HP UPD - Using the HP UPD with Windows 8 and Windows Server 2012 (white paper)

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Limitations of Branch Office Direct Printing
 Requires a print server running Windows Server 2012 and Windows 8 clients.
 The printer must be a network attached device.
 Quota, auditing and detailed job logging capabilities are lost if Branch Office Direct Printing
is used.
 Even if Branch Office Direct Printing is enabled on a print queue, clients running operating
systems prior to Windows 8 will not use this feature and will still print to the server.
 Settings that conflict with Branch Office Direct Printing (such as Keep Printed Jobs) cannot
be used.
 If printer pooling is enabled on print queues, Branch Office Direct Printing is not compatible.
Additional information is available from Microsoft including searching on Branch Office Direct
Printing from http://www.microsoft.com/en-us/default.aspx.
V3 VERSUS V4 PRINT DRIVERS
Windows 8 introduces a new print driver model known as Version 4 (V4 or Type 4) drivers.
Windows 8 and Server 2012 support both version 3 and version 4 print driver models.
 V2: Kernel mode
 V3: User Mode
 V4: XPS driver
V3 Model Overview
The Windows printer driver model has remained relatively unchanged since the introduction of
Version 3 or V3 drivers in Windows 2000. The V3 model relies heavily on OEMs to produce
customized drivers for each specific device to make sure that specific features of each print device
can be accessed by Windows applications. Managing a printing infrastructure using the V3 driver
model requires the administrator to manage:
• A large number of drivers
• Drivers on client machines as well as servers
• Both 32-bit and 64-bit print drivers to support both of these client architectures
The current HP UPD drivers are V3 drivers.
V4 Model Overview
V4 drivers have a greatly simplified configuration layer. Unlike V3 print drivers where the user
interface is strongly coupled to the configuration, V4 print drivers focus on providing PrintTicket,
PrintCapabilities, and constraint functionality.
A common configuration module, PrintConfig.dll, encapsulates the functionality that was previously
available in the UnidrvUI and Pscript5UI core drivers. V4 drivers do not currently employ
configuration plug-ins.
Most of the device configuration is expressed in Generic Printer Description (GPD) and PostScript
Printer Description (PPD) files. They may provide a JavaScript file that supports advanced
constraint handling as well as PrintTicket and PrintCapabilities support.
Generic Printer Description (GPD) and PostScript Printer Description (PPD) file formats have not
changed and existing GPD and PPD files are compatible. The main difference is that all V4 print
drivers must additionally specify required directives in their GPD or PPD files. These directives
prevent the expression of features that are not natively supported by XPSDrv.
Inbox (in the operating system) V4 drivers are available, developed and supported by Microsoft.