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
    2011-11-11T18:14:45+00:00

    Thank you Shiffrin.  http://iefaq.info/index.php?action=artikel&cat=42&id=133&artlang=en did fix a problem the same person was having with IE8 bringing up blank pages when a link or a button on a web page was clicked.

    Unfortunately, she still has blank "Devices and Printers"

    I can see what printers are installed when she goes to print from a program.  All the printers show up, and under Print Management they all show up.  I removed two of her three printers for the same printer in Print Management in hopes getting rid of the duplicates would do something, but still no luck.

    Print Spooler is running without issue.  I checked that under Services.

    Was this answer helpful?

    0 comments
  2. Anonymous
    2011-10-03T15:05:10+00:00

    It is not helpful to me.

    Was this answer helpful?

    0 comments
  3. Anonymous
    2011-10-03T14:31:26+00:00

    I have also this problem and It disturbes office programs do not work because programs stopped their processing as they finding printers.

    Was this answer helpful?

    0 comments