You can always get the latest version of Network Drive Control here:

https://www.michaelburns.net/Software/NPC/


Yes, Network Printer Control may be used completely free of charge, even when deploying commercial organizations. However if you wish to show your appreciation and support its development/hosting you can make a donation by clicking on the PayPal button.


v1.14 - April 13, 2021

1. Added feature that when the tray icon is used, the tray module checks the network status to see if the PC has changed network connections, and if so, resets the default printer to match the new connection. This allows the laptop to adapt to being moved around from one network to another while the user is logged on. The check interval is 60 seconds.

2. Updated help file.


v1.13 - March 13, 2021

1. Changed Icon. You will probably only notice if you have the tray icon turned on.

2. Removed reference to the OS bit size (32 or 64) in the dialog frame titles & About message as people were misinterpreting what that meant.

3. Updated help file.


v1.12 - October 14, 2020

1. Fixed bug where networks with names that differed by a trailing number (e.g. Network, Network 5, Network 9, etc.) were not always distinguished properly.

2. Made Console dialog re-sizable. The languages the NDC Console is written in (mix of x86 Assembly & PB) don't automatically re-size the controls therein when the parent dialog size/shape is changed, nor does Windows do so either, so I had to add a re-sizing engine & database, monitor the Console dialog size and trigger the re-sizing engine manually in the Console dialog callback function.

3. Remembers window size & position from last run.

4. Added grip to bottom on Console window to make it easier to re-size.

5. Updated help file.


v1.11  - June 18, 2020

1. Fixed bug in System Tray module where it would erroneously check for updates when it wasn't supposed to.


v1.10 - June 16, 2020

1. Fixed situation where update check would not understand when the website was unavailable. This is related to my web hosting company making behind the scene changes to the website's error reporting, as opposed to a fault in the program.


v1.9 - June 4, 2020 

1. Code signing certificate changed to one issued by Sectigo. Old one was issued by Digicert.

2. Fixed typo in "About" dialog.

3. Fixed site down error message. (Shows only if a version check is attmepted but my website is down).

4. Added reminder when toggling System Tray helper.

5. Help file updated.

6. The update check was broken by my website hosting company changing something in their server setting having to do with redirection, I don't know exactly what. My old update code is something I wrote roughly 20 years ago where I was doing all of the heavy lifting. Rather than try to figure out what was going on, I wrote a new routine that uses the Windows WinInet API. In principle, this should keep working even as servers change as it gets updated as Windows & Edge get updated. When NPC asks michaelburns.net what the current version of NPC is (which it does by asking - no user info is sent), it does so via https.


v1.8 - October 22, 2019

1. Added right-click context menu. Right clicking on a printer listing causes a context menu to open listing (Set to Default, Remove).

2. Help file updated.


v1.7 - June 2, 2019

1. Fixed the update check communication routine which broke when I added a SSL certificate to the michaelburns.net website, which I did in mid-May 2019.

2. When NPC asks michaelburns.net what the current version of NPC is (which is does by asking), it attempts to ask via https. Falls back to http if if has to.

3. Help file updated.


v1.6 - January 10, 2019

1. Installer now provides the option to create a System Restore point for the PC before installing NPC. I've not had any reports of NPC messing up PC's, but I like the idea of making it easy to roll back the install or update just in case. Note that Windows 8 & 10 normally won't allow a new System Restore point to be created unless 24 hours have passed since the last Restore Point was created. This interval can be changed in the System Registry. You can see how here: https://www.tenforums.com/tutorials/94682-change-system-restore-point-creation-frequency-windows-10-a.html Windows Vista & 7 do not have this 24 hour default System Restore interval.

2. Binaries (exe files) are now digitally signed. This insures that any alterations of the exe's after I release them is detectable.

3. Updated help files.


v1.5 - December 2, 2018

1. Fixed bug in automatic update checking of Tray module.


v1.4 - November 12, 2018

1. Updated & fixed typos in helpfile.

2. If System Tray icon active, and the "Automatically Check For Updates" is active, then the System Tray icon program will check for updates once per day. The check interval is once every 24 hours with the interval starting when the Tray icon program starts. This means that doing things like restarting the PC or toggling the NPC Console up may restart the interval. The program uses the Windows API SetTimer function & Windows message pump so the CPU utilization is basically unaffected.


v1.3 - October 6, 2018

1. Added a menu item that causes a tray item to be present that when clicked on, brings up the Console. Normally no part of NPC is running after the drives are mapped. Nor is any part of NPC running after the Console is closed. But if one opts to have a System Tray icon, then a small program will remain running that calls the Console when left clicked. Right clicking on the tray icon gives the user the option to stop the icon program.

2. Fixed another bug in automatic update check. Fixed bug in the Manager (the module that runs on user login) where it might not check for updates correctly, and hence could report that a new update was available even when there was none.

3. Updated help file.

4. New icon, mainly because the old icon looks to much like the Network Drive Control icon, and if you use both utilities like I do, you don't want their system tray icons to look too similar.

5. Compiler for tray program set to optimize for speed rather than minimum size of binary. (To minimize it's use of Windows resources.) Other modules are still set for size optimization.


v1.2 - September 16, 2018

1. Fixed bug in automatic update check.


v1.1 - September 15, 2018

1. Compiler set to optimize for minimum size of binaries rather than speed. (This is not a numerically intensive program so the speed hit is negligible.)

2. Button added to instantly set default printer without saving. This is useful if the PC has been moved to another network while in sleep mode. Since that does not result in a new login by the user (just requires the user to unlock the screen), NPC does not get rerun by Windows so NPC won't know to change the default printer in response to the new network environment.

3. NPC also shows the printer that Windows reports as the present default printer.

4. Help menu area reorganized. Support menu selection added.

5. Help file updated. Typos fixed, new features explained, explanation about anti-virus on development & test systems, and the help file now contains links for those who wish to donate.


v1.0 Initial Release - December 18, 2015


Network Printer Control was developed & tested on a Windows 10 Professional 64-bit machine.


Network Drive Controller has been specifically tested and found to work without problems before release of v1.0 on the following types of machines:

Windows 7 Professional 32-bit SP1 (Virtualbox virtual machine)

Windows 7 Enterprise 64-bit (real machine)

Windows 10  Professional 64-bit (real machine)

Windows 10 Enterprise 64-bit (Virtualbox virtual machine)

Windows 10 Enterprise 64-bit (Hyper-V virtual machine)


For minor revisions, Network Drive Controller may be tested on the following types of machines:

Windows 7 Professional 32-bit SP1 (Virtualbox virtual machine)

Windows 7 Enterprise 64-bit (real machine)

Windows 10  Professional 64-bit (real machine)

Windows 10 Enterprise 64-bit (Virtualbox virtual machine)

Windows 10 Enterprise 64-bit (Hyper-V virtual machine)





Virtualbox is a Type-2 hypervisor. Hyper-V is a Type-1 hypervisor. The hypervisor type determines the relationship of the host & virtual machine OS's to the underlying hardware.



Virtualbox® is either a registered trademark or trademark of Oracle Corporation in the United States and/or other countries


Hyper-V® is either a registered trademark or trademark of Microsoft Corporation in the United States and/or other countries.


Feedback and suggestions are appreciated. That includes suggestions & observations from all types of users. Especially would appreciate feedback from Windows programmers & Windows Security folks.


Please email any feedback to NPC@michaelburns.net


By using the above dedicated email address, your feedback can be routed specifically to one location where I will see it when working on this project.

Microsoft® and Windows® are either registered trademarks or trademarks of Microsoft Corporation in the United States and/or other countries.