Symptoms

When you run the Add Printer Wizard, you may receive the following error message after you click Finish at the end of the wizard:

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Unable to Install Printer. The printer driver is not compatible with a policy enabled on your computer that blocks Windows NT 4.0 drivers. If you want to use this driver, contact your system administrator about disabling this policy.

Cause

This behavior occurs because Windows Server 2003 does not support Kernel mode print drivers by default.
NOTE: Microsoft Windows NT 4.0 print drivers are Kernel mode drivers.

Resolution

To resolve this behavior, update the print driver on the print server so that it is not using a Kernel mode print driver.

Nov 15, 2000 USB initializes with the NT kernel. Like any other device driver in Windows NT 4.0, USB drivers don’t get initialized until the NT kernel initializes (when the dots are marching across the blue. The printer driver is not compatible with a policy enabled on your computer that blocks Windows NT 4.0 drivers. If you want to use this driver, contact your system administrator about disabling this policy. When an Alpha-based computer running Windows NT 4.0 Server connects to an x86-based client without an Alpha print driver. When you connect to a printer using the new Internet Printing Protocol (IPP) and an appropriate driver is not installed on the Internet print server.

Workaround

To work around this behavior, use either the appropriate method:

Method 1

If you are installing a Windows NT 4.0 print driver, contact your network administrator to have the policy removed.

Method 2

If you want to install a non-Kernel mode driver locally for a remote network printer:

In Control Panel, double-click Printers and Faxes.
Double-click Add Printer to start the Add Printer Wizard, and then click Next.
Click Local printer, click to clear the Automatically detect and install check box, and then click Next.
Click Create a new port, and then under Port type, click Local Port.
For Port Name, type the path to the printer in the form of serverprinter, where
server is the name of the print server and
printer is the name of the printer.
Click Next, and then choose a Windows 2000 or Windows Server 2003 driver for your printer.
Click Next, and then follow the instructions to finish the wizard.

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Note: If you use method 2, you will not get printer updates from the print server when the printer driver is later updated on the server.

More Information

When you print to a network printer, Windows NT, Windows 2000, and Windows Server 2003 always use the print driver on the print sever if you are not using the local port workaround (method 2).
Kernel mode drivers are monolithic drivers that hook into the operating system at the kernel level. Windows Server 2003 and later versions include a policy that blocks Kernel mode print drivers because Kernel mode print drivers can cause the computer to display blue screen errors.