Introduction

From an architectural standpoint, there have been major changes in Server 2012. New in Server 2012 is the inclusion of Version 4 drivers, which greatly improves the installation and support of printers and removes the need for cross-platform drivers. There are now two types of printer drivers available: printer class and model-specific. Printer class drivers support a wide range of devices with a single driver. Model-specific drivers are often distributed by the printer manufacturer and support features specific to the printer.

Additionally in Server 2012, the print server no longer is used to distribute print drivers to clients. Instead, clients use a point and print feature to send print jobs to the server. If print drivers are desired on the clients, administrators can use software distribution methods to install the driver on these clients.

This chapter covers installing, managing, and updating printers on print servers. This includes using PowerShell to map clients to printers...