[1809, ou] Microsoft moves printer drivers to Windows Update

[Arthur]

Source: Microsoft (via ghacks)

 

Windows 10 administrators and users who connect printers or scanners to devices running the operating system may have noticed a change in how printer drivers are installed on the devices.

 

Windows installation media included basic drivers for printers and scanners in versions prior to Windows 10 version 1809; these were installed automatically on the device if a printer or scanner was detected by the operating system so that the devices would work right away.

 

Windows 10 version 1809 printing changes

Starting in Windows 10 version 1809, Windows 10 installation media does not include the bulk of default drivers for printers or scanners anymore.

 

Microsoft revealed that it changed how default printer and scanner drivers are distributed in the October 2018 Update for Windows 10 (and going forward).

 

Here is what happens:

 

• Users who upgrade from a previous version of Windows to Windows 10 version 1809 won't notice any differences as printer and scanner drivers will continue to work just like before.
   
   
  
• If a new printer or scanner is connected to a device running Windows 10, Windows will use Windows Update to download and install the new printer driver.
   
   
  
• If Windows Update is blocked or not available, e.g. if the machine is offline, drivers won't be installed automatically. Windows 10 installs a Mopria-compatible printer that require no external driver.
  

In other words: Default drivers for printers and scanners will only be installed if the machine is connected to Windows Update. While that is the case for most PCs running Windows 10, it may pose issues for admins who maintain PCs and devices that are offline or on which Windows Update is blocked.

 

To reduce the Windows footprint and provide more storage space to users, these drivers no longer ship with the OS and instead are available through Windows Update.

[Ephelyon]

What about WSUS?

 

Do we need to enable the Drivers category, which is said not to be a good idea? Or is the new Windows 10 build smart enough to bypass WSUS for these new driver updates and go directly to Microsoft for them? It never used to be for things like language packs, for example...

 

Worth seeing if any further information comes to light in the coming weeks...

[AJWhite1970]

Fab, clearly with printing being so stable and un-problematic for sysadmins, let’s make some major changes to how it works before M$ have fixed the initial mess.....

[Ephelyon]

Just occurred to me that it presumably won't matter if you're using a print server anyway as it'll just pull the driver off that, I guess...

[Arthur]

Just occurred to me that it presumably won't matter if you're using a print server anyway as it'll just pull the driver off that, I guess...

Correct.

[Ephelyon]

… but still worth knowing about for smaller environments that do use WSUS but don't use a print server - like mine here at the moment, although that'll be changing soon... =]

[sted]

Just occurred to me that it presumably won't matter if you're using a print server anyway as it'll just pull the driver off that, I guess...

 

and that might be an improvement no more printer drivers suddenly deciding they want something different to the ones on the server (toshiba drivers for instance reverting to some crummy version that cant do codes and ive never been able to work out why or where it comes from as its random)

[supportman]

Great news actually about this, the windows installer will be smaller as a result.