Windows Protected Print (WPP) Integration

In build 2025.01.23, one of the first product updates of 2025, we're bringing you the integration between SAFEQ products and Microsoft's Windows Protected Print (WPP) mode.

🔒 Enhanced security

One motivation for the launch of Windows Protected Print is the attempt to improve print security protections and introduce secure-by-default environments as the new standard. In that effort, Microsoft introduced this IPP-driven print stack platform that eliminates third-party drivers.

The elimination of third-party print drivers solves challenges like:

• Driver vulnerabilities such as Print Nightmare and Stuxnet

• Enables compatibility with modern mitigation, like Control Flow Guard, Arbitrary Code Guard, and Control Flow Enforcement Technology
• Removes dependability on third-party providers

WPP comes with various security improvements, e.g.:

• Module blocking

• Per-user XPS rendering

• Lower privileges for common Spooler tasks

• Redirection guard and other binary mitigations
  
  

🚨 The mode is only supported on Mopria-certified printers.

🖨️ Driverless Printing

A core tenet of the WPP launch is the assertive move to driverless printing.

For solutions like SAFEQ Cloud, the mode will only work with the built-in Microsoft  IPP Class driver (instead of the SAFEQ Cloud full-featured single driver). The SAFEQ Cloud PC Client will still automatically create available print queues, providing our users with the same configuration-less experience they have today.

SAFEQ 6, our on-premises solution, is WPP-compatible when used with an IPP/S-based print queue and the Mobile Gateway (MiG).

For any compatible solution, WPP allows users to connect to remote printers without providing drivers. It's worth noting, however, that once the mode is switched on ("set up"), printers that use third-party drivers are uninstalled automatically and won't be usable for as long as the mode is on.

🫱🏼‍🫲🏽 WPP and SAFEQ Cloud

Our SAFEQ printing solutions support Windows Protected Print. Following Microsoft’s announcement in October 2024, we’ve worked to implement updates that ensure full compatibility with this security standard.

Go deeper:

• Microsoft Learn - Windows Protected Print (WPP)
• How Windows Protected Print Mode (WPP) Future-Proofs Secure Printing