AddPrinterDriver function

Article
01/07/2021

The AddPrinterDriver function installs a local or remote printer driver and associates the configuration, data, and driver files.

For more flexibility in installing or upgrading printer drivers, use the AddPrinterDriverEx function because it allows strict upgrade, strict downgrade, copying of newer files only, and copying of all files (regardless of the file time stamps).

Note

Installing a printer driver without a driver package is no longer recommended. Use InstallPrinterDriverFromPackage instead.

Syntax

BOOL AddPrinterDriver(
  _In_ LPTSTR pName,
  _In_ DWORD  Level,
  _In_ LPBYTE pDriverInfo
);

Parameters

pName [in]

A pointer to a null-terminated string that specifies the name of the server on which the driver should be installed.

If pName is NULL, the driver will be installed locally.

Level [in]

The version of the structure to which pDriverInfo points.

This value can be 2, 3, 4, 6, or 8.

pDriverInfo [in]

A pointer to a structure containing printer driver information. This depends on the value of Level.

Value	Printer Drive Structure
2	DRIVER_INFO_2
3	DRIVER_INFO_3
4	DRIVER_INFO_4
6	DRIVER_INFO_6
8	DRIVER_INFO_8

If the pEnvironment member of the structure pointed to by pDriverInfo is NULL, the current environment of the caller/client (not of the destination/server) is used.

Return value

If the function succeeds, the return value is a nonzero value.

If the function fails, the return value is zero.

Remarks

Note

This is a blocking or synchronous function and might not return immediately. How quickly this function returns depends on run-time factors such as network status, print server configuration, and printer driver implementation factors that are difficult to predict when writing an application. Calling this function from a thread that manages interaction with the user interface could make the application appear to be unresponsive.

The caller must have the SeLoadDriverPrivilege.

Before an application calls the AddPrinterDriver function, all files required by the driver must be copied to the system's printer-driver directory. An application can retrieve the name of this directory by calling the GetPrinterDriverDirectory function.

An application can determine which printer drivers are currently installed by calling the EnumPrinterDrivers function.

Requirements

Requirement	Value
Minimum supported client	Windows 2000 Professional [desktop apps only]
Minimum supported server	Windows 2000 Server [desktop apps only]
Header	Winspool.h (include Windows.h)
Library	Winspool.lib
DLL	Winspool.drv
Unicode and ANSI names	AddPrinterDriverW (Unicode) and AddPrinterDriverA (ANSI)