The primary purpose of usbprns2.exe is to bridge the communication gap between the Windows USB stack and the legacy IEEE 1284 parallel protocol.
Cybercriminals have been known to use names like usbprns2.exe, svchost.exe, or explorer.exe to hide their payloads. Malicious versions of usbprns2.exe have been observed in the wild performing:
A legitimate usbprns2.exe file will almost always reside within a Brother subfolder under Program Files or Program Files (x86). Examples include:
If the file is located anywhere else—such as in C:\Windows, C:\Windows\System32, C:\Users\[YourName]\AppData, or a temporary folder—you should treat it as highly suspicious.
Cause: Corrupted installation or missing Visual C++ Redistributables. Fix: Repair or reinstall WD Drive Manager.
Even legitimate versions of usbprns2.exe can cause issues. Here are the most frequent complaints: