Fixing Generic Drivers and WSD Ports – Windows 10

Learn how to find and remove the generic drivers and WSD ports in this video tutorial. These connections are automatically generated by Windows 10 and can cause offline issues with your Brother Printer
For more videos, tutorials, and FAQs visit our support site at: http://www.brother-usa.com/support

Quick Links / Table of Contents:
Models Covered 00:09
Common problems 00:20
System Information 00:50
Locate Brother Device 01:00
Sharing Settings 01:31
Chose current profile 01:42
Uncheck automatic setup 01:54

Transcript
Welcome. Today we are going to look at how to track down and replace generic drivers
on a Windows computer.
This video will cover multiple models for your Windows 10 Operating System. Even though your machine may not match the models showing on the screen the overall process is still the same.

Some Windows computers are setup to automatically install devices found on your network. When this occurs, your Brother device will be setup with a Windows WSD Port and generic driver.

These are common causes for offline issues with Brother devices. It’s important to ensure your Brother device is installed using software from the Brother website.

To prevent connection problems, we’ll need to turn off your computer’s ability to automatically install a Brother device without your permission.

If your Brother device has already been installed, we’ll need to verify how your Brother driver is configured.

Start by typing “System Information” in the search bar of the Windows Task Bar. Select “System Information”.

Next to Components, Click the + symbol and then select Printing. Locate your Brother device in the list.


If the Port Name begins with WSD or the printer Name displays a generic machine type instead of a model number, you will need to disable automatic device setup on your computer. This will ensure the proper setup of your Brother device and prevent future offline printer issues.

In the Windows search bar, type: Sharing settings and press Enter. The Advanced Sharing Settings window will open.


Choose your current profile based on whether you're connected to a private or public network.

In this example, our current profile is Private, uncheck Turn on automatic setup of network connected devices. and click Save Changes.


Now that you have verified your driver setup, you are ready for full Windows 10 troubleshooting. Click the link on the screen to return.

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