KB177576 - Color Printing Problems with Windows NT 4.0

Article ID: 177576

Article Last Modified on 10/31/2006

Microsoft Windows NT Workstation 4.0 Developer Edition
Microsoft Windows NT Server 4.0 Standard Edition

This article was previously published under Q177576

SYMPTOMS

When you print in color under Windows NT 4.0, the color quality of the printed output may not have the same consistency as what is viewed on the screen.

CAUSE

The use of a color management procedure is needed for colors to be kept consistent across hardware. Currently, Windows NT 4.0 does not have support for a color management technique known as image color matching (ICM).

To give the impression of continuous tone, Windows NT uses a process called halftoning. The current version of Windows NT does not support halftoning on 24-bit (or higher) devices.

MORE INFORMATION

The number of colors that a device can display ranges from almost none (monochrome devices) to virtually limitless (24-bit devices). About midway in this range is a class of output devices that can support full-color resolution (or near full-color resolution) but can concurrently display only a limited number of those colors.

Despite differences in imaging technologies and color capabilities between devices, image color matching ensures that a color image will look the same, or as close as possible to the same, when output to screen, paper, film, and other media. Applications typically use image color matching to let users create color images on the screen that can then be reproduced exactly on a printer or on other screens.

For more information on image color matching, please see the following documentation at these web locations:

http://www.microsoft.com/hwdev/devdes/icm.htm

http://www.microsoft.com/windows/platform/icmwp.htm

Halftoning is the process of grouping a number of adjacent pixel locations together to form a cell. Within that cell, appropriate colors are placed according to a defined algorithm, which the human eye integrates to produce the desired color. This is also called dithering. For more information, please see the following documentation at this web location:

http://premium.microsoft.com/msdn/library/ddkdoc/ntddk/native/ddk/gg/src/ddioview_21.htm

RESOLUTION

Use a monolithic printer driver from the printer manufacturer if available. A monolithic driver is a driver that does not use common routines that can be called from another file. The routines in the driver are written specifically for the device. These monolithic drivers optimally use the printer by sometimes using proprietary techniques only understood by that specific printer.

Contact the printer manufacturer for more information on whether a monolithic driver is available for Windows NT and whether it will improve the quality of the printed output.

STATUS

Microsoft is researching this problem and will post new information here in the Microsoft Knowledge Base as it becomes available.

Additional query words: print quality third party

Keywords: kbbug kbprint KB177576