Configuring Printer Driver Isolation Mode Using Group Policy

You can configure certain aspects of printer driver isolation globally on a Windows Server 2008 R2 print server by using the following two Group Policy settings, which are new in Windows 7 and Windows Server 2008 R2 and apply only to those platforms:

• Computer Configuration\Policies\Administrative Templates\Printers\Execute Print Drivers In Isolated Processes
  This policy setting determines whether the print spooler will execute printer drivers in an isolated or separate process. If you enable or do not configure this policy setting, the print spooler will attempt to execute printer drivers in an isolated process. If you disable this policy setting, no driver isolation is attempted, and the print spooler will execute printer drivers in the print spooler process. In other words, adjusting this policy setting to Disable lets you completely disable driver isolation and force everything to run in legacy mode (mode = None). Any other setting allows driver isolation to work as specified by a driver's .inf file and Print Management console settings.
• Computer Configuration\Policies\Administrative Templates\Printers\Override Print Driver Compatibility Execution Setting Reported By Print Driver
  This policy setting determines whether the print spooler will override the driver isolation compatibility reported by the printer driver via the DriverIsolation entry in its .inf file. Doing this enables you to execute printer drivers in an isolated process even if the driver does not report compatibility. If you enable this policy setting, the print spooler will attempt to execute the driver in Isolation mode regardless of the DriverIsolation entry in the driver's .inf file. If you disable or do not configure this policy setting, the print spooler will honor the DriverIsolation entry in the driver's .inf file.

Note Both of these policy settings apply only to printer drivers loaded by the print spooler; print drivers loaded by applications are not affected. After changing these policy settings, use gpupdate /force and then restart the Print Spooler service to ensure that the new policies take effect.