Your previous printer would possibly cease engaged on Windows 11, however there’s a workaround

If you depend on an older printer, Microsoft’s gradual discontinuation of assist for conventional printer drivers would possibly drive you to get a brand new one sooner or later. According to Microsoft’s official roadmap, Windows now prioritizes its built-in Internet Printing Protocol (IPP) driver over legacy V3 and V4 drivers when putting in appropriate printers. The plan is to make the built-in driver the default and transfer away from third-party drivers totally.

The transition started on July 1, 2026, when Microsoft modified Windows’ driver-ranking system to all the time choose the Windows IPP inbox class driver. As we beforehand coated, Windows Ready Print permits for installing printers without downloading a manufacturer’s driver package or working via a separate set up wizard.

Your older printer is not useless

But Windows is slowly transferring on

Introduced earlier this yr, Windows Ready Print depends on two essential elements — IPP and Mopria. IPP, or Internet Printing Protocol, is the widespread language that Windows makes use of to speak with printers over a community or USB connection. Mopria is an trade certification that tells your PC that the printer helps standardized, driverless printing.

The advantage of Windows Ready Print is that it eliminates the necessity for every producer to keep up and replace separate Windows drivers. This permits Microsoft to supply built-in safety and likewise creates a extra common printing protocol. Companies can then use Print Support Apps to supply further controls and options for his or her printers.

Printer fashions started delivery with Mopria certification from the mid-2010s onward. If you will have a comparatively trendy printer manufactured within the final ten years, there is a good probability that it’ll work completely nice on Windows 11 via Windows Ready Print. However, in the event you use older printers, issues can get a bit extra sophisticated.

Devices that lack IPP or Mopria assist nonetheless require a legacy driver from their producer. Multifunction printers may rely on proprietary software program for scanning, faxing, shade administration, or different superior controls that transcend what Microsoft gives with its common driver.

The drawback with third-party drivers is that they develop the assault floor, which provides hackers and unhealthy actors extra potential routes into your system. Just a few years in the past, the PrintNightmare vulnerability confirmed how harmful weak spot in Windows’ printing stack can turn into. Attackers have been capable of remotely execute malicious code via the Windows Print Spooler service. Windows’ standardized driver may help take away a few of these potential entry factors.

For now, this appears to be solely a compatibility subject with newer software program that leaves legacy drivers unaffected. However, with Windows Protected Print Mode set to turn into the default at an unspecified future date, you will not be capable to set up third-party drivers or use printers that do not assist the aforementioned protocols whereas the mode is enabled.

That is, except you manually flip it off beneath Settings > Bluetooth & gadgets > Printers & scanners > Windows protected print mode. If you are engaged on a managed PC the place an administrator has enforced Protected Print Mode via Group Policy, you will should contact the administrator to show it off for you.

Your previous receipt printers and fax machines can nonetheless be related to your Windows 11 PC, however by planning to make Windows Protected Print Mode the default, Microsoft needs to make sure that you perceive once you’re manually disabling its added safety protections.