I want to remove/delete printer/driver from Windows 7, and unable to find any documentation.

Anonymous
2010-05-27T13:20:50+00:00

New DELL computer Windows 7 (less than 30 days old), and want to remove/delete persistant printer/driver.

Was not able to find any documentation on the issue, and neither DELL nor Microsoft are willing to provide any kind of support unless its paid for a product/service that is less than 30 days old.

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.

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Anonymous
2011-06-19T11:22:13+00:00

OK, I have found the solution to this problem... the info above is correct as far as it goes, but in my case there was (a) no option to clear the print queue on two 'ghost' printers because they were disconnected and unavailable, so no option for the print queue was displayed, and (b) one was shared on the network and had a TCP/IP printer port assigned to it.

Here's how I did it, step-by-step:

  1. right-click on desktop, create a new shortcut with target as 'cmd.exe'.
  2. right-click on the shortcut, "Run as Administrator"
  3. Run the printui tool:  printui /s /t2
  4. Try deleting the printers. If that doesn't work...
  5. CLick Start > Run > Services.msc
  6. Locate the Print Spooler service, and right-click > Properties > stop service.
  7. Open My Computer and browse to c:\Windows\System32\spool\Printers

(you will need to say "oK" to get access to the folder).

  1. DELETE the contents of that folder.
  2. Restart the Print Spooler service.
  3. Go back into the printui utillity (might need to restart it using same method as above) and try removing printers again. This time it should work. If necessary, check the "Ports" tab and remove any TCP/IP ports that are associated with the old printer.
  4. Last but not least, I checked other computers on my home network to see if any of those had mapped to the old printer, and I removed those mappings, as the date of spooled documents suggested it was printed to long after it was physically removed.

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Anonymous
2010-06-02T22:13:48+00:00

You can remove print drivers that are not associated with a local printer or connection using the printui.exe tool

in an admin elevated command prompt type

printui /s /t2

Be sure to remove the driver AND the package.

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

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  1. Anonymous
    2014-09-23T15:44:54+00:00

    None of the above actions worked.  The problem began when I went to "Control Panel --> Hardware and Sound --> Devices and Printers"  When selecting "View Devices and Printers" the progress bar simply goes across the top of the window and never completes.  Attempting to use the delete printers advice by BartHendrick, above, none of the deletions were applied.  The print spooler was stopped, restarted and stopped, and the other instructions followed.  No success.  There are only two printers installed, a HP 4000 Laserjet and an HP 650 Scanjet.  The HP650 software was reloaded from the CD, with negative results.  Both printers are plugged into the router and can be seen when scanning for ports in use (192.168.1.104 and 192.168.1.106).  Do you think that the good old Windows Last Resort of "wiping the hard drive and starting over again" will work.  I've tried the various restore points and none of them solve the problem, BTW.

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  2. Anonymous
    2014-09-22T16:04:18+00:00

    This was perfect. Thank you very much for taking the time to post it. I could delete the printer (HP LaserJet 4) but after restarting the comp it would reappear. Sure enough, there was a job in the printer queue. I was able to remove the printer as soon as I got rid of that.

    Nothing changed in the dialog which allows deletion of the print job, but it worked just fine when I simple closed that. With the printer as well: it was there after removal; closed panel, reopened, gone.

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  3. Anonymous
    2014-08-28T12:52:24+00:00

    brilliant - thank you

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