remain that aren't scammy about their ink, subscription and service practices? I've got Brother but will need a new printer soon.

If you really need one, just get a 2nd hand (color) laser printer, those are so nice when you dont print that often.
Inkjet printers are so fucked if you dont print for like 5 days the nozzles get clogged and you can buy a new set of cartridges at extortionate pricing.

Also the need for  a new printer is what they want you to think, they dont care about your ease of use or comfort, they just want your money.
I'd say stop rewarding them for bad behaviour as much as possible.

[StDragon]

For MFPs (business and enterprise) that haven't reached HW EOL status, I do hope they can add support for this standard in future firmware updates. Basically another stack that can be enabled or toggled at the device console or web UI config page.

[Mark Kaine]

On 9/13/2023 at 7:00 PM, HanZie82 said:

Oh yeah, i know JetDirect.
I think my HP 2600n has such module to connect to network.
Only reason it still works, as via USB is an option that was broken 10 years ago already. (maybe more)
But original drivers are no longer supported, now some collection of drivers for old HP printers that did lose a liot of functionality. afaik.

 

If you really need one, just get a 2nd hand (color) laser printer, those are so nice when you dont print that often.
Inkjet printers are so fucked if you dont print for like 5 days the nozzles get clogged and you can buy a new set of cartridges at extortionate pricing.

Also the need for  a new printer is what they want you to think, they dont care about your ease of use or comfort, they just want your money.
I'd say stop rewarding them for bad behaviour as much as possible.

have a 20 year old ink printer, use maybe once or twice/ year, nah it still works,  im pretty sure im on my second cartridge still.

 

(its called office jet, also scans and copies,  really cool, was really cheap also, like under 100 bucks)

 

i think you're probably just using modern crap instead of  a good old vintage printer if you have that issue? 

[HanZie82]

4 hours ago, Mark Kaine said:

have a 20 year old ink printer, use maybe once or twice/ year, nah it still works,  im pretty sure im on my second cartridge still.

 

(its called office jet, also scans and copies,  really cool, was really cheap also, like under 100 bucks)

 

i think you're probably just using modern crap instead of  a good old vintage printer if you have that issue? 

Uhm 2nd line. From what you quoted.
Im talking about my 20+ year old laser printer (HP 2600n). That still works fine.

But yeah i was talking about the trash they sell as inkjet printers. Some are nice, but most just suck.
Too little ink in cartridges, nozzles get clogged if you wait to long between prints. Cartridges cost more then the printer itself. etc.