Devices and Printers Dialog Box Empty

Anonymous
2009-10-30T22:04:54+00:00

When I open my "Devices and Printers" dialog box, it is empty; nothing shows up and the item listing says "0 items". 

The devices and printers showed up in the Devices and Printers dialog box earlier, but now are gone from the dialog box.  However, they are still in the system as everything seems to work.  The problem comes with trying to set the preferences for any of the devices or printers since they can't be seen or accessed. 

Anyone got any ideas of how to get the devices and printers to show up again?

Windows for home | Previous Windows versions | Devices and drivers

Locked Question. This question was migrated from the Microsoft Support Community. You can vote on whether it's helpful, but you can't add comments or replies or follow the question.

0 comments
Answer accepted by question author
Anonymous
2010-03-07T06:22:04+00:00

Devices and printers will show one device when you have configured multiple printers for the same device.   There is a fly out menu to get to all the other printers on the device.    Use the spooler teams UI, printmanagement.msc to view all local printers on Pro and Ultimate.

The old printers folder can be launched if you are running Home versions.

Open a command prompt and paste this in.

start shell:::{26EE0668-A00A-44D7-9371-BEB064C98683}\0::{2227A280-3AEA-1069-A2DE-08002B30309D}

Alan Morris Windows Printing Team; Search the Microsoft Knowledge Base here: http://support.microsoft.com/search/Default.aspx?adv=1

Was this answer helpful?

5 people found this answer helpful.
0 comments
Answer accepted by question author
Anonymous
2009-11-27T18:23:06+00:00

I am having the same problem. I did a clean install from Vista and the computer has worked fine for weeks.  Today, my devices and printer window is empty. I can still print from some applications, but Windows Live Mail gives me an error when I select print:

'an error has occurred in the script on this page'

line:291

char: 1

error: interface not registered

Code: 0

URL: res://ieframe.dll/preview.js

Do you want to continue running scripts on this page - Yes or No?

Barry

By the way, no new hardware has been installed recently.

I found another post that solved my problem.  I was about to give up and re-install Windows 7, but tried this and it worked.

Go to: http://iefaq.info/index.php?action=artikel&cat=42&id=133&artlang=en

for the CMD file and explanation.

Was this answer helpful?

0 comments

142 additional answers

Sort by: Newest
Most helpful Newest Oldest
  1. Anonymous
    2010-03-08T19:16:35+00:00

    Alan, I figured out how to setup a desktop shortcut so I'm good on all points. Thank you again very much. I didn't think that I could setup a shortcut to a command, but it works fine.

    Was this answer helpful?

    0 comments
  2. Anonymous
    2010-03-08T18:59:23+00:00

    Paulo, you are so right. That is a VERY important tidbit of information to be able to access 'Print Management'.

    Alan Morris is the man! However, as noted in my reply, the standard DP is still "broken". This workaround, though, is MUCH BETTER than what I was able to come up with.

    Good luck with your issues. I wonder if 'Print Management' can help you too.

    Was this answer helpful?

    0 comments
  3. Anonymous
    2010-03-08T18:55:34+00:00

    Alan,

    Thank you so very much! First off, your solution using printmanagement.msc works perfectly and is what I would expect to see from DP. However, DP is still big time broken.

    Using printmanagement.msc I can see all of the installed printers and even edit and delete them in the "All Printers" folder! Now I just wish I could create a shortcut to "Print Management" and place it on the desktop.

    Here's the "However". The DP box still only shows two printers and there is no 'fly out menu' that appears no matter what I have tried to do. I wanted to paste in some screenshots for you, but it's apparently not allowed. I have hovered over the printer, single clicked the printer and right clicked the printer and nothing shows any of the other printers.

    Also, before I deleted all the printers and started over again it did show multiple versions of the same printer up to the total of 5 printers. Now after I have reinstalled the deleted printers (I could only delete 4 because I didn't know about the msc before) the behavior is more like what you describe above except that there is no 'fly out menu'.

    The msc you gave me shows all of the printers and allows me to do all of the things I need to, so that is GREAT and THANK YOU very much.

    Perhaps you can pass along this anomaly to be addressed in the future.

    Thank you again for your time!

    Was this answer helpful?

    0 comments