2. Printer Installation and Driver Management Shawn Maloney Program Manager WEX DOX Device Interfaces shawnmal@microsoft.com

3. Agenda Building on Windows Vista Driver Store Package-Aware Drivers Core Drivers Moving Forward Driver Isolation Compatible IDs

4. Building on Windows Vista All drivers are copied into the driver store Simplifies driver management Enables migration, rollback, and recovery Provides users access to a trusted repository of drivers Package-aware drivers enable Package Point and Print Ensures drivers are available in the driver store through Point and Print Allows full driver installation on the client Requires driver dependencies to also be package-aware

5. Building on Windows Vista Core drivers support package-aware drivers Initially introduced to enable shared components like ntprint.inf to be used in Package Point and Print Enables smaller and simpler driver packages Allows shared components to be kept in the driver store IHV core drivers becoming more available Most of the value comes from being inbox Enables smaller device-specific driver packages

6. Building on Windows Vista Limitations of core driver servicing All core drivers referenced in an INF share the same minimum version No check to ensure that a core driver is in the driver store before installation Servicing core drivers Test them very well so that you don’t have to service them Include the core driver in your driver package Use CopyINF to load the core driver during installation

7. Moving Forward: Driver Isolation Isolates print drivers into separate processes Minimizes the impact of a driver crash on the rest of the print system IT Admins can force drivers into a shared isolation thread Drivers can opt into Isolation Group Policy, the driver INF, and the registry control the isolation behavior for each driver on a system

8. Moving Forward: Driver Isolation – INF Support “DriverIsolation” is INF declaration 0 = Disabled 2 = Enabled 1,3 = Reserved for future use INF Example [Version] … DriverIsolation=2

9. Moving Forward: Driver Isolation – Group Policies Group Policies “Run print drivers in isolated processes” Enabled – Driver isolation attempted Disabled – No driver isolation attempted “Override isolation mode compatibility setting advertised by driver” Enabled – Driver isolation attempted regardless of INF Disabled – Driver isolation honors INF

10. Moving Forward: Driver Isolation – Registry Keys Per-driver control Managed in the print management console (PMC) Values dictate behavior Disabled – No driver isolation attempted Shared – Driver isolation forced in Shared process Isolated – Driver isolation forced in Isolated process

11. Moving Forward: Compatible IDs Allows for a second level of device-to-driver mapping Only considered when a hardware ID match isn’t available Enables families of devices to be matched against a single driver Embed the Compatible ID in the 1284 ID String Keywords: “CID” and “COMPATIBLEID” Maximum length of 180 characters

12. Moving Forward: Compatible IDs Update INFs to use compatible IDs “Printer Driver Name” = InstallSection,,CompatibleID PnP alters reported compatible ID Reported by device: CID=FabrikamClass1 (This goes in the firmware) Reported by PnP: 1284_CID_FabrikamClass1 (This goes in the INF)

13. Call to Action Create package-aware drivers Carefully consider the value of creating your own core drivers Enable driver isolation in your drivers Start implementing compatible IDs in your hardware

14. Additional Resources White Papers coming soon to the WHDC Web site: http://msdn.microsoft.com/whdchttp://msdn.microsoft.com/whdc Driver Isolation Compatible ID Printer Driver Best Practices Printer Installation on MSDN: http://msdn.microsoft.com/library/aa907636.asp http://msdn.microsoft.com/library/aa907636.asp

15. Related Sessions SessionDay / Time Best Practices for Developing Printer DriversMon. 8:30-9:30 and Tues. 8:30-9:30 Printer Installation and Driver ManagementMon. 9:45-10:45 and Tues. 2:45-3:45 Printer VerifierTues. 11-12 Printer Driver Testing ToolsTues. 9:45-10:45 and Wed. 8:30-9:30 Printer Driver Testing and the Windows Logo KitTues. 1:30-2:30 XPS Rasterization Services in Windows 7Mon. 1:30-2:30 and Tues. 5:15-6:15 Printer Driver Development in Windows 7Mon. 11-12 and Tues. 4-5 Discussion: XPS Driver Development in Windows 7Mon. 4-5 and Wed. 1:30-2:30

16. Thank You