Driverless print
and Windows
Protected Print

Microsoft is taking third-party printer drivers out of Windows. OptimiDoc prints without them — over open IPP, with every print setting intact, including stapling and punching. In the cloud or on-premise.

Print without drivers
Contact us

Windows is removing printer drivers —
and your print features with them

Windows Protected Print Mode blocks third-party drivers and prints only through Microsoft's built-in IPP class driver. Security improves. Everything your finishing units can do goes away with it.

Most frequent problems of driver-based printing today:

Tens of unmanaged drivers on every workstation

They were never installed as a plan — they accumulated, one per model, per vendor, per office someone once visited. Nobody owns them and nobody removes them, so the same model runs three different versions on three machines in one room: it staples on one, prints one-sided on another, fails silently on the third. And a driver no inventory lists is a driver no patch cycle reaches — running with elevated privileges on the endpoint.

Third-party drivers stop working

Protected Print Mode blocks Point and Print, disables direct TCP/IP printer installation and permanently deletes existing queues and drivers when it is switched on. Turning it back off does not restore them.

Finishing options disappear

Until now, majority of print management solutions could only handle the basics — paper size, copies, duplex and colour. Tray selection, stapling, hole punching, collation and booklet finishing were out of reach, and they're exactly what users notice missing on day one.

Driver rollouts still cost you every month

Print servers, GPOs, driver packages per model and per OS build, plus the helpdesk tickets that follow every update. All of it is maintenance that produces nothing.
Print without drivers

Print without drivers
using OptimiDoc

OptimiDoc was built on open standards, not on vendor binaries. Nothing has to be re-architected when Protected Print Mode arrives — the way we print is already the way Microsoft is moving.

Our solution brings:

Standards-based IPP, no vendor binaries

Print logic is decoupled from the workstation and from the printer manufacturer. No vendor-specific binaries and no kernel-level drivers are installed on the endpoint.

Documents travel as PDF

Jobs are processed natively in PDF instead of PCL or PostScript. Content and configuration are separated, so the same job can be released on any device without conversion.

Settings travel as IPP attributes

Finishing options, colour mode and duplex are transmitted independently as standard IPP attributes — which is how full device functionality survives without a driver.

Dynamic capability discovery

OptimiDoc queries each device at submission time for supported duplex modes, colour options and finishing capabilities, instead of relying on hardcoded driver assumptions.

Central print templates for secure print

For pull print, administrators define permitted finishing options, defaults and device constraints centrally. Templates apply at release, so output is deterministic on every device.

Native on Windows, macOS and mobile

The same driverless path integrates with Windows Protected Print, macOS AirPrint, Android and Chromebook on mobile. Users keep printing from the applications they already use.
Go driverless

Main benefits
of driverless printing

Fewer moving parts on the endpoint, less to maintain in IT, and a printing estate that is ready for what Windows does next.

Zero driver management

No driver packages per model, per OS build or per architecture. No print servers to patch, no GPO deployment, and no queue-related helpdesk tickets after every Windows update.

Ready for Windows Protected Print

Phone, computer, multifunctional printer – uniform functions and interface.

Full finishing preserved

Stapling, punching, collation, duplex and colour keep working. Users do not have to change how they print, so nobody walks to the device to finish the job by hand.

Security by design

No third-party binaries running with elevated privileges on endpoints, encrypted transmission, and documents held in a secure queue until the user authenticates at the device.

Any brand of MFP

One driverless path across a mixed estate — Canon, HP, Xerox, Kyocera, Ricoh, Konica Minolta, Sharp, Epson, Lexmark and Fujifilm — managed from a single console.

Lower cost, less infrastructure

Retiring print servers and driver rollouts removes both licence and administration cost, and takes an entire class of incidents off the service desk.

One driverless path
across every brand you own

Windows Protected Print,
answered

What is Windows Protected Print Mode?

It is a Windows printing mode that blocks third-party printer drivers entirely and prints only through Microsoft's built-in IPP class driver, with the print spooler running at reduced privilege. It closes off a long-standing class of print-stack vulnerabilities — and with them, the driver features organisations relied on.

Do I have to enable it right now?

No. It is a choice today, not an enforcement. But since July 2026 Windows already prefers the built-in driver for new printer installations, and Microsoft has signalled that Protected Print Mode becomes the default in time. The practical question is whether your print management still works when it does.

Can I switch it off if something breaks?

You can switch the mode off, but that does not undo the change. Enabling it permanently deletes the existing print queues and third-party drivers on the machine — they are not restored on rollback. Test before you deploy.

Will I lose stapling and hole punching?

With the other print managmenet solutions, usually yes. With OptimiDoc, no. Print settings are transmitted as standard IPP attributes independently of the document, and device capabilities are discovered at submission, so the finishing options your hardware supports remain available to users.

Does driverless printing work on-premise?

Yes. OptimiPrint delivers it from the cloud and OptimiDoc Server delivers the same architecture inside your own network, for organisations with data residency or security requirements. Hybrid deployments are supported.

What do we have to change on the workstations?

No vendor-specific binaries and no kernel-level drivers are installed. Users keep printing from their normal applications through the operating system's own print path — Windows Protected Print, macOS AirPrint or Mopria on mobile.

Our solutions

Digitalise, print and manage documents easily and efficiently from one place.
OptimiPrint
OptimiDoc Server
GDPR
Do you want to know more?

Contact us

Together we will find the best solution for you.
info@optimidoc.com
+420 576 880 059
OPTIMIDOC s.r.o.
Tř. Tomáše Bati 385

763 02 Zlín

Czech Republic