Transparent areas are printed as black when you use a v4 XPS printer driver in Windows

Applies To
Windows Server 2012 R2 Datacenter Windows Server 2012 R2 Standard Windows Server 2012 R2 Essentials Windows Server 2012 R2 Foundation Windows 8.1 Enterprise Windows 8.1 Pro Windows 8.1 Windows RT 8.1

This article describes an issue that occurs if the printer uses a version 4 (v4) XPS printer driver in Windows 8.1, Windows RT 8.1, or Windows Server 2012 R2. A hotfix is available to fix this issue. The hotfix has a prerequisite.

Symptoms

This issue occurs when you print a color document in the black-and-white mode.

Cause

The issue occurs because the printer prints any non-255 values as black in the black-and-white mode. During the grayscale conversion, transparent areas of the document are being converted to a shade of gray (254, 254, 254) instead of 255, 255, 255. Therefore, they are printed as black.

Hotfix Information

Important If you install a language pack after you install this hotfix, you must reinstall this hotfix. Therefore, we recommend that you install any language packs that you need before you install this hotfix. For more information, see Add language packs to Windows.

 A supported hotfix is available from Microsoft. However, this hotfix is intended to correct only the problem that's described in this article. Apply this hotfix only to systems that are experiencing this specific problem.

If the hotfix is available for download, there's a "Hotfix Download Available" section at the top of this Knowledge Base article. If this section doesn't appear, submit a request to Microsoft Customer Service and Support to get the hotfix.

Note If additional issues occur or if any troubleshooting is required, you might have to create a separate service request. The usual support costs will apply to additional support questions and issues that don't qualify for this specific hotfix. For a complete list of Microsoft Customer Service and Support telephone numbers or to create a separate service request, visit the following Microsoft website:

http:⁠//support.microsoft.com/contactus/?ws=support Note The "Hotfix Download Available" form displays the languages for which the hotfix is available. If you don't see your language, it's because a hotfix isn't available for that language.

Prerequisites

To apply this hotfix, you must have April 2014 update rollup for Windows RT 8.1, Windows 8.1, and Windows Server 2012 R2 (2919355) installed in Windows 8.1 or Windows Server 2012 R2.

Registry information

To use the hotfix in this package, you don't have to make any changes to the registry.

Restart requirement

You may have to restart the computer after you apply this hotfix.

Hotfix replacement information

This hotfix doesn't replace a previously released hotfix.

Status

Microsoft has confirmed that this is a problem in the Microsoft products that are listed in the "Applies to" section.

References

See the terminology that Microsoft uses to describe software updates.

File Information

The English (United States) version of this software update installs files that have the attributes that are listed in the following tables. The dates and times for these files are listed in Coordinated Universal Time (UTC). Be aware that dates and times for these files on your local computer are displayed in your local time and with your current daylight saving time bias. The dates and times may also change when you perform certain operations on the files.

Windows 8.1, Windows RT 8.1 and Windows Server 2012 R2

Important Windows 8.1 hotfixes and Windows Server 2012 R2 hotfixes are included in the same packages. However, hotfixes on the Hotfix Request page are listed under both operating systems. To request the hotfix package that applies to one or both operating systems, select the hotfix that is listed under "Windows 8.1/Windows Server 2012 R2" on the page. Always refer to the "Applies To" section in articles to determine the actual operating system that each hotfix applies to.

  • The files that apply to a specific product, milestone (RTM, SPn), and service branch (LDR, GDR) can be identified by examining the file version numbers as shown in the following table:

    Version Product Milestone Service branch
    6.3.960 0.17xxx Windows 8.1,Windows RT 8.1, and Windows Server 2012 R2 RTM GDR
  • The MANIFEST files (.manifest) and the MUM files (.mum) that are installed for each environment are listed separately in the "Additional file information" section. MUM, MANIFEST, and the associated security catalog (.cat) files, are very important to maintain the state of the updated components. The security catalog files, for which the attributes aren't listed, are signed with a Microsoft digital signature.

x86 Windows 8.1

File name File version File size Date Time Platform
Msxpspcl6.dll 0.3.9600.18049 4,640,256 07-Sep-2015 16:13 x86
Msxpsps.dll 0.3.9600.18049 4,602,368 07-Sep-2015 16:13 x86
V3hostingfilter-pipelineconfig.xml Not applicable 385 13-Aug-2015 13:44 Not applicable
V3hostingfilter.dll 0.3.9600.18049 44,032 07-Sep-2015 16:18 x86

x64 Windows 8.1 and Windows Server 2012 R2

File name File version File size Date Time Platform
Msxpspcl6.dll 0.3.9600.18049 5,253,632 07-Sep-2015 16:50 x64
Msxpsps.dll 0.3.9600.18049 5,243,392 07-Sep-2015 16:50 x64
V3hostingfilter-pipelineconfig.xml Not applicable 385 13-Aug-2015 13:38 Not applicable
V3hostingfilter.dll 0.3.9600.18049 57,344 07-Sep-2015 16:58 x64

Windows RT 8.1

File name File version File size Date Time Platform
Msxpspcl6.dll 0.3.9600.18049 3,773,440 07-Sep-2015 16:02 Not applicable
Msxpsps.dll 0.3.9600.18049 3,775,488 07-Sep-2015 16:02 Not applicable
V3hostingfilter-pipelineconfig.xml Not applicable 385 13-Aug-2015 13:34 Not applicable
V3hostingfilter.dll 0.3.9600.18049 44,032 07-Sep-2015 16:04 Not applicable

      

Additional file information

x86 Windows 8.1

File property Value
File name Update.mum
File version Not applicable
File size 1,595
Date (UTC) 09-Sep-2015
Time (UTC) 22:49
Platform Not applicable
File name X86_ntprint4.inf_31bf3856ad364e35_6.3.9600.18051_none_dadd23c9c002f2ad.manifest
File version Not applicable
File size 4,816
Date (UTC) 09-Sep-2015
Time (UTC) 22:52
Platform Not applicable

x64 Windows 8.1 and Windows Server 2012 R2

File property Value
File name Amd64_ntprint4.inf_31bf3856ad364e35_6.3.9600.18051_none_36fbbf4d786063e3.manifest
File version Not applicable
File size 4,828
Date (UTC) 09-Sep-2015
Time (UTC) 22:55
Platform Not applicable
File name Update.mum
File version Not applicable
File size 2,036
Date (UTC) 09-Sep-2015
Time (UTC) 22:49
Platform Not applicable

Windows RT 8.1

File property Value
File name Arm_ntprint4.inf_31bf3856ad364e35_6.3.9600.18051_none_dadf9621c0001173.manifest
File version Not applicable
File size 4,808
Date (UTC) 09-Sep-2015
Time (UTC) 22:49
Platform Not applicable
File name Update.mum
File version Not applicable
File size 1,595
Date (UTC) 09-Sep-2015
Time (UTC) 22:49
Platform Not applicable