Microsoft fixes printing gremlin, ends that block on Windows 11 upgrades

Bet ya can't wait to slap that 22H2 on your machine

Microsoft is finally making good on its promise to address a printing problem holding back its latest Windows 11 upgrade.

A troubleshooting fix will correct the printing gremlin on affected machines. And if that issue was blocking the installation of the 22H2 update for you, well, there's even better news.

"Once the issue with the installed printer is resolved, the safeguard should be removed and you should be able to upgrade to Windows 11, version 22H2," according to the update.

Some PC users who tried to make the Windows 11 22H2 jump found that doing so may have caused them to run into connectivity issues with printers relying on the Universal Print Class or the IPP Class drivers. The result was that the printers would fall back to basic defaults, unable to use printer-specific capabilities.

In practice, this meant the printer would not offer color, two-sided, or duplex printing, and custom settings would go out the window along with the handling of anything with resolutions higher than 300dpi.

Microsoft put a compatibility hold on Windows devices using printers with those specific drivers – making them unable to upgrade to version 22H2 – and offered workarounds for those who didn't want to wait for the official fix.

Even with this troubleshooting update now available (it should automatically download and install) it will take up to 48 hours before the 22H2 upgrade to Windows 11 is offered, even assuming there are no other blockers. Redmond's engineers said restarting the system and checking for updates may speed up the process.

To address the problem manually, you can remove and reinstall any printers that use the two specific drivers, forcing Windows to use the latest versions.

There have been other issues, including Daylight Saving Time changes in Jordan.

Curiously, there are also reliability issues with SSL/TLS handshakes when establishing secure connections, and with signing in with Windows Hello, which may not work as expected after upgrading to Windows 11 22H2. Microsoft issued a workaround – essentially saying users could sign in with passwords instead of using face or fingerprint recognition or a PIN – and earlier this month resolved the issue.

Microsoft is still investigating issues using provisioning packages with the latest update – the company suggests provisioning the Windows device before updates to version 22H2 to prevent the problem until an update is included in the next release. There's also a compatibility issue between Windows 11 and certain versions of drivers for Intel Smart Sound Technology (SST) that could result in a blue screen. ®