In a recent support document published by Microsoft, the company has announced that it is ending its servicing plan for third party printer drivers on Windows.
In the support document, Microsoft explained that 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.
Device experience customisation is now available via the Print Support Apps that are distributed and automatically installed via the Windows Store. This framework improves reliability and performance by moving customisation from the Win32 framework to the UWP software development framework.
Finally, print device manufacturers no longer have to rebuild their software since this solution is supported across all Windows versions and editions.
Microsoft added: “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.”
Microsoft gave the following timeline. By 2025, no new printer drivers will be published to Windows Update. Existing printer drivers on Windows Update can still be updated. By 2026, printer driver ranking order will be modified to always prefer Windows IPP inbox class driver. By 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 by using an installation package provided by the print device manufacturer.
