The "Enable virtual printers" option is no longer available in VMware Workstation 17.5 and later versions.

[Fred Allen]

I hoped to migrate from Virtual Box to Workstation, but keep hitting snags.  Now, Workstation 17 Pro "no longer supports enabling virtual printers".... and my old CD Printer (Rimage Prism Plus!) drivers only work on Windows XP.... So I need to print from XP, but I cannot share from my host (Win10, Win11, Linux, etc.).

Is my only solution to either to back to Virtual Box an/or an OLD version of Workstation Pro?

Thank you, in advance, for any thoughts/suggestions.

[RaSystemlord]

As for "is there any other way?":

I prefer printing from a different computer in a different network ... and not fiddle with Windows printer utilities & drivers, which are sometimes messy. I print to PDF and then bring that PDF to the other computer. That's how I have a stable printing network from any computer.

I have Linux there (Ubuntu Studio), but it could just as well be an XP computer, because that other network does not need to connect to Internet (even physically). With Linux you just print - no need to install anything ... also your drivers could be included in Linux (obviously, I don't know for sure).

[Technogeezer]

Here's "another way".

Is this printer connected via USB? If so, have you tried using Workstation to pass the USB connection for the printer to the XP VM, and then installing the printer drivers in the VM? The VM will think that the printer is directly connected to Windows XP.

This doesn't depend on printer sharing (and will work with latest versions of Workstation) since the USB connection of the printer will be seen by the VM exclusively once you pass it to the VM.

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- Paul (technogeezer)
vExpert 2025
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[Fred Allen]

I cannot do that. There are no drivers for the host.

I think I’ll go back to VBox this afternoon and avoid Broadcom web issues, convoluted web navigation, and a dead end software path.

- Fred

[goldeneye_007]

Surprising they would drop virtual printers. For those of us that paid for Workstation for years one of the main features were virtual printers. VirtualBox keeps looking better.

[Technogeezer]

From what I gather, virtual printing was using "ThinPrint" technology sourced from another vendor. The vendor dropped support for the ThinPrint implementation that VMware was using. And VMware (now Broadcom) didn't feel the need to spend the time and effort to add it back in.

Almost all  printers today are a) network attached, and b) support driverless printing (AirPrint or IPP Everywhere). That's fine for newer printers and operating systems. For older printers and operating system that either don't support driverless printing or networked printing, that's definitely a problem.

I do have one question: if the host doesn't have drivers for a printer, how exactly is a virtual printer supposed to work? After all, a virtual printer in the VM passes the print request to the host which has to have the printer configured - and that requires the host to have a driver for the printer? 

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- Paul (technogeezer)
vExpert 2025
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[Fred Allen]

I have to dig a bit deeper.  Somehow, without host drivers, I was able
to printer from a Windows XP VM (on VirtualBox) for many years.

[goldeneye_007]

Yes the guest contains the driver. The virtualization software (VMware/Virtualbox) acted like a shim and handled the communications with the printer normally via a virtual printer port. So the virtualization software would point at something like lpr:\remotequeue or something like that. With Lantronix you would define the remote printer in Windows via Add Port/Custom Port and point it at a raw queue on port 9100. That custom port contained the name of the print server (whatever you had in DNS for it). So a local print job was redirected to the correct lpr port like server1:9100. The Lantronix device then handled the rest and communicated with Windows and the printer to get the job done. ThinPrint did something similar. They were nice for older printers that were parallel or serial.

[Technogeezer]

I'm curious - have you tried it? For example, does Workstation offer to pass the USB printer connection to the VM?

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- Paul (technogeezer)
vExpert 2025
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[Fred Allen]

When I tried, the option for USB was 'grayed out' and I couldn't figure
out why.

I will have to wait and try probably Monday.... Because of multiple
issues, I'm going to reformat my hard disk and install everything (host
and hypervisor / VMs) again.  I'm tied up until Monday and it will take
a full day.

Thanks for your reply.

[goldeneye_007]

I have not. I cannot speak to the other poster. As you alluded to most office printers are now IPP or some equivalent so it isn't an issue. I can see some businesses that might be affected where older hardware is still in use (older barcode and industrial printers come to mind). I would suggest a device that adds IPP to the older device if you can find one. We use to use print server devices from Lantronix for that purpose. You can still find them on eBay. You might also get away with hosting and sharing the printer via Windows if that is still a thing Windows does.

If I recall a ThinPrint printer would have the driver installed on the guest and thinprint would figure out where it needs to go based on some additional configuration. ThinPrint acted like a software version of the Lantronix devices. It's been a minute since I last needed it but it does come up once in awhile, mostly with remote workers using who knows what at their house. We phased out our last office Lantronix unit a few years ago.

[Fred Allen]

Hi,

Thanks again for your prior comments.

As I mentioned a few days ago, I could not try until today (Monday).

To summarize:  I wiped my hard disk, reinstalled Windows 10 Pro... installed Workstation Pro 17.6.3.... 

I am now trying to find a way to 'pass' my USB printer (Rimage Prism Plus!, attached to my host and powered on) to my XP Pro VM.  I verified I have a USB controller installed and powered on the Win XP Pro VM.  I then thought (?) I should go to the VM menu and select "Removable Devices" and hoped to see the USB CD Printer listed there... but it does not appear.  Instead I see the following:

CD/DVD (IDE) - connected
Network Adapter - connected
Sound Card - connected
Brother USB Composite Device (another printer/scanner - option to connect (disconnect from host)
Intel Wireless Bluetooth- option to connect (disconnect from host)

But no options related to my Rimage Prism Plus! USB CD Printer.

Am I overlooking something?

[goldeneye_007]

What version of USB does the Rimage use?

USB support under Workstation can be problematic.

Under the virtual machine settings, find the USB Controller and click on it.

Then check what USB Compatibility is set to. If the Rimage needs an older version of USB, select the version it is known to support.

[Fred Allen]

The Rimage Prism Plus! CD Printer (USB Device) is several years old...
and uses USB 2.0

Workstation Pro says "USB Controller" present, but does not actually
list any USB controller devices, even if I check the box to "Show all
USB input devices".

Does this mean I don't really have a USB Controller yet?

[goldeneye_007]

On the screen before you launch the VM there should be a summary screen and you should see USB Controller along the left in the summary.

If you double click on the entry for USB Controller you should see the window change and you will see Connections. Below that it should say USB Compatibility with a dropdown that will allow you to select USB 1.0, 2.0 and 3.1 (or whatever is available on your version of Workstation).

Set it to 2.0, then boot the VM and check again under removable devices and see if anything has changed.

[Fred Allen]

Yes... but when I click (or double click) USB Controller on the left panel, it opens the "Virtual Machine Settings"... and under USB Controller, I then have a panel to the right, as you described, showing "Connections" and beneath that, "USB Compatability", where I can select USB 1.1, USB 2.0 or USB 3.1.  There is then a check box under that (which I checked) that says "Show all USB input devices".

Regardless whether I select USB 1.1, USB 2.0 or USB 3.1 and even with this boxed "checked", there is nothing listed below that I can select.  Hmmm....

[Fred Allen]

Oh... and if I try to add 'another' USB Controller, thinking maybe I don't actually have one, VMWare Workstation tells me "maximum limit reached".

[goldeneye_007]

Does you printer have the ability to disable USB connections? Just trying to sort out why it might not 'see' the printer. This is sort of a known problem with USB connections to Workstation though. Not all devices are always detected which is why ThinPrint was helpful.

[Fred Allen]

I will be away from my pc for the next week or so, but will take another look. I know what I want to happen… and documentation says Workstation supports it… so it must be something I am just overlooking. (Ultimately, I want the USB printer to always attach to the guest VM and never to the host.)

Thanks to all for the discussion. 

[James Lin]

FYI, I am fairly certain that ThinPrint would not have helped you anyway.  ThinPrint would have just exposed a virtual printer to your guest, not your physical printer.  The virtual printer would not have exposed the same capabilities as your physical printer, and to actually print to your physical printer, your host would need drivers for your physical printer (defeating the whole point of the exercise).  As others have mentioned, what you want is to connect your printer to your VM as a USB device, and then you can install the printer's USB drivers in the guest.

[Fred Allen]

Hi,

First, thank you to several people for your guidance.

I knew (from Workstation documentation) that attaching a USB printer to the guest VM instead of the host, in cases where only the GM has drivers, should work, but I was struggling to get this to work, but finally figured it out, today. And it was a very simple/**** mistake on my part. The option to attach the printer to the guest VM appears as expected if the VM is powered up before turning the printer on.

Workstation continues to prompt each time, although I selected the option to always attach only to the guest, but that’s a minor inconvenience which I will investigate later.

Thanks again!

- Fred