Windows 2000 Terminal Services Printer Redirection Whitepaper

Printer Driver Mapping

This section explains how the driver string name is used and how the string name is structured. It also describes where to find them, how to use them, and the ramifications when putting this into practice.

NOTE: Printer driver string names are always unique to models of printers and the vendors who supply them.

This means that two drivers for the same hardware, one from the Microsoft CD and the other from the manufacturer of the device, have different string names. The following example shows the available driver string names for an HP DeskJet 722C printer from HP, as well as the string name for the same hardware as listed in Windows 2000 in NTPRINT.INF:

HP Driver string name:

“HP DeskJet 720C Series”

Microsoft Windows 2000 Driver string name:

HP Deskjet 722C

-or-

HP Deskjet 720C



In this case, you can clearly see the string name differences, but in some cases they differ only by a modifier such as “by HP” or the addition of a version number on the end. The key is that the name is different and unique to the device and the vendor of the driver.

To determine whether a driver is a Microsoft-supplied driver, search NTPRINT.INF for the string name. In the example above, HP DeskJet 722C has an entry in NTPRINT.INF. However, the HP Deskjet 720C Series does not have an entry, so the driver is most likely supplied by an OEM and is not one of the drivers distributed with Windows 2000. To determine the driver name, look at the printer properties on the client OS in question and find the name presented in the Driver field on the Details tab of the local queue. The driver’s friendly name as presented here is also the string name used for matching drivers when redirecting.