Virtual driver printer v3

NTDEV
1

I am working on a task where I need to analyze print data before it gets converted to EMF (Enhanced Metafile Spool) format. To achieve this, I'm trying to implement a virtual printer driver using the V3 printer driver model. However, I'm encountering some issues during installation.

I'm using the following command to install the printer:

bash

Copy code

rundll32 printui.dll,PrintUIEntry /if /b "My Virtual Printer V3" /f "C:\VP3\MyVP3\MyVP3.inf" /r "LPT1:" /m "My Virtual Printer V3"

But I get this error message:

Error:

Operation could not be completed (error 0x00000002). The system cannot find the file specified.

Steps I've taken:

  • I created an INF file, GPD file, and a catalog file (.cat).
  • The driver package was added successfully using pnputil.
  • The driver shows up in pnputil /enum-drivers, but fails to install when adding the printer.

I’m unsure if I need to add more files or modify the INF file to make it work correctly. Specifically, I want to be able to capture and inspect print data before it is sent to EMF spool.

Could you please guide me on how to resolve this installation issue and proceed with the development of the V3 virtual printer driver to analyze the print data?

2

Hello Boris,

I understand that you are creating a virtual printer driver and that you want to analyze print data.

Taking a step back, what are you trying to accomplish? I am asking because there are multiple possible spool file formats, depending a lot on the details of what is being printed and where. Data can be written to the spool file in several different formats, including:
--- EMF - original spool format that was supposed to be portable but really is not.
--- ASCII text - Very, very old format for text-only printers.
--- XPS - advanced new spool file format that is much more portable.
--- RAW - PCL or Postscript (or whatever binary format the rendering driver prefers

Are you actually trying to modify the spool data of ANY printer driver? Or are you actually trying to create a new printer driver? I ask this because there are spooler components that you can add to observe the behavior of any printer driver.

(Am happy to discuss further if you'd like to email me at paul@paulyao.com).

Best Regards,
Paul