Microsoft confirms Windows 11 Universal Print problems and offers a workaround

• Microsoft confirms that Windows 11 updates beginning with KB5083769 can break Universal Print printers originally installed on Windows 10.
• Affected users may see error 0x80004005, a disabled Print button, or error 0x000003e3 when printing a test page.
• Administrators can remove and re-add affected printers or use Microsoft’s PowerShell script to convert system-wide installations to per-user installations.
• Some Konica Minolta printers also lose communication with Universal Print, and Microsoft has not confirmed a timeline for a permanent fix.

Microsoft has a workaround for a Windows 11 printing bug that can prevent some business printers from working, but organizations must restore printing manually. The problem affects Universal Print printers originally installed on Windows 10, and upgrading to Windows 11 26H2 won’t fix it.

The company is also looking into a separate issue that causes some Konica Minolta printers to lose communication with Universal Print. While administrators can restore affected printers in the first case, the second problem has no confirmed fix.

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These issues primarily affect businesses and schools that use Universal Print, Microsoft’s cloud-based printing service. Home users with conventional USB or Wi-Fi printers are not expected to be affected unless they use Universal Print.

Windows 11 update breaks some Universal Print printers

The company says a regression introduced with the April 2026 Security Update (KB5083769) and subsequent updates can cause Universal Print printers originally installed on Windows 10 to stop working after upgrading to Windows 11.

Affected users may encounter the “Your printer has experienced an unexpected configuration problem. 0x80004005 error” when selecting a printer in the print dialog.

The Print button may also become unavailable. Printing a test page through Printer Properties can produce another “The I/O operation has been aborted because of either a thread exit or an application request.” error. The test-page error may include code 0x000003e3.

Upgrading to Windows 11 version 26H2 does not resolve the problem. Network administrators should first check whether their devices have affected printer installations before applying a workaround.

Check whether your Universal Print installation is affected

To check if your Universal Print printer is affected, use this PowerShell script:

1. Open Microsoft’s Universal Print known issues page.

2. Download the Convert-UpPrinterToPerUser.ps1 script from the instructions.

3. Open Start.

4. Search for PowerShell, right-click the top result, and choose the Run as administrator option.

5. Type this command from the folder containing the downloaded script and press Enter:

   .\Convert-UpPrinterToPerUser.ps1 -Detect

If the output says “No per-system Universal Print printers found,” the computer is not affected by this particular regression. If the script identifies system-wide Universal Print printer installations, you can use one of the following workarounds.

Fix the Windows 11 Universal Print problem

Microsoft provides two options for affected printers. Removing and reinstalling a printer is simpler for an individual device, while the PowerShell method is for administrators managing multiple printers.

Option 1. Remove and reinstall the affected printer

To uninstall and reinstall an affected printer, follow these steps:

1. Open Settings on Windows 11.

2. Click on Bluetooth & devices.

3. Open the Printers & scanners page.

4. Select the affected Universal Print printer.

5. Click Remove to uninstall the printer.

6. Open the Printers & scanners page one more time.

7. Click the Add device button and add the same Universal Print printer again.

After reinstalling the printer, print a document or test page to confirm it works.

If the problem persists, administrators can use Microsoft’s PowerShell method to convert the affected installation to per-user mode.

Option 2. Repair multiple printers with PowerShell

Organizations managing multiple affected printers can use Microsoft’s Convert-UpPrinterToPerUser.ps1 script to change Universal Print installations from system-wide to per-user.

This procedure requires PsExec, a tool from Microsoft’s Sysinternals suite, and the organization’s Microsoft Entra tenant ID.

To repair multiple printers using the PowerShell script, follow these steps:

1. Download PsExec from the Microsoft Sysinternals website.

2. Place PsExec.exe in the same folder as the PowerShell script.

3. Open Start.

4. Search for PowerShell, right-click the top result, and choose the Run as administrator option.

5. Type this command to launch PowerShell under the SYSTEM account: 

   .\PsExec.exe -i -s powershell

6. Type this command from the folder containing the script and press Enter:

   .\Convert-UpPrinterToPerUser.ps1 -AllUPPrinters -TenantId "<YOUR_TENANT_ID>"

   Replace <YOUR_TENANT_ID> with your organization’s actual Microsoft Entra tenant ID.

7. Wait a minute or two for the Windows Print Spooler service to restart, then test the affected printers.

Microsoft recommends testing the script on an individual device before deploying it across an organization. Network administrators can also use management tools such as Microsoft Intune to deploy the remediation across managed devices.

Konica Minolta printers also experience Universal Print problems

Microsoft is working with Konica Minolta to resolve a separate connectivity issue affecting some compatible printer models.

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Affected printers intermittently stop communicating with Universal Print and may fail to retrieve print jobs. Those jobs remain in the Pending state and may eventually be marked as Aborted if the printer doesn’t retrieve them within three days.

Administrators may also notice that the printer’s Last Seen timestamp in the Azure portal stops updating.

To check whether a printer may be affected, review Microsoft’s list of compatible Konica Minolta models. If the printer is listed and exhibits these symptoms, check its status in the Azure portal and contact Konica Minolta support.

Microsoft has not announced a confirmed workaround or timeline to resolve this connectivity problem. Administrators should monitor the Universal Print known issues page for updates.

For now, organizations affected by the Windows 11 upgrade-related regression can use Microsoft’s workarounds, while those experiencing the Konica Minolta connectivity problem will need to await further guidance from Microsoft and the printer manufacturer.