A bug in Windows 11 25H2 is silently redirecting A3 print jobs to A4 when printing through Microsoft’s Universal Print service. You select A3 (or other non-default size) in the print dialog, the job goes to the printer, and default size A4 comes out instead. No error message. No warning. The bug affects any non-default paper size, not just A3, and was confirmed by IT administrators whose entire organizations were hit at the same time after updating to Windows 11 25H2. The culprit is Microsoft who added a bug into the Windows 11 25H2 print spooler. Until Microsoft issues a fix, there are practical workarounds your IT team can put in place today.
The problem was reported on the Microsoft Q&A forum on May 21, 2026 by an IT administrator whose entire organization hit the wall simultaneously. Nothing had changed on their end: not the Universal Print connector, not the printer queues. The only variable was the Windows version on the computers sending jobs.
The forum notes that Microsoft had “already acknowledged” Universal Print paper size issues in recent release notes. However, there’s no mention of it in the “Known Issues” part of the release notes. That’s not surprising because Microsoft rarely admits to all the bugs they know about, preferring to keep customers in the dark until a fix is available.
What Is Actually Happening
When the client print spooler in Windows 11 25H2 enumerates printer capabilities, the A3 paper size is not being passed correctly to the Universal Print connector, so the job is downgraded to A4.
It’s not just an A3 paper problem, it seems that the bug changes some or all non-default paper sizes to the default. For metric paper sizes that’s most commonly the larger A3 paper instead of the usual A4. See Two ways to switch between Letter and A4 paper sizes in Microsoft Word
In tech talk this is a regression, meaning something that worked fine in an earlier Windows version is now broken by a change Microsoft made.
The smoking gun in this case: one device running Windows 11 Pro 23H2 was still printing A3 correctly on the exact same Universal Print queue. Same printer, same queue, same YSoft server (YSoft is a third-party print management platform commonly used with Universal Print).
Different Windows build, different result.
Reinstalling the connector or recreating the queue will not resolve the issue, because the problem lies in the client-side print stack. So save yourself the time before going down that road.
What This Means for You
If you’re on Windows 11 25H2 and using Universal Print, any A3 or non-default print job may silently print on A4 or other default instead. No warning. Users will likely assume the printer was loaded with the wrong paper, or blame the printer itself.
This is especially problematic for:
- Architects, engineers, or designers printing technical drawings
- Finance teams printing large spreadsheets or reports sized for A3
- Anyone using A3 for posters, notices, or booklet layouts
What Is Universal Print?
Universal Print is Microsoft’s cloud-based printing service, included with Microsoft 365 Business Premium and Enterprise plans. Instead of needing a print server in your office to manage printers, Universal Print moves that job to Microsoft’s cloud.
Individuals and small organizations don’t have (or need) Universal Print. Instead there’s either Microsoft supplied print drivers (IPP) or drivers from the print maker. In our book Printing and PDF: Straight Talk there’s a chapter about the pros & cons of choosing print software.
In plain terms: traditionally, every office needed a dedicated Windows server just to handle print jobs and share printers across the network. Universal Print eliminates that server. Printers connect to Microsoft’s cloud directly (or through a small connector app on any Windows PC), and users print to them just like any other printer.
For IT departments, the appeal is obvious: no print server to maintain, patch, or replace. For users, it should be invisible. You see the printer in your list, you print, it works.
The catch is that Universal Print requires compatible printers or the connector software, and as this bug shows, it is only as reliable as the Windows version sitting between you and it.
What To Do Right Now
Until Microsoft fixes the bug they added to Windows 11, there are a few options.
Use a local driver queue as a workaround
The workaround is to print via a local driver queue mapped to the same printer, bypassing Universal Print entirely until Microsoft publishes a fix. This is not elegant, but it works. Your IT team can set this up by installing the printer using a traditional driver rather than the Universal Print queue.
Keep a 23H2 machine available for critical A3 jobs
If you have any computers still running Windows 11 23H2, those will continue to print A3 correctly through the same Universal Print queues.
For critical jobs, routing them through a working machine is a reasonable short-term fix. A virtual machine (VM) running Windows 11 23H2 would be enough. Some IT departments keep VMs with older versions of Windows or other software, just for occasions like this.
Open a support case with Microsoft
You should open a support case with Microsoft and attach the Universal Print connector logs from C:\ProgramData\Microsoft\UniversalPrint\Logs, as these will confirm the paper size negotiation failure.
The more organizations that file formal support cases, the faster Microsoft treats this as a priority fix.
AI ‘Help’: not so much
At the end of the Microsoft Q&A thread there’s an “AI answer” which is quite long but not very helpful.
It makes statements not supported by evidence such as “Universal Print has known compatibility issues on Windows 10 and some Windows 11 builds”. The current thread only mentions one Windows 11 release.
In fact, the whole ‘answer’ lacks links to information to support the conclusions. A lot of the “Recommended Actions” seem aimed at deflecting blame away from Microsoft.
Only the last paragraph is any use
“Until a fix or updated guidance is available, the most reliable workaround is to print A3 jobs from devices on a known-good Windows 11 build (such as 23H2 or the recommended 24H2 once validated in the environment), or to use a non–Universal Print path for critical A3 jobs.”
It’s AI responses like this which give AI and Copilot a bad name.
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