Forum Discussion
Example: Install Legacy Printer Drivers On Windows 11 25H2
Hi Mousefluff, this is a helpful write-up. For anyone following it, I would add one caution: only use legacy printer drivers from the printer vendor or a trusted internal driver repository, and avoid random driver download sites. On Windows 11, it is also worth testing the printer with the Microsoft IPP Class Driver first before installing older vendor packages. If the legacy driver is still required, document the exact driver version so it can be repeated safely on other machines.
This guide is written for people who only use the official OEM drivers from the website, so it will work as it did before. These drivers I'm describing are signed WHQL drivers, they aren't 3rd party drivers. It's not made for the latest printers, it's for printers that are probably 5 or 10 years old, but still have signed drivers that work fine on Windows 11 25H2, or Windows 10 22H2. The purpose is so that you don't have to throw the printer / photocopier away, as Microsoft might suggest, though they don't explicitly recommend to discard a printer or photocopier just because it doesn't support secure print. The benefit is that you can keep using it, especially if there are still supplies available for it and firmware updates. Xerox owns Lexmark btw, so that's why I made the comparison there, showing the functionality level of the Xerox Global / Universal Print Driver, vs the older official driver, which is better than the Xerox Global / Universal Print Driver.
On Windows 11, it is also worth testing the printer with the Microsoft IPP Class Driver first before installing older vendor packages.
