Need to launch printing preference from UWP C# app

Ambigavathi Dhanapal 5 Reputation points
2026-06-19T09:02:35.61+00:00

We are developing UWP application C# to handle printers. We need to open any one of the printer's printing preference page from our application. If we use shellexecute or createprocess to launch the command "rundll32.exe with printui.dll,PrintUIEntry, /p "printer name" " we are able to show. But when we publish the app, Windows App certificate kit shows error like

Blocked executables

  • Error Found: The blocked executables test has detected the following errors:
    • File PrintingPreference.exe contains a reference to a "Launch Process" related API kernel32.dll!CreateProcess

Is there any way to show printing preference from UWP app?

Developer technologies | Universal Windows Platform (UWP)
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  1. Danny Nguyen (WICLOUD CORPORATION) 7,345 Reputation points Microsoft External Staff Moderator
    2026-06-19T10:20:19.1666667+00:00

    Hi @Ambigavathi Dhanapal ,

    For a pure UWP app, launching rundll32.exe / PrintUIEntry through ShellExecute or CreateProcess is not a supported approach for Store/certification scenarios. UWP apps run in an AppContainer model, and the Windows App Certification Kit can flag process-launch APIs such as CreateProcess, which matches the error you are seeing.

    I am not aware of a supported UWP API that lets a general UWP app directly open the legacy Printing Preferences dialog for any arbitrary installed printer.

    The supported UWP-side approach is to integrate with the Windows print experience instead. For printer/device-specific settings, Microsoft documents the UWP device app / print settings extension model, where the app provides an advanced print settings flyout that can be shown from the print UI through More settings. You can read more here: How to customize print settings (UWP device apps).

    For additional context around Windows App Certification Kit results, these related discussions may also be useful, although they are not exactly the same scenario:

    If your requirement is specifically to launch the classic desktop printer preferences UI, then this usually needs to be handled outside a pure UWP app model, for example by using a desktop/packaged desktop component rather than trying to call rundll32.exe directly from UWP.

    If you found my response helpful or informative, I would greatly appreciate it if you could follow this guidance or provide feedback.

    Thank you.

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