Point and Print is a term that refers to the capability of allowing a user on a Windows client machine to create a connection to a remote printer without providing disks or other installation media. All necessary files and configuration information are automatically downloaded from the print server to the client. In this post, we will identify the potential cause of why switching drivers cause Point and Print to fail in Windows 11/10, as well as provide the workaround to help mitigate this issue.
Point and Print technology provide two methods by which you can specify files that should be sent from the print server to the client machine:
- Files can be associated with a printer driver. These files are associated with every print queue that uses the driver.
- Files can be associated with individual print queues.
Switching drivers causes Point and Print to fail
The server for the printer does not have the correct printer driver installed
The following error is displayed if the print drivers fail when attempting to print from a client to a shared network printer hosted on a Windows-based print server.
The server for the <queue name> printer does not have the correct printer driver installed. If you want to search for the proper driver, click OK. Otherwise, click Cancel and contact your network administrator or original equipment manufacturer for the correct printer driver.
This print driver fails problem can occur if a print queue was switched from one driver to another, leaving an invalid CopyFiles key in the registry location below.
HKLM\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Control\Print\Printers\<queue name>\CopyFiles\
It’s recommended that you don’t switch print queues from one driver to another without first verifying the drivers are compatible and support this operation, as follows:
- Use the Add Printer wizard from Devices and Services to configure new print queues on a Windows Server. It could automatically select an initial driver that is not compatible with the driver you want to switch to.
- Change a printer driver through Printer Properties > Advanced > Driver. In this case, if an incompatible driver is selected, you can experience unexpected results.
However, to work around this print drivers fail issue, use one of the following methods:
- Back up and delete the invalid CopyFiles registry key.
- Use the Network Printer Installation wizard from the Print Management Console (printmanagement.msc) to add print queues to a Windows Server.
- Use a script to install printers, such as those provided in the %SystemRoot%\System32\Printing_Admin_Scripts folder, and then specify the correct printer driver to use when the queue is created.
I hope this helps!
