Microsoft dropped two new Windows 11 Experimental builds on May 8, 2026, and buried inside one of them is a significant clue about the future of printing in Windows. Build 29585.1000 introduces new hardware IDs for the Microsoft Internet Protocol Print (IPP) driver, laying the groundwork for a driver ranking change that is expected to hit general availability in July. Together with build 28020.2075, these releases signal that Microsoft is accelerating its push to replace legacy third-party print drivers with its own universal solution.

Windows Insider testers cruising along in the Dev and Canary channels received the surprise updates yesterday. Neither build carries a dedicated KB article or official changelog beyond the standard servicing notes, but fresh telemetry and reporting have surfaced the IPP-related modifications. The builds themselves are cumulative updates that roll up previous fixes and introduce no front-facing features, which is typical for these “experimental” releases—they exist primarily so Microsoft can test infrastructure changes in the wild without the ceremonial fanfare of a feature update.

So what exactly changes in July? According to people familiar with the printing stack, Microsoft plans to adjust the driver ranking algorithm that Windows Plug and Play uses when a printer is connected. Today, when you plug in a printer, Windows scans its internal driver store and assigns each candidate driver a rank based on how well it matches the device’s hardware IDs and compatible IDs. A driver that comes from the manufacturer and carries a specific hardware ID often wins the ranking contest, meaning you get the full-featured manufacturer software.

The upcoming shift will give the Microsoft IPP Class Driver a massive boost in priority for any printer that declares support for IPP. That driver—shipped with Windows 11 since day one—implements a generic IPP client and uses the Internet Printing Protocol to communicate directly with network and USB printers that speak the standard. Instead of relying on a custom INF file and spooler components from the OEM, Windows will simply hand the device over to the inbox driver, which translates print jobs into IPP commands. The printer itself must support IPP, but most network-connected printers sold in the last decade do.

Build 29585.1000 seeds the ground for this ranking change by expanding the list of hardware IDs that the Microsoft IPP Print driver’s INF file will match against. Specifically, the driver now claims compatibility with a broader set of print class GUIDs and printer-specific hardware IDs. When the July update flips the ranking priority, Windows will detect a printer’s IPP capability via its hardware ID and immediately assign the Microsoft driver, even if a manufacturer’s driver package is also present in the system. In practical terms, if you install Windows from scratch in late July and plug in a supported printer, you’ll get the Microsoft driver by default. If you already have a manufacturer driver installed, Windows may not automatically switch, but the next driver update or manual installation could pull in the Microsoft version.

The Technical Nitty-Gritty: How Driver Ranking Works

Windows uses a scoring system to pick the best driver for a freshly connected device. The rank is a calculated value based on several factors: how specific the hardware ID match is, the driver’s date and version, whether the driver is signed and by which authority, and whether the driver package is marked as a “class driver.” Historically, an OEM-provided driver that perfectly matches a device’s hardware ID gets a higher rank than a generic class driver. The Microsoft IPP Class Driver has always been considered a class driver, but its match criteria were narrower. By adding more hardware IDs—like PRINTENUM\\LocalPrintQueue, PRINTENUM\\{GUID} variants, and even certain USB composite IDs—the driver’s INF now casts a wider net. The ranking boost in July will be achieved by either adjusting the base score of the Microsoft IPP driver or lowering the contribution of the hardware ID specificity factor for non-Microsoft drivers. Microsoft has yet to detail the exact algorithm, but testers have observed that the inbox driver now appears higher in the candidate list when multiple drivers are available.

The Long Road to a Driverless Print Future

This isn’t an overnight rug pull. Microsoft has been telegraphing the deprecation of legacy printer drivers for over two years. The company ended support for v3 and v4 printer drivers in Windows earlier this year and encouraged OEMs to move to IPP-based solutions or the Microsoft IPP driver. The ranking change is the logical next step: it ensures that the driver Microsoft already ships with the OS becomes the default for the majority of home and office printers. That reduces the attack surface (fewer third-party kernel-mode components), simplifies telemetry, and gives Microsoft tighter control over the print experience.

PrintNightmare, the infamous remote code execution vulnerability disclosed in 2021, shattered the industry’s confidence in the layered complexity of print spoolers. Since then, Microsoft has systematically tightened print security—disabling legacy point-and-print primitives, requiring administrator credentials for driver installation, and now steering users toward a driver that runs in user mode and communicates over standard protocols. The IPP driver is a crucial piece of that defense-in-depth strategy.

Community Reactions: A Divided Verdict

Naturally, testers who have spotted the new hardware IDs are divided. Over on the Windows Insider subreddit, early adopters running build 29585.1000 report that some of their printers now show up as “Microsoft IPP Class Driver” in Device Manager after a clean installation, while others still default to the manufacturer’s driver if the printer doesn’t fully support the required IPP attributes. One user with a popular HP OfficeJet noted that after the build, the driver switched to the Microsoft version, and they lost access to scanning and ink level monitoring until they manually downloaded the HP Smart app. Another with a Brother laser printer saw no change because the device didn’t advertise any IPP hardware ID that the Microsoft driver could latch onto—yet.

Microsoft’s own documentation suggests that the Microsoft IPP driver should provide “basic print functionality” for any printer that implements standard IPP attributes, which includes things like paper size, orientation, copies, and duplex. Advanced features—finishing options, booklet printing, multi-bin paper selection—depend on the printer exposing those capabilities through IPP extensions. Some printer manufacturers have been slow to adopt the full IPP specification, relying instead on proprietary Bidi communication schemes. For those devices, the Microsoft driver may feel like a downgrade.

What It Means for Enterprises and Power Users

The good news is that the ranking change is not a forced migration. Users will still be able to download manufacturer-specific driver packages from Windows Update or the OEM’s website and install them manually. The change only affects the automated driver selection during initial device installation. IT administrators can also control driver selection through group policy or configuration service provider policies. Microsoft is expected to publish guidance before the July rollout, complete with a list of known problematic models and what printers have been validated to work fully under the IPP class driver.

For managed environments, the shift may require a reassessment of printer fleets. Organizations that rely heavily on custom finishing options, card printers, or specialty label printers should begin testing their devices under a pure IPP driver regimen. The July update might arrive as part of a cumulative update for Windows 11 24H2 (or whatever nomenclature Microsoft is using by then), and it could potentially trickle down to Windows 10 as well, since the kernel-mode printer stack is nearly identical across versions. Microsoft has not clarified whether Windows 10 will receive the ranking change, but given the shared driver store and catalog, it is plausible.

The Bigger Picture: A Sea Change in Windows Printing

Looking at the bigger picture, these experimental builds are yet another reminder that Windows printing is undergoing its most radical transformation since the Vista-era XPS print driver. In 2025, Microsoft permanently disabled the Windows print spooler’s legacy point-and-print primitives to block a class of critical vulnerabilities, and in early 2026, the company retired the v4 driver model entirely. The July ranking adjustment is the final piece of a puzzle that pushes the entire ecosystem toward cloud-first, IPP-based printing. For individual consumers, it will largely mean fewer driver installation hassles and less bloatware. For enterprises, it will demand careful testing of bulk-printing workflows and a review of their printer fleet’s IPP maturity.

If you’re curious to see how your own setup will behave, the experimental builds are available to Insiders in the Dev and Canary channels right now. Install build 29585.1000 on a test machine, connect your printers, and note which driver Windows assigns. If you encounter missing features, now is the time to document them and file feedback via the Feedback Hub, because the July clock is ticking. After that, the rest of the Windows ecosystem will follow, likely as part of the next feature update for Windows 11.

For Microsoft, the move is more than engineering housekeeping—it’s about maintaining a trustworthy platform. Each third-party print driver that Windows loads is a potential entry point for malware, and the 2021 PrintNightmare fiasco proved how brittle the old stack can be. By elevating the Microsoft IPP driver to the top of the ranking, Redmond is betting that a streamlined, standard-compliant print model is more secure and more maintainable than the sprawling, buggy driver ecosystem of the past. Whether printer manufacturers—and their customers—will be ready in July is the multi-billion-dollar question.