Microsoft's long-running effort to rid Windows of third-party print drivers reaches a milestone in July 2026, when the company rebrands its Modern Print Platform as Windows Ready Print and changes the default printing path for newly installed, compatible printers. The shift to the built-in Windows Internet Printing Protocol (IPP) stack means that, for the first time, many Windows users and IT administrators will experience driverless printing as the out-of-the-box norm. The change, first announced in June 2026 alongside the official rebranding, targets a fundamental security and manageability pain point that has plagued enterprise environments for decades.

The Print Driver Problem That Pushed Microsoft to Act

Print drivers have been a thorn in Windows' side since the NT era. Kernel-mode drivers, which many legacy print vendors relied on, run with full system privileges — a single vulnerability can compromise an entire fleet. The PrintNightmare series of exploits in 2021 (CVE-2021-34527 and its siblings) exposed how deeply intertwined the legacy spooler service was with Windows authentication and system integrity. Microsoft’s response has been a multi-year march toward a modern, driverless printing model.

By 2023, the company had already deprecated v3 and v4 third-party printer drivers in Windows Update, encouraging vendors to ship their own driver packages or adopt the native IPP class driver. Windows 11 22H2 introduced the Modern Print Platform, a new architecture that isolates the print stack from the OS kernel, supports print support apps via the Microsoft Store, and leans heavily on the industry-standard IPP. Today, Windows Ready Print represents the culmination of that work — not just a rename, but a default behavior change that makes this modern path the first choice for any compatible printer.

What Is Windows Ready Print?

Windows Ready Print is Microsoft’s branding for an enhanced version of its Modern Print Platform. The core technology isn’t new: IPP printing has been available in Windows for years, and many Mopria-certified printers already work without vendor drivers. What changes in July 2026 is the default behavior when a new, eligible USB or network printer is connected.

Under Windows Ready Print, the operating system will prefer the native Windows IPP Class Driver whenever it detects a printer that supports the PWG Raster or PDF-based IPP standards, and that printer is not already installed via a vendor-provided driver. Instead of prompting the user or IT admin to choose between a driver package and the built-in path, Windows will silently install the printer using the IPP stack. Users can still override this and install a manufacturer’s driver manually, but the path of least resistance now leads to driverless printing.

The rebranding to “Windows Ready Print” is more than a marketing exercise. It signals to IT departments that the platform is now a mature, managed offering. Group policies, Intune configuration profiles, and PowerShell cmdlets will allow organizations to control exactly how printers are provisioned, with the ability to block legacy drivers entirely or force the IPP path for specific models.

How IPP Printing Works in Windows

The Internet Printing Protocol (IPP) is an IETF standard that defines client–server communication for print jobs. In a Windows Ready Print scenario, the client (Windows PC) discovers the printer via mDNS or WS-Discovery, queries its capabilities via IPP, and uses one of two job formats: PWG-Raster (a standard raster format defined by the Printer Working Group) or PDF. The printer must natively support at least one of these formats.

Critically, no vendor-specific driver code runs on the client. All rendering occurs on the printer itself or a cloud service, eliminating the attack surface that kernel-mode drivers once presented. For environments that still require advanced finishing options — stapling, hole punching, secure pull printing — Windows Ready Print relies on IPP extensions known as Print/Scan Workflow (PSW) and the Microsoft IPP Class Driver’s support for these features. However, the maturity of that support varies by manufacturer.

The July 2026 Default Change: What’s Affected?

The new default behavior applies to Windows 11 version 24H2 and later, as well as Windows Server 2025, once the July 2026 cumulative update is installed. When a fresh printer is connected that:

  • Advertises IPP over USB, Wi-Fi, or Ethernet
  • Supports PWG-Raster or PDF via IPP
  • Does not already have a vendor-supplied driver package installed

Windows will automatically use the IPP path. Printers that don’t meet these criteria, or those already installed with a third-party driver, are unchanged. Microsoft insists that most modern network MFPs and desktop printers shipped after 2020 meet the criteria, especially Mopria-certified devices.

This is not an auto-conversion of existing printer queues. IT administrators must deliberately re-provision existing printers if they want to move them to the IPP path. The “default” only triggers at installation time.

Benefits for IT: Security and Simplification

For enterprise IT, the immediate payoff is security. A driverless printer runs no kernel-mode code, can be isolated in AppContainer, and doesn’t depend on the notoriously complex Windows Print Spooler beyond basic job handling. The spooler itself still exists, but its role is reduced to queuing and routing IPP messages rather than executing arbitrary driver code.

Manageability also improves. Printer provisioning via Intune or Group Policy becomes a matter of pushing a standardized URI — such as ipp://printername.local — with no need to stage and test drivers across different hardware models. Windows Ready Print queues are inherently device-agnostic; the same provisioning profile can work across printer brands, as long as they speak IPP.

For organisations migrating to Windows 11 and Microsoft 365, Windows Ready Print aligns with the Zero Trust security model. It removes the dependency on legacy print servers, making it easier to deploy Universal Print or cloud-native printing while still supporting local scenarios.

Challenges and Real-World Headwinds

Despite the security wins, IT administrators are likely to encounter friction. The Windows Ready Print driver may not expose every vendor-specific finishing option. Duplex and staple settings that work flawlessly under a manufacturer’s driver might be missing or behave unpredictably with the generic IPP class driver. Print quality or speed can also differ, especially for devices that rely on proprietary compression or communication protocols.

Larger enterprises with fleets of older printers face a more fundamental issue: those devices may not support IPP at all, or they may implement an incomplete version. Microsoft has been clear that Windows Ready Print doesn’t retroactively force compatibility; those printers will continue to require legacy drivers. But it means that the default behavior only benefits the newest hardware, leaving IT with a split management model for years.

Another subtle point is the impact on print servers. In a classic Windows print server deployment, drivers live on the server and clients download them when connecting. Under the new model, clients might connect directly to printers via IPP instead of going through the server, which can break centralized control features like print logging, accounting, and secure release. Microsoft expects organizations to pair Windows Ready Print with Universal Print or to adopt direct IPP provisioning with cloud-based management — but that’s a significant architectural shift.

Preparing Your Environment for Windows Ready Print

IT teams should begin testing now, even if the July 2026 cutoff feels distant. Here’s a practical checklist:

  • Inventory your printer fleet: Identify which models support Mopria or IPP standard printing. Most manufacturers provide compatibility lists.
  • Test with a pilot group: Provision a subset of users with pure IPP printers using the built-in Windows driver. Validate that all required business workflows (labels, forms, specialized media) work correctly.
  • Update printer firmware: Many printers gain improved IPP support through firmware updates. Work with your OEM to ensure devices are running the latest available code.
  • Evaluate Group Policy settings: Windows Ready Print introduces new policies under Computer Configuration > Administrative Templates > Printers that let you control whether the IPP path is forced, blocked, or optional. Familiarize yourself with “Configure Windows IPP class driver default preference” and related settings.
  • Plan for print server migration: If you still rely on traditional print servers, start evaluating whether you can move critical print functions to Universal Print or a direct-IPP model. The default change accelerates the timeline for that decision.
  • Engage with printer OEMs: Ask them about their roadmap for Windows Ready Print and whether they will provide support apps to fill feature gaps that the generic driver cannot cover.

Community and Expert Reactions

Early feedback on IT forums shows a mix of cautious optimism and lingering skepticism. Many administrators welcome the end of driver hell but worry about the fine print. “I love the idea of no more driver updates, but my accounting team’s complex multi-tray invoice printing might break if the IPP driver doesn’t expose tray selection correctly,” one commenter noted in a Windows discussion thread. Others point out that while Mopria certification includes basic finishing, the implementation quality varies wildly.

Security professionals are far more bullish. Removing kernel-mode drivers slashes the attack surface, and the isolation provided by the new print platform aligns with Microsoft’s broader push toward controlled execution environments. As one security researcher put it, “This is the most significant print security change since NT4 introduced the Type 3 driver model.”

Microsoft itself has been unusually transparent about the timeline and the “force the default” approach, likely to avoid the confusion that followed earlier Windows Update driver deprecation announcements. A detailed FAQ published on the Windows IT Pro Blog answers common concerns about mixed environments and overrides.

Looking Ahead

Windows Ready Print is not the end game. Microsoft’s long-term vision is a fully managed, cloud-adjacent printing service where users no longer think about drivers at all — something akin to how smartphones handle printing. The July 2026 default change is a forcing function that pushes both hardware vendors and enterprises toward that reality.

For IT departments, the message is unmistakable: the era of print driver management is drawing to a close. Start testing, communicate with users, and update your provisioning workflows now. By the time Windows Ready Print becomes the norm, the organizations that prepared will have transformed a potential disruption into a clear security win.