Microsoft confirms KB5053657 fixes USB printers broken by Windows 11 KB5050092

Windows Update for Windows 11

Recently, we published a couple of major printer-related news. First, it was the Brother printer ink manipulation allegations similar to ones HP and Canon have faced in the past, and second, it was USB dual mode printers (those that support both USB print and IPP Over USB) printing gibberish due to a bad Windows 11 23H2 / 22H2 update. The latter was caused by the January 2025 optional non-security preview update, and Microsoft shared a group policy fix to work around the issue.

Now with the latest such update (KB5053657) released yesterday, Microsoft says that it has resolved the bug. Additionally, it has also shared Group Policies that need to be deployed for enterprise PCs. Microsoft writes:

Resolution:

This issue was resolved by Windows updates released March 25, 2025 (KB5053657), and later. We recommend you install the latest update for your device as it contains important improvements and issue resolutions, including this one.

If you have an enterprise-managed device and have installed the update released March 25, 2025 (KB5053657) or later, you do not need to use a Known Issue Rollback (KIR) or a special Group Policy to resolve this issue. If you are using an update released before March 25, 2025, 2024, and have this issue, your IT administrator can resolve it by installing and configuring the special Group Policy listed below. The special Group Policy can be found in Computer Configuration > Administrative Templates > .

Group Policy downloads with Group Policy name:

Download for Windows 11, version 23H2 and 22H2 - Windows 11 22H2 KB5050092 250131_150523 Known Issue Rollback

Download for Windows 10, version 22H2 - Windows 10 22H2, 21H1, 21H2 and 22H2 KB5050081 250131_082569 Known Issue Rollback

Important: You will need to install and configure the Group Policy for your version of Windows to resolve this issue. You will also need to restart your device(s) to apply the group policy setting. Note that the Group Policy will temporarily disable the change causing the printing issue.