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[winjer]

Windows 11 Deprecates Legacy Printer Drivers, Old Printers Face Uncertainty

Microsoft is continuing its cleanup of legacy components in Windows 11, and this time the focus is on printer drivers. The company is ending support for older V3 and V4 printer driver models, a transition it first outlined in September 2023. Windows 11 has already started moving away from these driver types as of January, marking the beginning of a longer policy shift that changes how printer drivers are distributed, updated, and supported going forward. The practical impact isn't a sudden kill switch for existing printers. Instead, the biggest immediate change is on the delivery side: Microsoft will no longer accept and distribute new V3 or V4 driver packages through Windows Update. Previously published driver versions are expected to remain available for download, which means many devices may continue to function using the last supported driver release. However, printer manufacturers that still maintain legacy models won't be able to roll out new revisions through Microsoft's update pipeline. If they want to publish new driver versions, they will need to distribute them through their own channels, such as official support websites or enterprise software platforms.

Microsoft does leave room for exceptions, handled individually, but that flexibility comes with a deadline. Starting in July next year, any exception path is expected to be restricted to security updates only. That matters for organizations with long-lived printer fleets, where driver distribution through Windows Update has historically simplified deployment. With new legacy driver publishing effectively blocked, IT teams may need to take on more packaging and rollout responsibility, or accelerate printer refresh cycles where vendor support is already limited.

What makes the announcement more than just an administrative change is Microsoft's own warning that some printers depending on these legacy drivers "may no longer install or stop working" over time. Microsoft doesn't fully explain the technical trigger, but the general risk is easy to understand: Windows updates can change driver requirements, remove older interfaces, or tighten installation rules in ways that older driver models don't handle well. Even if a driver remains downloadable, it can still become harder to deploy or less reliable as the OS evolves.

Microsoft's recommended mitigation is to treat this as a prompt for validation and planning. Users with older printers should check whether the manufacturer offers a supported driver model, update where possible, or consider an alternative printing solution if the device is near end-of-life. Microsoft's broader direction is to push printing toward Mopria, a cross-vendor standard intended to reduce dependence on vendor-specific driver packages and installers. Mopria-based printing support was added to Windows 10 version 21H2 in April 2022, and Windows 11's driver policy updates reinforce the move toward standardized, OS-friendly printing workflows.

If one day your printer stops working on Windows 11, this is why.
More hardware for the landfills.

 

[Fake]

Windows 11 will soon stop working on Windows 11.

 

[adamsapple]

If one day your printer stops working on Windows 11, this is why.

They shouldn't tho ..

Peviously published driver versions are expected to remain available for download, which means many devices may continue to function using the last supported driver release.

 

[winjer]

They shouldn't tho ..

Until they don't.

What makes the announcement more than just an administrative change is Microsoft's own warning that some printers depending on these legacy drivers "may no longer install or stop working" over time.

 

[adamsapple]

Until they don't.

Weird statement, it's like they're covering both tracks. If all existing drivers, up to whatever's available right now, will remain, then those printers should continue to work right?

 

[winjer]

Weird statement, it's like they're covering both tracks. If all existing drivers, up to whatever's available right now, will remain, then those printers should continue to work right?

It's damage control. They know they will remove support down the line, but don't want to deal with the backlash.

 

[The Cockatrice]

Thats fine, Ill just use the good ol' stone carving. Never fails me.

 

[jshackles]

Weird statement, it's like they're covering both tracks. If all existing drivers, up to whatever's available right now, will remain, then those printers should continue to work right?

As long as you're prepared to keep running a pre-July 2026 build of Windows 11, sure.

 

[kruis]

What makes the announcement more than just an administrative change is Microsoft's own warning that some printers depending on these legacy drivers "may no longer install or stop working" over time. Microsoft doesn't fully explain the technical trigger, but the general risk is easy to understand: Windows updates can change driver requirements, remove older interfaces, or tighten installation rules in ways that older driver models don't handle well. Even if a driver remains downloadable, it can still become harder to deploy or less reliable as the OS evolves.

Stricter security has become a necessity after PrintNightmare and other security holes found in the way Windows installs printer drivers. The reason the whole IT world wants to switch to Mopria, Universal Print and IPP Everywhere is so these printer drivers aren't easily exploitable and everything is done in user space instead of kernel space.

Modern Print Platform and Windows Protected Print Mode

Describes the modern print platform and Windows protected print mode.

learn.microsoft.com

 

[Northeastmonk]

I wonder if this mostly concerns USB printers. You most always go to the vendor's website and download the driver from there. WDS drivers cause all sorts of issues. That was stopping a lot of print jobs because the vendors driver is the best if not the only solution. Also, how is Windows going to install a network printer and driver with updates? You would push out the driver and its port. Even with check scanners and receipt printers, they aren't installed without getting the drivers from somewhere. In the print space, relying on Windows for printer drivers is a big no no.

 

[Futaleufu]

Change started in Windows 10 when plotters of Windows XP era had trouble printing correctly (bad alignment, unable to choose correct size, A0/A1 paper sizes unavailable) and you were forced to have a WinXP machine sharing the printer. Then they increased security and SMB 1.0 shares were no longer visible unless you modified the registry for every machine in the business. Then they started forcing to install drivers as Windows Apps which only brought incompatibility, duplicated drivers and trouble. Last time I had to remove and reinstall drivers 2 times to get the plotters working again.

 

[Unknown Soldier]

This is yet another long legacy of how things used to be done that Microsoft had to support for decades even though it was very insecure

Printer drivers having effective kernel level access to Windows sounds insane because it is but in the more innocent days of Windows 95 no one really cared. But this has been coming for a long time now

 

[Trilobit]

One of the strong points for Windows to me has always been the fact that so much tech still works on PCs. I get that with Mac they want to keep it lean and clean, but Windows has always been more about compatibility and legacy. It's like an elephant while MacOS is like a horse. Linux is like a freakish octopus.

 

[DeepEnigma]

They shouldn't tho ..

In the year of our Lord 2026, we are still taking things MSFT says at face value.

Until we don't.

 

[ReBurn]

Nothing stopping hardware manufacturers from releasing drivers for current hardware. If you're still running printers with drivers for Windows 2000 and Windows 8. If you have a printer from those times that is even still working it would be amazing.

 

[Bojji]

Windows 11 Deprecates Legacy Printer Drivers, Old Printers Face Uncertainty

If one day your printer stops working on Windows 11, this is why.
More hardware for the landfills.

I have ancient (200x) HP printer that has drivers on WP for W11, but doesn't have them for W10. Weird as fuck...

 

[DeepEnigma]

Nothing stopping hardware manufacturers from releasing drivers for current hardware. If you're still running printers with drivers for Windows 2000 and Windows 8. If you have a printer from those times that is even still working it would be amazing.

True, it's cheaper to buy a whole new home printer that comes with ink, than the ink to replace it.

 

[pachura]

I do hope my Star LC-20 dot matrix printer does not count as "legacy"!

Spoiler

 

[bender]

Windows 11 will soon stop working on Windows 11.

It never worked in the first place.

 

[Futaleufu]

Nothing stopping hardware manufacturers from releasing drivers for current hardware. If you're still running printers with drivers for Windows 2000 and Windows 8. If you have a printer from those times that is even still working it would be amazing.

I know a place where they have a working 1 color laser printer from the mid 90s. It works but the print quality is so degraded it looks like a photocopy, which for the uses they give it is perfectly fine.