Drivers, Signing, and Printers

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Exam 70-270 Study Guide
Table Of Contents

Contents 1 Drivers, Signing, and Printers 2 Drivers 3 Driver Signing 4 Printers 4.1 Managing Printers 4.2 Print Jobs 4.3 Sharing a Local Printer 5 Moving Ahead 6 Quick Review 7 Answers

[edit section] Drivers, Signing, and Printers

After the last lesson, you probably need to catch your breath. This is a short and sweet lesson on drivers, device signing, and printers in Windows XP. The exam still covers these topics quite frequently, though, so don’t take it too easy.

[edit section] Drivers

Drivers are software that allow for Windows to access the functions of hardware. Simply speaking, without drivers, you could not use your favorite printers, monitors, keyboards, mice, video cards, and the like. Using the Windows XP Device Manager, you can easily manage drivers from one convenient location. To access the Device Manager:

1. Go to Control Panel -> System

2. Choose the Hardware Tab

3. Click on Device Manager

At the Device Manager applet, all of the devices connected to your PC appear along with their status. Any exclamation mark indicates that there is an issue or problem with one of the drivers; otherwise, the driver is supposed to be functioning quite normally. To update a driver, double-click on any of the devices that you wish to update and press “Update Driver.” The driver update wizard allows you to choose from sources such as your PC, removable media, a network path, or even Windows Update.

[edit section] Driver Signing

Because drivers are sometimes incompatible with Windows or present problems, Microsoft introduced in Windows XP a convenient way to assess if a given driver will properly work with Windows XP. This process is known as signing, and a driver that is verified to work well with XP is said to be tested, signed, and verified. Most large corporations would only want to install signed drivers onto a computer, but for individual users of Windows, unsigned drivers are often a necessary part of their computing lives. By default, Windows will prompt you when you attempt to install an unsigned driver. To change this setting, go to:

1. Control Panel -> System

2. Hardware Tab

3. Driver Signing Button

Here, you can choose between three options for what to do with an unsigned driver:

• Ignore: Do not prompt if a driver is unsigned. Just install it.
• Warn (the default): Prompt if a driver is unsigned and ask for user action
• Block: Do not install an unsigned driver

The system file checker SFC.EXE can be used to verify drivers and assure they are signed. SFC is also used to scan for other protected file signatures. SIGVERIF.EXE can also check for unsigned files.

[edit section] Printers

We will be covering printers in two parts on this guide: one networking component (later on) and the basics of local printing, which will be covered now.

A printer is the logical device in Windows XP that can point to a physical print device. Note that a printer is not necessarily a print device; some printers in XP “print to files” and others can point to multiple print devices. Some print devices have multiple printers. (The reasons for this are discussed at a later time).

To install a local printer, go to Start -> Printers and Faxes and choose to “Add Printer.” Select “local printer” from the listing and the appropriate port that the printer resides on. Continuing on, install the driver for the printer and complete the wizard by printing a test page.

[edit section] Managing Printers

Every printer can be “managed” to configure the printer’s availability and print options. To enter the management interface, right-click on a printer and go to the Device Settings tab. On this tab are several options specific to each printer; the exam does not heavily cover this portion and you are left to your own faculties to explore printer management in the way described above.

Additionally, by clicking the Advanced tab, you are given more options for the printer, including its availability, priority level, driver, spooling options, and more.

[edit section] Print Jobs

A print job is a request to print. A print job can be created from an application or sent directly to the printer. There are several actions on print jobs:

• Pause: Stops the print job while keeping it in line for printing
• Resume: Continues the print job after pausing
• Restart: Equivalent to deleting the current print job and resetting the print job
• Cancel: Deletes the print job

[edit section] Sharing a Local Printer

A printer can be shared in XP much like a folder can be. Use the Sharing tab to share a printer and choose from the following permissions:

• Print: Allow users to send print jobs and manage their own jobs
• Manage Documents: Allow users to send print jobs and manage others’ jobs
• Manage Printers: Allows for configuration of printer and sharing

[edit section] Moving Ahead

In our next lesson, we will examine the business of Windows XP input and output devices. These include everything from keyboards to tablets. For now, enjoy the shorter lesson and do well on the next quick review.

[edit section] Quick Review

1. What does an exclamation mark next to a hardware device in Device Manager indicate?

a. A problem with Device Manager

b. A problem with a print device

c. A problem with a printer

d. A problem with a device driver

e. A problem with an input device

2. What is the primary difference between a printer and a print device?

a. A printer is hardware while a print device is logical

b. A printer is larger than a print device

c. A printer is smaller than a print device

d. A printer is logical while a print device is hardware

e. A printer cannot point to another print device while a print device can

3. Which of the following tools is used to check if system protected files are digitally signed?

a. SFC.EXE

b. SFCVERIF.EXE

c. QUANTAM.EXE

d. SYSTEM32.EXE

e. IPCONFIG.EXE

[edit section] Answers

1. An exclamation point refers to a device driver issue. The answer is D.

2. A printer is a logical entry in Windows that represents any textual output device while a print device is a physical output device. The answer is D.

3. SFC is used to verify if system protected files are signed. Choices B, C, and D are fictional. The answer is A.

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