How to Install a Printer Driver (Guide) (WIP)

[techsxge]

Hey techs,

i've seen this Post from rthonpm but as i cant seem to find anything related to this from him, i figured that i'd create this guide myself.
Please Note that there are multiple ways of installing Printer Drivers due to hundreds of different Windows Versions and differences in Enviroments. I'll try my best to cover the most up to date ways.
I have left out the approach via settings on windows 11 because i did not find this to work reliable.


Print Management:

1. Press Windows + R on your Keyboard so this little window will pop up in the bottom left:

1.jpg
2. Write printmanagement.msc in the window and hit enter.
2.1 If it can't find printmanagement.msc, you'll need to install it: Head over to Settings -> Search for "manage optional features" -> Add a feature -> Search for "Print Management" and install it, then try again.

3. If printmanagement.msc is opened, expand custom filters and double click All printers. This gives you a list of ALL currently installed printers. Sometimes, there are Printers installed that you wont see in Settings nor in Control Panel.
Now to add a Printer, expand "Print Servers", double click your PC's Name and then right-click "Printers".
4. Select "Add an IPP, TCP/IP or Web Services Printer by IP address or hostname" and click next. Select the Type of Connection for your Printer. Select "TCP/IP Device" and enter the DNS-Hostname or IP address of the Printer.
5. When Windows is searching for a Printer Driver, click on "The Printer could not be found" on the bottom and then select the correct driver you have downloaded from your printers manufacturer website.
6. Just click next until you see a screen saying the Printer has been installed. Here, to test your installattion you can print a windows testpage.


Headless Remote Server:
1.Start powershell in your headless remote server by typing "powershell"
2. Execute this command and change \\path\to\file\ to where the driver is located. This will add the driver to the DriverStore inside Windows

pnputil.exe /a "\\path\to\file\*.inf"

3. Now we'll install the Printer. Please change "printer_driver_inf_file_name.inf" to your actual printer drivers .inf file name in said directory. Also, please open up the Inf File onces. In the first few rows there should be something like "Konica Minolta bizhub c364 series PCL3" (Depending on your manufacturer). Copy that name and replace "My PrintersName" with it

Add-PrinterDriver -Name "My Printers Name" -InfPath "C:\Windows\System32\DriverStore\FileRepository\printer_driver_inf_file_name.inf"

I'll add more pictures and fix some typos later as i currently have to get back to work again and wrote this on my way to work!

[slimslob]

Re: How to Install a Printer Driver (Guide) (WIP)

Why not just Start - PC Settings - Blue tooth & devices - Printers & scanners - Add device

Why the hell did Microsoft remove Add device from Printers I have no idea. You can also get to Devices and printers by clicking the navigation Up arrow on Printers.

[techsxge]

Re: How to Install a Printer Driver (Guide) (WIP)

Why not just Start - PC Settings - Blue tooth & devices - Printers & scanners - Add device

Why the hell did Microsoft remove Add device from Printers I have no idea. You can also get to Devices and printers by clicking the navigation Up arrow on Printers.

This approach does not work on every Microsoft Windows Installation. Also, removing Printers using the Settings approach does not seem to clean-uninstall the printers correctly. If my Guide is done (e.g. when i remove the WIP) i'll showcase a simple approach on how to clean install and clean uninstall printer drivers reliable on ALL Microsoft Windows Installations. I recall having issues with Printers installed that way but not over CP too but thats long time ago.
Pluspoint is that Microsoft will most likely never change the MMC so the approach i shared will less likely ever change no matter the environment you might find yourself in.
The Settings Approach also does not work on Headless Microsoft Windows "Core" Servers.

I might include Printer Server installations and Printer driver installations on Linux and MacOS too.



Note that the mentioned issues rarely occured on small / single pc installations but in large computer networks.

[KenB]

Re: How to Install a Printer Driver (Guide) (WIP)

All of this took a nasty little turn when we got smacked with Print Nightmare.

In larger environments, where print servers are used, this is probably the best method:

Put the driver in the driver store (as mentioned), possibly by using a script in a group policy.

That driver can sit there, unused, for any length of time; it doesn't matter.

When choosing that printer to install, (i.e....by double clicking it or from a run command), the process will find the appropriate driver in the Driver Store, and the rights error will not occur. As long as the version matches what is on the server, the printer properties (such as accessories), and print preferences (such as color and duplex) will flow to the workstation.

[slimslob]

Re: How to Install a Printer Driver (Guide) (WIP)

This approach does not work on every Microsoft Windows Installation. Also, removing Printers using the Settings approach does not seem to clean-uninstall the printers correctly. If my Guide is done (e.g. when i remove the WIP) i'll showcase a simple approach on how to clean install and clean uninstall printer drivers reliable on ALL Microsoft Windows Installations. I recall having issues with Printers installed that way but not over CP too but thats long time ago.
Pluspoint is that Microsoft will most likely never change the MMC so the approach i shared will less likely ever change no matter the environment you might find yourself in.
The Settings Approach also does not work on Headless Microsoft Windows "Core" Servers.

I might include Printer Server installations and Printer driver installations on Linux and MacOS too.



Note that the mentioned issues rarely occured on small / single pc installations but in large computer networks.

The best world is where you install Windows as a virtual machine on Linux. That is what all Computer Science professors do. After a logon system update at California State University Bakersfield during the pandemic lock out, many Professors and instructors returning to campus were unable to print, except all Computer Science department all of whom were using virtual Windows on Linux systems.

[rthonpm]

Re: How to Install a Printer Driver (Guide) (WIP)

Nice start, but you're making it much more complicated than you need. Once I finish a project that's been eating up all of my time I'll post a definitive guide to printmanagement.msc

Sent from my Pixel 6 Pro using Tapatalk

[techsxge]

Re: How to Install a Printer Driver (Guide) (WIP)

Nice start, but you're making it much more complicated than you need. Once I finish a project that's been eating up all of my time I'll post a definitive guide to printmanagement.msc

Sent from my Pixel 6 Pro using Tapatalk

It is work in progress, i'll go in much more detail but havent had as much time as expected when i started this. I am sure there are other good Methods that i might not even know of today so if you've got any be free to let me know

[techsxge]

Re: How to Install a Printer Driver (Guide) (WIP)

ah nuts i forgot that i cant edit the thread after 1 day

[BillyCarpenter]

Re: How to Install a Printer Driver (Guide) (WIP)

Thanks for posting this thread. I'm all into it.

[Tricky]

Re: How to Install a Printer Driver (Guide) (WIP)

Why not just Start - PC Settings - Blue tooth & devices - Printers & scanners - Add device

Why the hell did Microsoft remove Add device from Printers I have no idea. You can also get to Devices and printers by clicking the navigation Up arrow on Printers.

I detest the windows 10 and 11 printer settings you can access the old Win7 printers folder.

Create a new shortcut on desktop, for the location of the item copy / paste this

explorer shell:PrintersFolder

name it printers or something

[rthonpm]

Re: How to Install a Printer Driver (Guide) (WIP)

There's a much easier way to install printer drivers on a remote host than pnputil, especially for people more accustomed to the GUI. This assumes that you've launched printmanagement.msc with an account that has admin rights on the remote machine. On the left-hand side menu, you'll see three options, including Print Servers. This isn't exactly the same as the traditional printer server role for Windows Server, it's just any machine that has the print spooler service running.

Keep in mind that thanks to the forum software, the images are highly compressed and may not be completely clear, but they should at least give you some idea of what to look for...

print list.png

If you expand out the option, you'll see the local machine you're on, if you right click you can add other computers or servers and manage the same features on them remotely:

add_server.jpg

By adding another host, as long as it is connected to the same network or accessible on the same LAN, you can install or remove print drivers, create new TCP/IP ports, or add local printers. In the Print Nightmare world this makes deploying printers in a business environment much easier because you can pre-stage the driver for a shared printer on the computer so that when a standard user goes to install it, there's no admin prompt.

server list.jpg

two_servers.jpg

Connected to an actual print server, you can manage every facet of it without ever directly logging into the machine, which is especially handy for Server Core installs or just a supervised tweak from a client IT admin's machine.

It will make your life considerably easier, and will also work in a Workgroup environment as long as the admin credentials used on the local machine are identical to those on the remote one.

Quick and easy version of what I was going to post as a fuller guide, and really this is the true function of the msc module: remote management.

People may gripe about Windows, but of every major OS, it has the richest and most comprehensive set of tools for distributed management that are generally built into the OS.

[techsxge]

Re: How to Install a Printer Driver (Guide) (WIP)

There's a much easier way to install printer drivers on a remote host than pnputil, especially for people more accustomed to the GUI. This assumes that you've launched printmanagement.msc with an account that has admin rights on the remote machine. On the left-hand side menu, you'll see three options, including Print Servers. This isn't exactly the same as the traditional printer server role for Windows Server, it's just any machine that has the print spooler service running.

Keep in mind that thanks to the forum software, the images are highly compressed and may not be completely clear, but they should at least give you some idea of what to look for...

[ATTACH=CONFIG]56648[/ATTACH]

If you expand out the option, you'll see the local machine you're on, if you right click you can add other computers or servers and manage the same features on them remotely:

[ATTACH=CONFIG]56649[/ATTACH]

By adding another host, as long as it is connected to the same network or accessible on the same LAN, you can install or remove print drivers, create new TCP/IP ports, or add local printers. In the Print Nightmare world this makes deploying printers in a business environment much easier because you can pre-stage the driver for a shared printer on the computer so that when a standard user goes to install it, there's no admin prompt.

[ATTACH=CONFIG]56650[/ATTACH]

[ATTACH=CONFIG]56651[/ATTACH]

Connected to an actual print server, you can manage every facet of it without ever directly logging into the machine, which is especially handy for Server Core installs or just a supervised tweak from a client IT admin's machine.

It will make your life considerably easier, and will also work in a Workgroup environment as long as the admin credentials used on the local machine are identical to those on the remote one.

Quick and easy version of what I was going to post as a fuller guide, and really this is the true function of the msc module: remote management.

People may gripe about Windows, but of every major OS, it has the richest and most comprehensive set of tools for distributed management that are generally built into the OS.

I totally agree with this method.
pnputils (or ps/vbs) will still need to be used if you encounter an headless server which should serve as a print server..

I'll rework my part of the guide, add yours and then make a thread that ends in "print" which should bypass image compression.

[rthonpm]

Re: How to Install a Printer Driver (Guide) (WIP)

pnputils (or ps/vbs) will still need to be used if you encounter an headless server which should serve as a print server.

Don't need it at all: you can install any driver on a remote machine through printmanagement. All you need to do is go under the Drivers tab of a remote machine and right click to get the option to add a driver.

[techsxge]

Re: How to Install a Printer Driver (Guide) (WIP)

Don't need it at all: you can install any driver on a remote machine through printmanagement. All you need to do is go under the Drivers tab of a remote machine and right click to get the option to add a driver.

I'll be quite impressed if you can show me how to do this on a HEADLESS (No GUI) remote machine. ( Minus Admin Center )

[rthonpm]

Re: How to Install a Printer Driver (Guide) (WIP)

I'll be quite impressed if you can show me how to do this on a HEADLESS (No GUI) remote machine. ( Minus Admin Center )

That's not quite the definition of headless (a system without a display attached), however you need to have the Print Server role installed ahead of time on a Server Core system otherwise you never get the install of the spooler service, but after that's in place you can manage it through printmanagement just like any workstation.

80% of the servers I've put in place over multiple clients are Server Core installs.