Method and apparatus for automatic update of a printer driver configuration and status

Print drivers have long been used to format and transfer computer data from a source of data such as a computer to an output device such as a printer. However, because printers from different manufactures typically have different software and hardware configurations, print drivers typically need to be customized to match the particular printer configuration. Users enter relevant data into the computer to customize the print drivers. A method and apparatus for updating print drivers is described. The described system includes a port monitor that monitors the configuration and status of a printer. When changes occur to the configuration of a printer, the port monitor updates a print driver registry on the print server. The port monitor also wakes the print driver on the print server and informs the print driver of the configuration changes. Depending on the client operating system used, a client device connected to the server's shared print queue may either directly read or request the configuration data from the print server. In some client operating systems, the client device may also update a local registry on the client device to reflect the changes in configuration of the printer. The described system allows print drivers to have a consistent interface to printer configuration and status data regardless of which version of the Microsoft Windows Operating System is used by the each.