Printer Not Working on Windows 11? V3/V4 Driver Facts and the IPP Fix

What Microsoft has actually announced (and what it has not)

Microsoft has not announced that Windows 11 will delete or block the printer drivers already installed on your PC. What it announced is an "end of servicing" plan for third-party V3 and V4 printer drivers, staged over several years, that mostly changes how new drivers reach Windows Update and which driver Windows prefers when it has a choice. If your printer died right after an update, the cause is real but is usually more specific than "Microsoft killed my printer driver". This section separates the confirmed facts from the rumours so that you can pick the right fix.

The primary source is Microsoft's own page, "End of servicing plan for third-party printer drivers on Windows" on Microsoft Learn (last updated May 2025, opened for this article on November 5, 2026). Its timeline, quoted in substance, is this:

Microsoft's FAQ on the same page adds several details that matter to a small office. Existing Microsoft-signed printer drivers can still be installed after the end of servicing. Windows continues to allow vendor-supplied drivers to be installed through the manufacturer's separate installer. Microsoft says it will continue to issue security fixes for the legacy printer driver platform while a Windows version is within its support lifecycle, and it says there are no plans to disable print features that are specific to the legacy platform. The change applies to Windows 11 and Windows Server 2025 and later, not to Windows 10.

The February 2026 clarification

In early 2026 a Windows roadmap entry reportedly said that Windows would "no longer support V3 and V4 printer drivers", and several news sites ran headlines saying Microsoft was purging printer drivers. According to later coverage (Tom's Hardware and a managed-services write-up, both published in February 2026), Microsoft then clarified that support for legacy drivers is not ending, that printers already installed keep working and that vendors can still ship their own installers. We read the headline of the first article and the full text of the second. We could not retrieve Microsoft's original clarification statement itself, so treat this paragraph as secondary reporting. The Microsoft Learn timeline above is the primary document and it is consistent with that reading.

What we could not confirm

Three claims circulate widely and we could not confirm them on a Microsoft page, so we treat them as unverified:

• "A specific January 2026 cumulative update (KB5074105) removes or blocks installed V3/V4 drivers." Microsoft's documentation describes changes to what is published to Windows Update, not the removal of drivers already on your PC. Some users did report print failures after January 2026 updates (for example RPC errors on an HP community thread and Universal Print errors on a Microsoft Tech Community thread), but those are user reports, and Microsoft support reportedly did not treat the Universal Print case as a break-fix.
• "HP V4 drivers disappear after the 25H2 upgrade." This comes from community question-and-answer threads. We found no vendor or Microsoft statement. It is plausible that an in-place upgrade swaps a driver for a newer one, but we cannot present it as an official behaviour.
• "Everything breaks on Patch Tuesday, November 10, 2026." November 10 is the second Tuesday of the month, so it is the normal Patch Tuesday date. We have no confirmed information that it contains a printer-driver block. See the section on what to do before any monthly update.

Why does this matter? Because the fix depends on the real cause. If you believe a driver was "removed", you may spend an evening hunting for a driver that was never removed, when the actual problem is a changed port, a stuck print queue or a new driver that Windows chose by itself on July 1. The next sections give you a way to tell which of those you have. If you want the short generic checklist first, our general guides on printer not working fixes and on cannot connect to printer cover the basics. This article adds the V3/V4 and IPP angle that those pages do not.

Why a printer can stop working after an update: the real causes

A printer that "suddenly" fails after a Windows 11 update is almost always one of six things: a stuck spooler or queue, a changed or broken port, a different driver chosen by Windows, a vendor-specific feature the generic driver does not expose, a network or discovery change, or a printer that is simply too old to answer the modern protocol. Only the third and fourth have anything to do with Microsoft's driver plan. The others happen on any Windows version and are cheap to fix.

1. A different driver was selected

From July 1, 2026, Microsoft says Windows always prefers the inbox IPP Class Driver when ranking drivers. In practice, a printer you reinstall, re-add or set up on a new PC may now come up with "Microsoft IPP Class Driver" instead of the manufacturer driver you used for years. For plain printing that is usually fine. For a multifunction printer that depended on the manufacturer's software for scanning to a folder, department codes, secure print release or finishing options, the generic driver may not expose those. The printer is not broken, but a feature you relied on has gone.

2. A port problem, often WSD

Many office printers were added automatically through Web Services for Devices (WSD), which creates a port named like "WSD-" followed by a long identifier. WSD depends on network discovery. If a network profile changes from Private to Public, or the printer gets a new IP address from the router, the port can point nowhere and Windows reports the printer as offline, even though the printer is on and has paper. This looks like an update problem because it appears at the same time as a reboot, but the root cause is the port.

3. A stuck spooler

The Print Spooler service holds jobs and can hang on one corrupted job. An update that reboots the PC in the middle of a job is a classic trigger. You will see jobs that never leave the queue or a printer that says "Printing" forever. This is fixed in two minutes, covered in the spooler section below.

4. Security hardening changes

Since the PrintNightmare vulnerabilities of 2021, Windows has tightened how printer drivers are installed and how shared printers are reached. Some older shared-printer setups, especially a PC sharing a printer to others, have had access errors after security updates over the years. Our guide to the 0x00000709 printer error covers that family. Whether any 2026 update changed that behaviour again is not something we could verify, so we do not claim it.

5. An old printer that never supported the modern protocol

If a printer is more than roughly 8 to 10 years old, it may not support IPP Everywhere or Mopria. When Windows prefers the IPP class driver and the printer cannot speak it, Windows falls back to the installed driver, so you usually still print, but any reinstall can become a problem. Older multifunction devices are the group Microsoft's own wording and independent commentators identify as most likely to feel friction over time.

6. A plain hardware or consumable problem

Never rule out the boring cause. A printer that shows a clear hardware message, a blinking light or a paper path error is not a driver problem. Test from your phone or from a second PC: if a second device prints, the printer is fine and the first PC is the problem.

How to tell if your printer is affected

Your printer is affected by the V3/V4 plan only if it uses a legacy manufacturer driver on Windows 11 and you need a new or re-installed driver, or if Windows has recently swapped it to the Microsoft IPP Class Driver and a feature stopped working. A printer that still prints exactly as before is not "broken" by this plan. Use the table below to place yourself quickly, then confirm with the driver check in the next section.

Check your driver type and version

You can see exactly what your PC uses in under a minute. There are three simple ways. Use the first one if you are not comfortable with commands.

1. Settings view. Open Settings, then Bluetooth and devices, then Printers and scanners. Select your printer, then Printer properties, then the Advanced tab. The "Driver" box names the driver in use. If it says "Microsoft IPP Class Driver", you are already on the inbox driver. A name with the manufacturer, such as a model name followed by "PCL6" or "Class Driver", is a manufacturer or vendor driver.
2. Print server properties. Press the Windows key and R, type printui /s /t2 and press Enter. The Drivers tab lists each installed driver with its processor and its type, shown as "Type 3 - User Mode" or "Type 4 - User Mode". That is how you tell V3 from V4. Select a driver and choose Properties to see the driver version.
3. PowerShell. Open Windows Terminal or PowerShell and run Get-PrinterDriver | Select Name, MajorVersion. A MajorVersion of 3 means a V3 driver and 4 means a V4 driver. To see which printer uses which driver and port, run Get-Printer | Select Name, DriverName, PortName.

Write down three things for each printer: the driver name, whether it is Type 3, Type 4 or the Microsoft IPP Class Driver, and the port name. If the port is "WSD-..." make a note of it. Those three facts decide which of the fixes below apply. Take a photo of the screen with your phone if you manage several printers.

Is my printer IPP-capable?

The inbox IPP Class Driver works with printers that support the Internet Printing Protocol, and Microsoft's page describes the Mopria certification as the target for network and USB printers. A practical way to check without guessing: look for the Mopria logo on the box or in the manufacturer's specification sheet for your exact model, or look for "IPP", "IPP Everywhere" or "AirPrint" in the specifications, since AirPrint printers generally speak IPP. If the specification sheet does not mention any of those, assume the printer is not IPP-ready and keep its existing manufacturer driver installed and backed up.

Switch to the Microsoft IPP Class Driver: step by step

If your printer is IPP-capable, the cleanest fix after a driver problem is often to remove the old driver and add the printer through its network address so that Windows uses the built-in Microsoft IPP Class Driver. It avoids vendor installers entirely and is the direction Microsoft is moving. It is not the right fix for every printer, so read the limits first.

What you gain and what you lose

According to Microsoft's FAQ, multifunction devices work over IPP: the print function runs over IPP, fax out over IPP Fax Out, and the scan function over WS-Scan or eSCL for network devices. For a USB printer, the print and scan endpoints are reachable only when the USB interface is in "IPP over USB" mode, with only eSCL available for scanning. In plain words, basic printing and scanning should work, but manufacturer extras such as scan-to-email setup, address books, mailbox bins or secure print release may not appear, because Microsoft says device customization is delivered through Print Support Apps from the Microsoft Store rather than through the legacy driver. Whether your manufacturer provides one for your model is something to check on their support page.

The steps

1. Find the printer's IP address. Print a network configuration page from the printer's own menu, or read it on the printer screen. If the address changes, log into the router and give the printer a DHCP reservation (a fixed address) first. This prevents the offline problem later.
2. Remove the old printer. Settings, Bluetooth and devices, Printers and scanners, select the printer, Remove.
3. Optionally remove the old driver. Run printui /s /t2, select the driver, choose Remove, and pick "Remove driver and driver package". Skip this step if you want to keep the old driver as a fallback. We recommend keeping a copy of the manufacturer package before you remove anything.
4. Add the printer by address. Settings, Printers and scanners, Add device. When the printer is not found, choose "Add manually", then "Select a shared printer by name" and type the address in the form http://IP-ADDRESS/ipp/print or http://IP-ADDRESS:631/ipp/print. The exact path varies by manufacturer, so if one form fails try the other and check the specification sheet. Some printers also advertise an ipp:// address.
5. Check the result. Open Printer properties, Advanced tab, and confirm that the driver reads "Microsoft IPP Class Driver". Print a test page, then test the features you use: duplex, tray selection, colour, and scanning.
6. Repeat on one PC only first. In an office, do this on a single workstation and use it for a day before you touch the others.

If the printer is not found at all, check that you are on the same network segment, that the printer's IPP or "Internet Printing" setting is switched on in its web page (some models ship with it disabled), and that a guest or isolated Wi-Fi is not separating the PC from the printer. Our guide on how to connect to Wi-Fi can help if the PC itself has lost the network.

Use the manufacturer's current driver, app or firmware

When the generic IPP driver loses a feature you need, the right answer is the manufacturer's current driver or app for your exact model, plus the latest printer firmware, downloaded from the manufacturer's own support site. Microsoft's plan does not prevent this: the Learn page says vendor-supplied drivers can still be installed from the manufacturer's installation package, even after the end-of-servicing dates.

How to do it safely

1. Go to the manufacturer's official support page. Type the address yourself (for example the support site of HP, Canon, Epson, Brother or Xerox, whichever made your printer) and search for your exact model number. We do not list brand-specific driver names here because we did not verify per-model compatibility for this article, and model support differs widely. The model number is on a label at the back or under the lid.
2. Pick the Windows 11 package. Choose "Windows 11" and the correct architecture, 64-bit for almost all PCs. Prefer a "full driver and software package" for multifunction printers, and a "basic driver" or "universal driver" if you only need printing. A universal driver, where a manufacturer provides one, is still a manufacturer driver and may be V3 or V4. Check the type afterwards with the printui method above.
3. Avoid driver download sites. Third-party "driver updater" websites and tools are a common source of unwanted software. Only download from the manufacturer's domain.
4. Update the printer firmware. Manufacturers often fix IPP, eSCL and discovery problems in firmware. The printer's web page or the manufacturer's app usually shows firmware status. Do the update with the printer on a stable power connection and never interrupt it.
5. Install, then verify. After installing, open printui /s /t2 and confirm the driver name, type and version. Print a test page and test scanning.
6. Archive the installer. Save the installer to a folder on your server or a labelled USB key, with the model, the date and the version in the file name. A managed-services commentator makes the same point: archive vendor installer packages so a reinstall during a PC refresh or disaster recovery does not depend on a vendor website still hosting an old file.

What if the manufacturer says the printer is end of life?

Manufacturers publish support lifecycles per product. If your model's page says there is no Windows 11 driver, no firmware updates or no further support, your options are: keep using the last working installer on the PCs that have it, use the IPP class driver if the printer supports it and your needs are basic, or plan a replacement. The replacement section below covers how to decide. Do not keep an unsupported network printer on an open network indefinitely: the security aspect is real, and our guide on printer security as an overlooked office hacking risk explains why.

Choosing between IPP class driver and manufacturer driver

One more option applies to some managed offices. If you manage many PCs, a central print server running a current Windows Server can hold one tested driver and push the printer to workstations. That is a design decision with its own risks, since the print server then needs the same care as any server. For a team of 2 to 15 people, adding the printer directly to each PC by IP address is usually simpler and has fewer moving parts.

Spooler reset and driver cleanup

A stuck spooler is the most common reason a printer "stops working" and it has nothing to do with the V3/V4 plan. Resetting it takes two minutes and loses only the jobs that are stuck in the queue. Do this before you touch drivers.

Reset the spooler from an administrator command prompt

1. Search for "Command Prompt", right-click it and choose "Run as administrator".
2. Type net stop spooler and press Enter.
3. Open File Explorer and go to C:\Windows\System32\spool\PRINTERS. Delete the files inside it, but not the folder itself. If Windows asks for permission, confirm.
4. Back in the command prompt, type net start spooler and press Enter.
5. Print a test page. If the printer still shows the old stuck jobs, restart the PC once.

If the Print Spooler service will not start, or stops again within seconds, a corrupted driver or port monitor is likely. Open services.msc and check that "Print Spooler" is set to Automatic. Then remove the suspect printer and its driver with the printui method and add it again. If the spooler keeps crashing even with no printer installed, run Windows Update and the system file checks described in our guide on fixing stuck or failing Windows updates. Our short page on the spooler error has more detail.

Clean up a broken driver

If you suspect the driver itself is damaged, a clean reinstall works better than layering a new driver over a broken one. Remove the printer, remove the driver and driver package with printui, restart the PC, then install from the manufacturer package or add the printer by IPP address. Do this one printer at a time and note each driver name beforehand, so that you can go back if the new setup behaves worse. We recommend taking a restore point first (search for "Create a restore point") because drivers are system-level changes.

Network, WSD and port issues

If your printer shows as offline, the first suspect is the port, not the driver. Switching a WSD port to a standard TCP/IP port with a fixed address fixes a large share of "it worked yesterday" network printer cases. This is also the part the V3/V4 headlines never mention, even though it is where most small offices lose time.

Understand the three common port types

Fix a WSD or offline port

1. Give the printer a fixed address. In the router, create a DHCP reservation for the printer's MAC address (printed on the network configuration page). Reservation is more robust than typing a static address in the printer, because the router stays the single source of truth. If you set a static address on the printer instead, choose one outside the router's DHCP range.
2. Check the network profile. In Settings, Network and internet, open the connection's properties and make sure the network profile is Private, not Public. A Public profile turns off network discovery, which WSD needs.
3. Change the port. Open Printer properties, Ports tab, choose "Add Port", pick "Standard TCP/IP Port", enter the printer's IP address, and finish. Select the new port for the printer and apply. If the printer uses the IPP class driver, you can instead add the IPP URL as described earlier.
4. Turn off SNMP status if printing hangs. In the port's configuration, SNMP status can cause a delay or false offline status on some printers. Disable it only if you see that symptom.
5. Retest from a second PC. If a second PC prints through the same address, the printer and network are fine.

If Windows shows "Printer offline" even though the printer is reachable (you can open its web page in a browser using the IP address), uncheck "Use Printer Offline" in the print queue's Printer menu, then check the port again. Our step-by-step page on the printer offline error walks through it.

Wi-Fi, guest networks and VLANs

Offices that separate guest Wi-Fi from the main network sometimes put a printer on the wrong side, or put PCs on a guest network that cannot reach it. A simple test: from the PC, try to open the printer's web page by IP address. If the page does not load, the PC cannot reach the printer, and no driver will fix that. Wi-Fi printers also drop off when the router or access point is replaced, because the printer still holds the old network name or password. Use the printer's control panel to join the network again. For USB printers, plug directly into the PC, use a good cable and avoid unpowered hubs.

Shared printers through another PC

In some small offices one PC shares a printer to the others. That PC must be on, the sharing must be allowed, and the other PCs need permission. If the host PC changes driver, the clients may need to reinstall the printer. For two or three PCs we usually recommend that each PC adds the printer directly by IP address and the host stops sharing, which removes a point of failure and permission errors that appear after security updates.

Windows Protected Print Mode: what it is and when it breaks printers

Windows Protected Print Mode (WPP) is an optional Windows 11 setting that restricts printing to Microsoft's own class driver, called Windows Ready Print, and removes third-party drivers. Turn it on only after you have confirmed that every printer on that PC is Mopria certified.

Microsoft's Learn page on WPP (last updated June 18, 2026 in the version we read) states that, when enabled, printers that use third-party drivers are uninstalled, the print driver is deleted from the driver store, and it cannot be used while the mode is active. When WPP is disabled and the printer is reinstalled, the original driver is reinstalled. A Mopria certified printer that was installed with a third-party driver is uninstalled and can be reinstalled using Windows Ready Print instead. If a multifunction device is not Mopria certified for scanning, only printing is available in that mode.

Microsoft's own page gives the path to check and change it: Settings, Bluetooth and devices, Printers and scanners, then under Printer preferences find "Windows protected print mode". Compatible printers show an icon, and you can select "Set up" to turn it on or "Turn off" to turn it off. The page that we read does not describe the mode as turned on by default; it describes it as something you set up. Secondary sources describe it as introduced with Windows 11 24H2. If you see a message that a printer "no longer works with Windows protected print mode", that is the explanation, and the fix is to turn the mode off or to use a Mopria certified printer. A Microsoft Q&A thread with that exact title exists, which shows that users do hit this.

WPP in a small office: our advice

• Do not enable it on a PC that uses any printer with a vendor-only driver, for example an older multifunction or a label printer.
• Do test it on one spare PC if your printers are all recent and Mopria certified. The security benefit comes from removing third-party driver code.
• Record the setting in your inventory, because it silently explains "my printer vanished" tickets later.
• If you manage PCs through Microsoft Intune or group policy, check Microsoft's current documentation for the policy, rather than relying on this summary.

If a printer disappeared from a PC and you did not turn WPP on yourself, check whether somebody else set it up or a management policy applied it. Our related guide on the Windows 11 25H2 update explains how to review what changed after a feature update.

When to replace a printer (and what to budget in CAD)

Replace a printer when it cannot run a supported driver or protocol, when the repair or workaround time costs more than a modern replacement over its remaining life, or when it has no security updates and sits on your business network. Do not replace a printer only because of the V3/V4 headlines. Microsoft says existing drivers still install and vendors can still ship installers, so a working older printer on a working setup is not an emergency.

Signs a replacement is justified

• The manufacturer's page lists the model as end of life, with no Windows 11 driver and no firmware updates.
• The printer does not support IPP, eSCL or Mopria, and your only working setup is one old installer you cannot guarantee you can reinstall.
• A feature the business needs (scan to email, secure print, duplex, a paper size) no longer works and the manufacturer has no fix.
• Repairs recur: a technician has been called for the same device three or more times in a year.
• The printer is on the business network with outdated firmware and a known weakness. See our printer security guide.
• Consumables are no longer sold, or the cost per page is clearly out of line.

Signs you should keep it

• It prints and scans correctly on all your PCs today.
• You have the manufacturer installer archived and a tested reinstall procedure.
• The printer supports IPP, and you have verified that the IPP class driver covers the functions you use.

How to budget without guessing

We are not quoting printer prices here, because they change by model, retailer and promotion, and a number we cannot source would mislead you. Instead, use this simple budgeting method with your own quotes in Canadian dollars:

1. List the purchase price in CAD from two or three quotes for models that meet your needs, including taxes (GST and QST in Quebec, GST and the provincial tax elsewhere).
2. Add the cost per page. Check the manufacturer's stated page yield for each toner or ink cartridge and divide the cartridge price by that yield. Multiply by your monthly pages. For a printer that prints 1,500 pages a month, a difference of one cent a page is 15 dollars a month, or 180 dollars a year.
3. Add service. Decide whether you want a service contract or a pay-per-call arrangement. Ask the vendor for the response time in writing.
4. Add the setup time. Installing and testing one printer on 5 PCs takes a technician roughly a short session. IT Cares' Expert Consultation is 119.99$ CAD for 60 minutes, which is a useful upper bound for a small-office setup done remotely.
5. Add the cost of waiting. If 6 people lose 20 minutes each on a bad day, that is 2 hours of paid time. Put your own hourly rate on it.

Then compare the five-year total of the old printer (repairs, workarounds, consumables) with the five-year total of a replacement. If the numbers are close, the replacement usually wins on reliability and security. If the old printer is clearly cheaper to run and stable, keep it and put the effort into archiving drivers. When you retire a printer, wipe it: office multifunction printers can retain scans, address books, cached jobs and network credentials on internal storage, so perform a factory reset and, for business-class models, follow the manufacturer's secure erase procedure or use a certified recycler before it leaves the building. This matters under Quebec's Law 25 if scans contained personal information.

What to look for in a replacement

• Mopria certification and IPP support printed in the specification sheet, since this is what Microsoft's plan is built around.
• A manufacturer commitment to firmware security updates, ideally stated in writing on the product page.
• Network features you need: wired Ethernet for reliability, Wi-Fi if wiring is not possible, and the ability to disable unused services.
• Scan features your workflow uses, tested over eSCL or WS-Scan with the IPP class driver, not only with the vendor's software.
• Consumable availability in Canada, with page yields stated by the manufacturer.

Three realistic scenarios (illustrative)

These are illustrative scenarios built from common situations, not real client cases. The numbers show how time and effort are spent, not prices.

Scenario 1: The dental office with a nine-year-old multifunction

A 6-person dental clinic in Laval has one network multifunction printer used for patient forms and scanning to a shared folder. After a new Windows 11 PC is added, the receptionist cannot scan. The printer prints fine through the IPP class driver, which Windows selected by itself, but the "scan to folder" function on the printer is configured for the old manufacturer software. The fix is not to replace anything: install the manufacturer's current package on that PC, confirm the driver type, and set up scan to a shared folder from the printer's web page with a dedicated account. Total work: about 45 minutes. The key lesson is to archive the installer and document the scan settings so the next PC takes 10 minutes.

Scenario 2: The two-lawyer office with a WSD port

A small law office in Quebec City has four PCs and one colour laser printer. On Monday morning, one PC reports "Printer offline". The others print. The affected PC had a Windows update on the weekend and its network profile switched to Public after a router restart. The WSD port stopped working because discovery was off. The fix: set the network profile to Private, create a DHCP reservation for the printer in the router, replace the WSD port with a standard TCP/IP port. Total work: about 25 minutes. Headline-driven panic about "removed drivers" would have wasted a day.

Scenario 3: The home office with a very old inkjet

A freelance translator in Gatineau upgrades from Windows 10 to a new Windows 11 PC and cannot find a driver for an inkjet that is over a decade old. The manufacturer page lists the model as discontinued with no Windows 11 driver, and the printer has no IPP or AirPrint support. The options are to try the generic driver (poor print quality or no scanning), keep the old PC for printing, or replace the printer with a Mopria certified model. After comparing a yearly cost of ink against a new model with a cheaper cost per page, replacement was the better choice, and the old inkjet went to an electronics recycling drop-off. Total time: about 2 hours including setup.

Small-office checklist before the next update

A small office can make printing update-proof in one afternoon: inventory every printer, record driver type and port, archive installers, give each printer a fixed address, test a reinstall on one spare PC and write down the steps. This is the habit that makes any Microsoft driver announcement harmless for you.

Before any monthly update (including November 10, 2026)

The second Tuesday of the month is Patch Tuesday, and in November 2026 that is November 10. We do not know what any given month's updates will change for printing, and we will not guess. What you control is how ready you are: on a day or two before, confirm that everyone can print and that you have the installer archive. Then let the update install on one pilot PC first, wait a day, and roll it out if printing works. If something breaks, you can pause updates for a week from Windows Update settings, uninstall the latest quality update from the update history as a last resort, or restore from your restore point. Keep in mind that uninstalling security updates leaves a PC exposed, so use it only as a short-term bridge while you find the real fix. For a deeper look at how monthly updates are rolled out safely, see our Patch Tuesday guide for small businesses.

If you are still on Windows 10

Microsoft says the end-of-servicing plan applies to Windows 11 and Windows Server 2025 and later. A Windows 10 PC is not covered by those dates, but Windows 10 itself has reached the end of its regular support, which is its own security concern. Our Windows 10 end-of-life migration guide for small businesses explains the options. When you migrate, treat printers as part of the project: test every printer on a Windows 11 pilot before you move the whole office.

When to call a professional

Call a technician when the spooler resets and a driver reinstall have not worked, when several PCs fail at once, when the printer is on a managed or segmented network, or when a replacement decision is blocking your work. Printers look simple, but a failing print path touches Windows, the network, the router and the printer, and testing each layer in turn is the job a technician does quickly.

IT Cares offers remote support across Canada and on-site service in Quebec, and has been doing IT support since 2014. We can connect to your PC while you watch, check the driver type and port, rebuild the printer on the right driver, set a fixed address and document the setup. If you want to see the options for printers specifically, see our printer repair page for Montreal. You can also call 1 (888) 711-9428.

Official resources

• Microsoft Learn: End of servicing plan for third-party printer drivers on Windows (the timeline and FAQ quoted above).
• Microsoft Learn: Windows Protected Print Mode (how it works and how to turn it on or off).
• Your printer manufacturer's official support site: drivers, firmware and Mopria or IPP statements for your exact model.
• Mopria Alliance: the certification behind driverless printing, useful to confirm a printer's status.

Frequently asked questions

Related guides

• Printer not working: general fixes
• Cannot connect to printer: fix
• Printer spooler error
• Printer offline error
• Printer error 0x00000709
• Printer security: the overlooked office risk
• Windows update stuck or failing: fix
• Windows 11 25H2 update guide
• Windows 10 end of life: migrate to Windows 11
• Printer repair in Montreal

Sources and official references

Last verified: November 5, 2026

• Microsoft Learn: End of servicing plan for third-party printer drivers on Windows (opened 2026-11-05)
• Microsoft Learn: Windows Protected Print Mode (opened 2026-11-05)
• SEAM: Microsoft Clarifies Windows 11 Printer Driver Policy (Feb 26, 2026, secondary)
• Tom's Hardware: Microsoft clarifies Windows 11 printer driver policy (February 2026, headline only, secondary)