13.25. How to change print driver

If you are not satisfied with the default choice of print driver, you can change it. If you want to use a print driver that is not in the Printix driver store, then you can add the print driver yourself by making a printer use it on the Windows or macOS edition in question.

1. On the Print queue properties page, select the Drivers tab.
2. Identify the System. Example: Windows 10 ×64.
3. Select and Change print driver .
4. On the Print drivers page, Search for print driver.
   Uppercase and lowercase letters are treated the same.
   • Select Back to return to the Print queue properties page.
   • Select Refresh to refresh the list.
   • Select Load more at the bottom of the page to see more drivers.
   • If the print driver is uploaded, the date and time of the upload is shown below the print driver name.

!If possible, ALWAYS select the print driver name that includes a version number. This is to mitigate that Windows can not differentiate between versions of the print driver unless the version is reflected in the print driver name. This is particularly important when working with universal print drivers.

5. Select the print driver.
   • It may take up to 10 minutes before an uploaded print driver is available on the Print drivers page.
   • If the print driver does not match the printer’s page description language (PCL, PCLXL, POSTSCRIPT), you will either not get any print at all or lots of pages with weird looking characters.
   • If you do not see a print driver listed for a specific model, check to see if it is included as part of a series of printers. For example, a printer with the model number 603 might use the print driver for the “600” or “600 Series.”
   • If there are multiple matching print drivers and their name includes for example PCL 6 or PostScript, then cross-check with the printer’s supported formats (page description language) listed on the Printix Print drivers page, for example: POSTSCRIPT, PCLXL (same as PCL 6), …
   • If there are two editions of the print driver, one with a version number, then always select the print driver that include a version number.
   • Host-based printers (typically cheaper printers) has built-in support for Windows Graphical Device Interface (GDI) and rely on the Windows computer to rasterize the pages into dots (bitmaps).

6. Select Change print driver. The print driver selection will be locked .
7. Optionally, print a test page to make sure the print driver works properly with the printer.

How to tell if your Windows is 64-bit or 32-bit

1. Open File Explorer.
2. Right-click This PC and select Properties.
3. Look at System type to see if you are running 64-bit Operating System or 32-bit Operating System.

How to print a test page

Windows

1. Open Device and Printers.
2. Right-click printer and select Printer properties.
3. Select Print Test Page.

Mac

1. Select Apple menu , System Settings…, then select Printers & Scanners.
2. Select the printer and select Print Queue….
3. On the menu bar, select the Printer menu and select Print Test Page.

On macOS 12 or earlier:

1. Select Apple menu , System Preferences…, then select Printers & Scanners.
2. Select the printer and select Open Print Queue….
3. On the menu bar, select the Printer menu and select Print Test Page.

Build your Printix driver store

During the implementation phase, you will build your Printix driver store, as you:

• Install Printix Client on existing Windows print server(s)
  After installation of Printix Client on the server, Printix Client will upload print drivers. Print drivers that are installed but not used by a print queue, are not uploaded. Print queues are not converted on servers. Only x64 print drivers are uploaded from the print server. If you need x32 print drivers, these would need to be uploaded from a computer running the corresponding Windows 32-bit Operating System.

• Deploy Printix Client
  As Printix Client is deployed on computers that run Windows 32-bit Operating System and macOS, Printix Client will upload these print drivers. Print drivers that are installed but not used by a print queue are not uploaded.

See also:

• How to add a print driver
• How to work with print driver configurations
• Print drivers
• Universal print drivers