Drivers and model mapping

Every printer needs a driver on the device it is installed on. Tenvara keeps a list of drivers in Devices > Printers, the Drivers tab: packages it found for you or you uploaded from the manufacturer, and drivers that come with the operating system. The model mapping then decides which driver a printer gets when you leave its Windows driver on Automatic.

Drivers found by themselves#

When a printer is added, changed or found and nothing covers its model yet (no driver chosen on the printer, no mapping line and no uploaded package listing the model), Tenvara looks the driver up by itself, trying each source in turn:

1. The Microsoft Update Catalog, by the printer's hardware ID and then its model.
2. The vendor universal drivers: signed universal drivers from HP, Brother, Canon, Kyocera, Ricoh, Xerox, Konica Minolta, Lexmark and Epson, matched by maker and model family.
3. The Windows driver store of the device for printer work at the printer's site, preferring the manufacturer's driver over Windows' own.
4. The Microsoft IPP Class Driver, when the printer answers IPP.
5. If nothing was found, the printer asks you to upload the manufacturer's package.

A package from the first two sources is downloaded once by your Tenvara server, used only if its signature is valid, and kept in the driver list for every printer of that model. See Driver sources and the device for printer work.

Each printer shows its Windows driver state:

Use Find driver again on the printer's page or its ... menu to run the whole lookup again at once, for example after switching IPP on at the printer. The printer list has a Driver column and filter, and a No driver view of every printer still waiting for one.

The driver list#

Each row shows the Driver name, its Kind (Package for an uploaded or found package, Built in for one that comes with the operating system), what it is For (Windows, or macOS and Linux), the Architecture, its Source (for example Microsoft Update Catalog, Vendor universal driver or Uploaded by and a name) and its Signature. More columns, such as the version and how many printers use it, are under Columns. Filter by Kind, For, Architecture, Make, Source and Signature.

The built-in drivers are always there:

Click a driver to open its panel. For a package it shows the kind, where it Came from, its Signature (or why it is not valid) and when it was Signed at, whether it is Package-aware (so Point and Print restrictions do not block it), where it was Downloaded from, the architecture, version, make, INF file, provider, Signed by (the certificate that signed the package), size, SHA-256, when it was added, the Printers on it, the Mapping lines that point to it, the Models it covers, the Driver names in the INF (the one that gets installed is marked Installed) and the Hardware IDs.

Uploading a driver package#

Use a package when the operating system's own drivers are not good enough, which for most office multifunction printers on Windows means the manufacturer's universal driver.

1. Download the manufacturer's driver and unpack it. You want the folder that contains the INF file, not a setup program.
2. Zip that folder. The zip can be up to 500 MB and must contain at least one printer INF.
3. In Drivers, click Upload driver.
4. Choose the zip under Package.
5. Choose the Architecture: x64 or arm64. Devices get the package for their own architecture, so upload one of each when the manufacturer offers both.
6. Driver name is optional: enter one of the names the INF declares if you want a particular one. Left empty, Tenvara picks a "Universal" name, or the first.
7. Name in Tenvara is optional too. Empty uses the driver name.
8. Add Notes if they would help, then click Upload.

Tenvara reads the INF on upload: the version, the models it covers, the driver names, the hardware IDs and who signed it. When the zip holds several INFs, it uses the one for the chosen architecture that covers the most models.

To change which driver name is installed, open the driver and click Edit. Installs the driver lists the names from the INF. You can also change the Name shown in Tenvara, the Make and the Notes.

Note: A driver used by a printer or by a mapping line cannot be deleted. Change those first.

How a package reaches a device#

The agent downloads the package from Tenvara when a printer on that device needs it, checks its SHA-256, adds it to the Windows driver store and installs the driver by name. It confirms the driver really is installed afterwards rather than trusting exit codes. When the last printer Tenvara added that uses a driver is removed, the agent removes that driver too, unless something else on the machine still uses it.

The list of printers a device should have, including which packages to use, is signed by Tenvara. The agent refuses a list that is not, because printer drivers run inside the print spooler with full system rights.

Model mapping#

The model mapping is an ordered list of lines, each saying "printers of this make whose model matches this pattern get this driver". Click Model mapping on the Drivers page to see and change it.

To add a line:

1. Enter the Make, or leave it as Any.
2. Enter the Model pattern. Use * as a wildcard: LaserJet* matches every model starting "LaserJet", IM C* every Ricoh IM C model.
3. Choose the Driver.
4. Click Add.

Lines are tried top to bottom and the first match wins, so put specific patterns above general ones. Remove a line with its delete button.

How the Windows driver is chosen#

For each printer on Windows, Tenvara uses the first of these that applies:

1. The driver chosen on the printer itself, if Windows driver is not Automatic.
2. The first mapping line that matches the printer's make and model.
3. A package in the driver list whose INF lists the model.
4. A driver found for it by the lookup (above): the Microsoft Update Catalog, a vendor universal driver, or the driver store of the site's device for printer work.
5. The Microsoft IPP Class Driver.

The printer page shows the result under Windows driver, with where it came from, for example "From the model mapping".

On macOS and Linux the printer's macOS and Linux driver setting decides: IPP Everywhere when the printer answers IPP, otherwise the generic PPD. Each device reports which it actually used.