Windows printer settings Download and Setup Guide
How Windows installs printers, and the shift to driverless Windows Ready Print
Representative photo — Creative Tools CC BY 2.0
Windows handles printer installation through Settings, Bluetooth and devices, Printers and scanners, where you add printers by discovery, by IP address or by choosing a manufacturer driver. The significant change is Windows Ready Print: Microsoft is moving to driverless printing using the IPP and eSCL standards, and retiring the legacy v3 and v4 driver model. In practice this means modern printers work with no download at all, and manufacturer drivers matter mainly for older hardware and for advanced features. Windows 10 reached end of support on 14 October 2025.
Version and licence: Built into Windows. The important direction of travel is Windows Ready Print, Microsoft's driverless printing based on IPP and eSCL, which is replacing the legacy v3 and v4 printer driver model. Note also that Windows 10 support ended on 14 October 2025, so Windows 10 machines no longer receive updates.
Download Windows printer settings
What it does
- Add printers by network discovery, IP address, Bluetooth or as a shared printer
- Driverless printing through Windows Ready Print using IPP and eSCL
- Driverless scanning from all-in-one printers using eSCL
- Built-in printer troubleshooter for connection and queue problems
- Windows Update delivers many manufacturer drivers automatically
- Print Management console at printmanagement.msc for managing drivers and queues on Pro editions
- Printer sharing to other machines on the network
How to install it
Step 1
Connect the printer to the same network as the computer, or plug it in by USB.
Step 2
Open Settings, then Bluetooth and devices, then Printers and scanners.
Step 3
Click Add device and wait for Windows to search.
Step 4
Select your printer when it appears; Windows will install it driverlessly through Ready Print where possible.
Step 5
If it does not appear, choose Add manually, then select the option to add a printer by TCP/IP address and enter the printer's IP.
Step 6
Leave the device type as Autodetect, or choose IPP if you want driverless printing explicitly.
Step 7
Print a test page from the printer's properties.
Step 8
Only install a manufacturer driver if you need features Windows does not expose, such as specific finishing or accounting options.
Which printers it supports
Almost every current network printer through IPP and Windows Ready Print, plus USB printers with drivers from Windows Update or the manufacturer. Older printers may need a legacy driver, which is increasingly hard to obtain.
When Windows printer settings will not work
A changing IP address is the usual cause. Set a DHCP reservation on the router or a static address on the printer, then update the port under Printer Properties, Ports. Also untick Use Printer Offline in the printer's queue menu.
Open Services, stop the Print Spooler, delete the files in C:\Windows\System32\spool\PRINTERS, then start the spooler again. This clears a jammed queue that the interface refuses to empty.
Modern printers often need no driver, so try adding it by IP address with IPP. If the printer is old and no driver exists for your Windows version, the built-in class drivers may still print, though without advanced features.
Run printmanagement.msc from the Start menu or Run box on Windows Pro and Enterprise editions. Microsoft has no dedicated Learn page for it, so the console itself is the documentation. It manages drivers, ports and queues across servers.
Windows 10 support ended on 14 October 2025, so it receives no further updates. Printing continues to work, but new driverless features and security fixes are not coming, and manufacturer support for Windows 10 drivers is winding down.
Printers that use Windows printer settings
Frequently asked questions
Do I still need to download printer drivers?
Increasingly not. Windows Ready Print uses IPP and eSCL to print and scan without a driver, and Microsoft is retiring the legacy v3 and v4 driver model.
Where is the Print Management console documented?
Microsoft has no Learn page for it. Run printmanagement.msc on Windows Pro or Enterprise; the console itself is where you manage drivers, ports and queues.
Is Windows 10 still supported?
No. Support ended on 14 October 2025.
How do I scan without manufacturer software?
Use the Windows Scan app, which drives eSCL and WIA scanners without a manufacturer application.
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