Microsoft Windows 2000 Print Servers and Drivers John Clavin Program Manager Printing and Imaging Group Microsoft Corpor

1. Microsoft Windows 2000 Print Servers and DriversJohn ClavinProgram ManagerPrinting and Imaging GroupMicrosoft Corporation

2. Agenda • Demystifying printer drivers • Migrating a Microsoft® Windows NT® 4.0 print server to Windows® 2000 • Point and print – what is it really? • Deployment and interoperability • New features in the Windows .NET Server Family • Sources of information and documentation for print servers

3. Non-Agenda • Print server scalability • Microsoft Active Directory® integration • Print server clustering

4. What Is a Printer Driver? • A software interface between the graphics engine and the device • Rendering (drawing) instructions • User interface (UI) interaction • Configured by UI settings / bidirectional communications • Duplexer? yes/no • Drawing input is from the application through the Graphics Device Interface (GDI) • Drawing output is to the printer, through the spooler and port drivers, in device ready format • PostScript, PCL, and others

5. Application Graphics Engine Print Driver Spooler Port Driver Printing Device Simplified Flow of Information from Click to Clunk

6. Types of Printer DriversKernel Mode vs. User Mode • Kernel mode versus user mode or • Windows NT 4.0 versus Windows 2000 or • Version 2 versus version 3 • Kernel mode • Runs very close to main operating system instructions • Has some performance advantages, but if the driver stops responding, then the kernel stops responding, which means a greater risk of blue screens occurring

7. Types of Printer Drivers (2)Kernel Mode vs. User Mode • User mode • Operates at the level of the operating system designed for applications • If it stops responding, it can crash the spooler and printing will stop, but the server as a whole is likely to still be running • Can use “Net Start Spooler” to restart the spooler and continue printing, but be cautious because a bad driver may crash the spooler all over again

8. Types of Printer Drivers (3)Kernel Mode vs. User Mode • Printer drivers advertised as "Windows NT 4.0 or Windows 2000" are kernel-mode drivers • Printer drivers advertised as “Windows 2000 or Windows XP” are typically user-mode drivers • A well written kernel-mode printer driver can work perfectly well on Windows 2000 and Windows XP • Windows 2000 is more careful about memory management • If a kernel-mode driver does not work, the effects can be more serious

9. Types of Printer Drivers Monolithic vs. "In-Box" • Monolithic printer driver • A complete printer driver that interprets calls from the graphics engine • All UI and rendering handled by IHV-supplied code • "In-box" printer driver • Driver built to work with Microsoft-supplied printer driver components • Unidrv, Pscript, and Rasdd, communicate with the graphics engine • Rendering and UI are mostly handled by Microsoft components • Drivers can provide call-back points, rendering code, and UI code to modify the data flow in the core drivers

10. Types of Printer Drivers (2)Monolithic vs. "In-Box" • The term "in-box" driver should refer only to those drivers native to Windows • With Windows 2000 and Windows XP, however, many IHVs have written drivers using the in-box driver architecture and distributed these drivers on their own Website or CDs • These drivers have sometimes been called system drivers, generic drivers, Microsoft architecture drivers, Unidrv drivers, and other similar terms

11. Types of Printer Drivers (3)Monolithic vs. "In-Box" • Historically, monolithic drivers have been more full featured (extra half-toning options, finishers, and others) and those supplied in the box have been more robust and reliable, and offered better interoperability with different versions of the operating system • This is changing – the move to user mode has increased robustness for all drivers and a close partnership between Microsoft and printer manufacturers has made the in-box drivers more full featured • In Windows 2000, most printer drivers were written by Microsoft with some help from the printer manufacturers, while some were written by the manufacturers with help from Microsoft • In Windows XP, all the new drivers were written by the printer's manufacturer

12. Which Drivers Should I Use? YES! NO! User-mode WHQL Logo Unidrv PostScript Kernel-mode/Windows NT 4.0 – only for Windows NT 4.0 client interoperation Non-Logo’d Monolithic NOTE: All in-box drivers are Unidrv/PostScript user mode. Most are supplied by print vendors. Microsoft does not write printer drivers. Also available on vendor’s Web site. NOTE: Windows .NET Server does support Windows NT 4.0 drivers. Microsoft recommends using these only to support Windows NT 4.0 clients. Kernel-mode blocking policy must be disabled to load.

13. Select the Right Connectivity Server to Device Client to Server Yes… Standard port monitor USB for local Yes… Point and print (RPC) No.. SMB – redirected local ports IPP No.. IPP LPR LPT

14. Print Server Configuration • Hardware requirements • Types and number of clients • Types and number of printers • Types of drivers • Job types and frequency • Sizing recommendations • Statistics coming out this summer • Sizing rules • Spool directory on separate drive • Separate partition gains reliability • Separate physical drive gains performance

15. Printer Configuration • Use standard naming conventions • Printer name, port name, share name, location, and comment • Configure device installable options • Printer security options • Availability/scheduling • Policies • Kernel-mode driver blocking • Users can install print drivers (point and print) • Load/unload device drivers (needed for local printer installation – power users and administrators) • Others

16. Point and Print • A mechanism for creating a managed connection from a printing client to a print server, typically over a network • Driver originates on the server (=> controlled source) • Clients connect to the share name (by clicking Run on the Start menu or a similar method) • Multiple clients connected to the server • Changes to settings on the server are reflected in the view from the client • For example, if you add a duplex unit to the printer and modify the driver settings on the server to reflect the new hardware, the client's driver settings auto-update to reflect the new device configuration

17. Point and Print (2) • Point and print driver stack • Designed to support other clients (Windows NT 4.0, Windows 95, Windows 98, 64-bit) • Windows NT 4.0 and 64-bit drivers must have the same name as the primary driver • Windows 95 and Windows 98 drivers can have any name • Setting changes on the server (device configuration, printing defaults) are vended to Windows NT-based clients

18. Non- Point and Print Connections • Local printer • Printing to a printer connected directly to the printing PC via USB / parallel / serial • Masquerading connections • Install drivers locally (add printer wizard), but direct output to a printer share (\\servername\printershare) • Not a managed network printing connection • Direct Network printing • Install drivers locally, and direct output to an IP address. • The type of connection a print server should use

19. Replacing a Windows NT 4.0 Print Server with a Windows 2000 Print Server

20. Windows NT 4.0 Client Interoperability • Changes in driver architecture after Windows NT 4.0 can cause problems • Tread carefully here! • Our recommendations: • Minimize transitional period in deployment • Options: • Use a Windows NT 4.0 driver as the primary driver to support all Windows NT-based clients • Get a user-mode/kernel-mode driver stack that was tested by the printer manufacturer • Use a PostScript user-mode/kernel-mode driver stack • When Windows NT 4.0 clients are gone, remove the Windows NT 4.0 drivers

21. Process Steps • Run Fixprnsv.exe on Windows NT 4.0 servers • Use Print Migrator 3.0 to migrate the print environment to Windows .NET Server • Fix any orphaned printers • Replace kernel-mode drivers with user-mode drivers if Windows NT 4.0 client interoperability is not required • When Windows NT 4.0 client migration is complete, finish replacing all kernel-mode drivers with user-mode drivers • Re-map the client connections

22. Fixprnsv.exeRun on Windows NT 4.0 Server Before Migration • Located on the Windows .NET Server CD in the Printers directory • Run before upgrading • Diagnoses potential problems • Replaces known "bad" IHV monolithic drivers with Unidrv 5.4 drivers • Reads data from Printupg.inf

23. Fixprnsv.exe Syntax • Fixprnsv [/diag] [/upg] [/q] [/?] • Default: Replace bad drivers with Windows NT 4.0 Unidrv if they exist. Preserve server for use as it is (without being upgraded) with Windows NT 4.0, Windows 2000, or Windows XP clients • /diag: Diagnose the server. • /upg: Install Windows .NET Server drivers, prepare server to be upgraded, and still support as many clients as possible. • /q: Quiet mode with no user intervention. • /?: Help.

24. Print Migrator 3.0 • Microsoft Windows 2000 Print Services http://www.microsoft.com/printserver • Supports • Windows NT 4.0 to Windows 2000 or Windows .NET Server printer migration • Cluster support • LPR to SPM port conversion • Usage • Creates a .cab file from original server • Restores the printers in the .cab file to new server • Supports consolidation or replacement

25. Print Migrator 3.0 (2)

26. Windows NT 4.0 Server UpgradesUpgrading Printers with Bad Drivers • Run Fixprnsv.exe • Local printers • Replace with in-box driver • If none are available, printer is removed • Connections will be removed • Cannot use in-box driver with server • Actions written into Setuperr.log

27. Best Practices • Minimize transition period between Windows NT 4.0 and Windows 2000 • If Windows NT 4.0 clients still exist: • Use Windows NT 4.0 primary drivers • Use PostScript • Delete Windows NT 4.0 drivers when clients are upgraded • Look for drivers with WHQL logo • Use Standard Port Monitor • Use separate disk for spool directory

28. New Windows .NET Server Printing Features • Drivers, drivers, drivers • 4000+ printer drivers ship with Windows .NET Server • Improved driver robustness and quality • Kernel-mode driver blocking • WMI provider and in-box scripts • Print cluster driver installation • Performance improvements • 64-bit printing support

29. WMI Print Provider • WMI print provider in Windows XP and Windows .NET Server • WMIC alias interface • Provides driver, port, job, and printer configuration/management • Six in-box scripts for command-line management without a GUI (\\windows\system32) • Prnqctl – pause, resume, purge, and print test page • Prnport – enum, add, remove tcpmon ports • Prnmngr – add, remove, list printers and connections • Prnjobs – pause, resume, cancel, list jobs • Prndrvr – enum, add, remove drivers • Prncnfg – set printer configuration (share, location, name, and so on)

30. Windows .NET ServerPrint Server Summary • Easy to install, deploy, and manage, which leads to increased productivity • Reliable, scalable, and better performance • Best business value multifunction server

31. Additional Printing Resources • Microsoft Windows 2000 Print Serviceshttp://www.microsoft.com/printserver • Print Migrator 3.0 • Print server upgrade and migration white paper • Choosing the right printer drivers white paper • Print server scalability white paper • Several other print technology overviews, white papers, and links to relevant Microsoft Knowledge Base articles • Newsgroups • Microsoft.public.windowsXP.print_fax • Microsoft.public.win2000.printing • MSDN and Windows Driver Development Kits for a very detailed technical view

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