XPS Printer Driver (XPSDrv)
Important
The modern print platform is Windows' preferred means of communicating with printers. We recommend that you use Microsoft's IPP inbox class driver, along with Print Support Apps (PSA), to customize the print experience in Windows 10 and 11 for printer device development.
For more information, see Modern print platform and the Print support app design guide.
The XPS printer driver (XPSDrv) is an enhanced, GDI-based Version 3 printer driver that was used prior to Windows Vista. XPSDrv printer drivers (like the GDI-based ones) consist of three main components.
These are the three main components of XPSDrv printer drivers:
The configuration module of an XPSDrv printer driver provides the same functions as the configuration module of the Printer Interface DLL of a GDI-based driver, but the XPSDrv configuration module also supports the Print Ticket and Print Capabilities technologies.
The render module of an XPSDrv printer driver doesn't, necessarily, use the GDI-based rendering functions of a GDI-based printer driver. Instead, the render module of an XPSDrv printer driver consists of zero or more filters and a configuration file that describes the actions of each filter. The filters in the rendering module of an XPSDrv printer driver must also support the Print Ticket technology to correctly process the print job for the printer.
For more information about installing XPSDrv drivers, see XPSDrv Installation.