Not 100% on topic but I had a printer that I thought had issues and turns out it has no issues under linux. One of the delightful things I found out by switching.
this post was submitted on 09 Feb 2026
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This is such a gross move from MS, that will inevitably create more e-waste, just like their dumbass TPM 2.0 requirement.
Having said that, if anyone is looking for a solution (that isn’t just switch to Linux lol), I was able to turn my ancient Canon laser (with very tricky driver setup), into a driverless airprint model by using a raspberry pi as an intermediary.
You can connect your usb/wifi printer on the pi, and through cups/ avahi, host an airprint server on your network for any devices (desktop, laptop, phone, or whatever).
I think I used this guide before: https://pimylifeup.com/raspberry-pi-airprint/
isnt just Switch to linux
look inside
SBC running linux
now rust is in the kernel maybe a new compatibility layer for old windows drivers
dammit, who left water in the kernel, fucking thing's all rusty now
Always wipe it out and throw it back on the burner for a minute, now we'll need to re season the thing.
LOL, another reason not to upgrade or to switch to Linux.
I uploaded a pack of about 100,000 legacy drivers to archive.org for y'all's printing maintenance pleasure: https://archive.org/details/100.000-drivers-win9x-xp-vista
Y'all doin god's work. Archive saved my ass a couple months ago, had to run Win7 in a VM for legacy software, had to pass a USB 3.0 Ethernet adapter into it. Pulled a generic USB 3.0 driver for Win7 from archive.org, last place on earth to grab it.
Why? I Mean I know why. But those drivers take up like zero space. It's such a fuck you consume move is laughable. That's all the innovative things coming out of America these days. Remove features and quality, then charge more.
A massive reason must be the security concerns with them, with no upkeep from the manufacturer. And since they aren't open source (some of the sources are probably lost by now) no-one else can fix the problems. These old drivers are essentially like backdoors into your system. You actually don't want to have them around.
This is why Linux and other open source software is the only right way. Plug these old devices into Linux, they probably just work due to some hero reverse-engineering them.
We should only buy hardware that has open source drivers. Eventually, the companies should be forced to deliver sources, at least after support ends, and this should be enforced with right to repair style laws.
Its about selling something new that has a more limited life.
I wonder if the plumbing required to keep them working is problematic somehow.
My guess would be they're refactoring or removing a dependency or changing a security model that would require them to update legacy driver code and rather than do that, they're just sun-setting that stuff.
Microsoft would need some advantage to even touch it enough to remove it, risk is still risk. And they're not exactly in the business of selling much hardware these days. If it were cheaper and less problematic to leave it alone, they would have left it alone, that's how it's been there for decades.
No. For those to become problematic Microsoft would have had to change core software to their OS. (that's the problem with MSWindows, it's only been added to for the past 50 years.) if Microsoft was smart they pups invest in a completely new OS. But that cost actually investing in human programmers. But no. They keep milking their outdated code for everything and will slap Ai on it and call it new.)
They haven’t changed the plumbing for printers since Vista, the changes they made then are part of why it took until 7 for things to work correctly.
Vista doesn't throw the baby out with the bath water. It made a minor communication change between drivers, cpu, and software. They went right back to the old system post vista.
I have an archive of about ~~110,000~~ 110,000 drivers for any ps2 fucken bellend massager ever, and I'll fucken upload it to archive org so you can use your pin needle screetch feck printer until the cows come home.
Edit for visibility: https://archive.org/details/100.000-drivers-win9x-xp-vista
I think windows central needs to take a look outside and see where the winds are blowing, the only thing this will shake up is the stability of windows 11 market share. People are already switching away from this toxic dysfunctional OS at a growing rate, either to an older version that still works or to Linux or some other competitor, this is going to accelerate the trend, and for no reason but hubris.
There is no reason to not have backwards compatibility in cases like this. Oh, yes there is. Someone is getting rich from it.
It's almost like they agressively promote a premium Windows subscription where this bullshit doesn't happen, but there is none.
The article is clear about that.
In these cases, the company recommends "contact your printer manufacturer and update to a supported printer driver or another current printing solution."
And that is effectively death for all of them. Most of the old drivers are not distributed by vendors since we are talking about the era when CDs were included in the box. There are archive sites for them, but that is beyond most people technical abilities.
Perhaps but the next Windows 11 update is NOT going to "break your printer". If you already have a printer setup it will keep working even if its driver is an old V3 / V4.
Most of the old drivers are not distributed by vendors since we are talking about the era when CDs were included in the box.
I dunno about that. I just looked up an HP LaserJet P1015. It was a very inexpensive laser printer released back in 2003, over two decades ago, and it has drivers available for download from HP both Windows and Linux. The P2035 was released in '08 and it has available drivers to download.
Granted that is only two printer models from a singly company but I think you may be overstating the impact of this.
A lot of older printers may also support "Universal" PCL 5 or 6 Drivers from HP / Cannon / Epson etc.
I've got HP PSC 1315. When I tried it with Windows 11, it said it couldn't find drivers, and to use manufacturer's website.
Le HP
Installing Your Printer Driver Using the Windows Built-in Solution
Install the HP Printer Driver and Software provided within your operating system.
As near as I can tell the HP PSC 1315 was released in 2004, over two decades ago. I can see how it's aggravating for you but there can't a double handful of those clunkers still working anywhere in the world. There's no way it could be worth it to HP to rewrite drivers for the 10 or so people still using them.
Switch to Linux. :)
Except that
- The driver disc from archive.org still works just fine
- I do use Linux, and it "just works" there, except for high DPI
So if I want to use high DPI, I need Windows in VirtualBox.
By the way, the high DPI mode takes 20 minutes to print one A4 page. But the result is really damn sharp, almost like a laser printer.
Are PCL6 drivers considered “legacy”?
I have a HP Laserjet 4N, a HP LaserJet 4050DTN, and a LaserJet 5000DTN, all of which work swimmingly on standard PCL6 drivers.
All of those work without drivers on linux. I picked up two HP LaserJets from a public auction along with replacement toners. I may have bought my last printer.
Old enterprise is where it's at. Toner lasts forever, parts are perpetually available.
The 4050 has got type 27x toners that - IIRC - used to be advertised for 20,000 sheets at 5% coverage.
Obviously, if you print out a lot of night sky photos that’s not going to hold up, but I’m on my third toner cartridge across half a century and two degrees. So there is that.
if you wanna be safe, pick up a spare fuser/roller kit when the moment suits. Eventually it'll need the rollers at the very least.
Yeah I moved from an old canon with a hp5c engine to an 2015 M277 a couple years ago, color, 6000 page duty cycle.
Roller kit I have, and really need to install (paper pick-up is hit or miss these days), and I really do need a new fuser, too. But yes. These things are tanks.
time for printer grannies to become linux
Printer drivers have been deprecated on Linux too. CUPS will eventually drop support for them.
Maybe they’ll add them back later, but you’ll be forced to print a full page add before anything else.
you'll have to sync your printer with the cloud so ai can train on all of your printed documents and splice ads into your taxes
HP already kind of does this. Some of their printers stop working after 2 weeks if you don't sign in with an HP account and let them access the internet