Windows 2000 USB Printer Installation and Binding

This article examines the technical process Microsoft Windows 2000 uses to detect, install, and bind drivers to USB-connected printers. It details the interaction between the operating system's Plug and Play (PnP) subsystem, the native USB printer class driver (usbprint.sys), the creation of virtual printer ports, and the handoff to the Windows Print Spooler for driver association.

1. Hardware Detection and USB Enumeration

When a USB printer is connected to a Windows 2000 system, the host controller detects a change in voltage on the data lines (D+ or D-) indicating a new device. The USB bus driver (usbhub.sys) enumerates the device by resetting the port, assigning a unique USB address, and querying the standard Device Descriptor and Configuration Descriptors.

During enumeration, Windows 2000 identifies the device's base class from the Interface Descriptor:

  • Class: 07h (Printer)
  • SubClass: 01h (Printer)
  • Protocol: 01h, 02h, or 03h (Unidirectional, Bidirectional, or 1284.4 compliant)

To identify the specific make and model, the USB stack issues a class-specific request—GET_DEVICE_ID—to interface 0. This retrieves an IEEE 1284 device identification string containing manufacturer (MFG or MANUFACTURER), model (MDL or MODEL), and command set (CMD) details.

2. Loading the USB Printer Class Driver

Because the interface matches the USB printer class specification, the Windows 2000 PnP manager matches the device to the native class driver rather than a generic or third-party bus driver.

Windows 2000 loads usbprint.sys (the USB Printer Class Driver) as the Functional Device Object (FDO) on top of the Physical Device Object (PDO) generated by the USB bus. The usbprint.sys driver serves as the communication bridge between the USB transport layer and the legacy-style printing architecture.

3. Creation of the Virtual Printer Port

Traditional Windows printing relied on physical hardware ports such as LPT1 or COM1. Because USB devices lack static hardware addresses or standard I/O port assignments, usbprint.sys dynamically instantiates virtual printer ports.

Upon loading, usbprint.sys:

  1. Creates a device interface associated with the printer globally unique identifier (GUID_DEVINTERFACE_USBPRINT).
  2. Registers a virtual port name—typically USB001 for the first device, incrementing sequentially (USB002, USB003) for subsequent devices or connections.
  3. Exposes this virtual port to the Windows Spooler subsystem, allowing the port monitor (usbmon.dll) to handle read and write operations directed to the device.

4. Hardware ID Generation and INF Matching

After establishing communication through usbprint.sys, the PnP manager constructs a set of Device IDs and Compatible IDs using the 1284 string obtained during initial enumeration. The primary Hardware ID follows this format:

USBPRINT\ManufacturerModelChecksum

The PnP manager searches the Windows 2000 driver store (located in %SystemRoot%\Inf, primarily checking ntprint.inf and Driver.cab) for a matching entry. If an exact match is found, the installation proceeds automatically. If no match is found, Windows prompts the user via the "Found New Hardware Wizard" to provide an OEM installation disk containing a compatible .inf file.

5. Driver Binding and Print Spooler Integration

Once a compatible driver is identified, the installation shifts from the PnP manager to the Print Spooler service (spoolsv.exe):

  1. Driver File Placement: The spooler copies necessary rendering filters, GDI dynamic link libraries (such as unidrv.dll or pscript5.dll), and device-specific minidrivers to %SystemRoot%\System32\Spool\Drivers\w32x86\.
  2. Registry Configuration: Keys are created under HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Control\Print\Printers\ containing the printer name, driver path, and default configuration.
  3. Port Binding: The spooler explicitly assigns the print queue to the dynamically generated USB00x port created by usbprint.sys.
  4. Queue Initialization: The printer is marked as active. When an application submits a print job, GDI processes the document via the assigned printer driver, passes the raw data to the spooler, and routes the data stream through usbmon.dll directly to usbprint.sys for bulk transfer over the USB bus.