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Point-and Print installation
Use the following information to install a print driver by using the Microsoft Point-and-Print feature when
you do not connect directly to the product on the network.
Point-and-Print is a Microsoft term that describes a two-step print driver installation process. The first step
is to install a shared print driver on a network print server. The second step is to "point" to the print
server from a network client so that the client can use the print driver.
This section outlines the procedures for installing print drivers by using Point-and-Print. If these
procedures are not successful, contact Microsoft. HP provides print drivers that are compatible with the
Point-and-Print feature, but this is a function of the Windows operating systems, not of HP print drivers.
NOTE: Administrator privileges are necessary to install the print driver.
In a homogenous operating system environment (one in which all of the clients and servers are running
in the same operating system), the same print driver version that is vended from the server to the clients
in a Point-and-Print environment also runs and controls the print queue configuration on the server.
However, in a mixed operating system environment (one in which servers and clients might run on
different operating systems), conflicts can occur when client computers run a version of the print driver
that is different from the one on the print server.
In an effort to increase operating system stability, Microsoft determined that, starting with Windows
2000 and continuing with all future operating systems, print drivers would run as user-mode processes.
User-mode drivers run in a protected part of the operating system, as do all of the normal end-user
processes and software programs. A user-mode print driver that functions incorrectly can terminate (or
“crash”) only the process in which it is running—not the whole operating system. Because access to
critical system resources is restricted, overall operating system stability is increased.
ENWW
Point-and Print installation
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