Updated for MS Windows 10 – How To ‘Really’ Remove Unused Print Drivers From Your Windows XP/7/8/10 PC or Tablet
Updated on August 18, 2015 for the Windows 10 Operating System
One of the perils of being an evaluator of office-imaging solutions is that, gradually, your PC becomes bogged down with the detritus of software that is left over from previous evaluations. The question is, at what point does this detritus downgrade the performance of your test PC enough so that it affects the performance of the product that you’re trying to review?
There are several ways around this. You can use virtual PCs, which is great if you have the time and resources. You can use a “mule” PC that is dedicated to evaluations and nothing else. You can set system restore points, and restore your system to the point that it was before you began the evaluation. Unfortunately, the aforementioned solutions require that you have spare time and spare PCs, something that I have found to be an absolute luxury throughout my career. Nine times out of 10, I’ve found that you’re resigned to the fact that you have to run tests and write reports as quickly as possible using the same PC. Under these conditions, you become quite good at maintaining the performance of said PC through persistent and diligent maintenance.
Sure, you can uninstall all of the software when you have finished evaluating it. Afterwards, you can edit your program menu to get rid of unnecessary Startup items. You can delete orphan folders from your “Program Files” folder. You can scan/edit/clean the Microsoft Windows registry. Nevertheless, that’s not quite good enough and there eventually comes a time when you have to go the extra mile to really remove unneeded software from your system so that it doesn’t degrade your PC’s performance when used as a test unit (or as a word processor for that matter).
One of the biggest offenders is print drivers, which most cleanup programs are loathe to touch. You may be thinking “Print drivers—how can they affect my PC’s performance” Let me count the ways. I have seen PCs with so many print drivers installed on them that evaluators (not me of course) make mistakes during the evaluation process and waste time and prints sending jobs to wrong or non-existent printers. I’ve seen PCs with print jobs lined up in print queues for non-existent or non-connected printers. I’ve spent many hours (days?) cleaning up bosses’ and/or road warrior PCs that have so many print drivers installed on them that they cannot print once they return to the office. I’ve had instances where the existence of an older PostScript print driver has compromised exhaustive testing by corrupting the performance of a newer PostScript printer.
So what’s the big deal? Can’t I simply go into the Printer Folder and delete the offending printer? The answer is “Yes you can.” However, this method only removes the printer icon from your Printer Folder (XP)/Devices and Printers (Windows 7 and 8)–it doesn’t actually remove the print driver software from your system, which eventually leads to PC performance issues.
First Things First
If you have just bought a new printer/AiO/MFP and are ready to install it, you should make sure that unistall any printers/AiOs/MFPs that you no longer wish to use. Locate the software installed during the initial printer/AiO/MFP installation program and look for and select the uninstall icon. If you cannot locate an uninstall icon, you must go into the Control Panel and use Add or Remove Programs (XP) or Programs/Uninstall a program (Windows 7 and 8) in order to uninstall the software suite. Following these steps usually does the trick and removes all of the software, including the print drivers. You will also find that uninstalling any unused software suites can provide a noticeable boost to performance. This is especially true with AiOs and MFPs.
Now, double check whether the printer is removed from the Printer/Devices and Printers folder. If it is not, follow the steps below. We also recommend that even if the icon has been removed, you should double check to see if the actual printer software has truly been removed using the “Print Server Properties” methodologies described below.
First of all, my sincere thanks for your prompt answer. Now regarding what you’re asking me. I really don’t know if these printers physically exist on my network. I work at a big corporation. If I had to guess, I would say “yes”, but I’ m sure a couple of models whose drivers try to install, certainly don’t exist in my network. I also have to say that this sometimes happens at home too, where no such printers exist (although, at home, the system once had tried to re-install my one home printer driver!)
In any case, these printers certainly do NOT show up on the bottom of devices and printers windows as “WSD” devices.
Furthermore, I already uninstalled them from Device Manager in the Control Panel, but they keep reappearing (not often, but they do)!!!
Finally, I have not tried to remove the print drivers per this post, because they NEVER show up at the Devices and Printers window (see step 1), only at the Device Manager one (Other Devices), marked with an exclamation mark. The same exclamation mark shows on my pc icon at the Devices and Printers window (needs “Troubleshooting”).
At this time, the only “troubled” printer showing there (Device Manager/Other Devices) is my home printer, also marked, and I don’t know what to do, uninstall or not?
Isn’t it strange? Believe me I would have never posted a question if I had found an answer on the net. That is why, I really thank you for your support.
You are quite welcome Johnnie. You can pay us back by spreading a good word.
Anyway, the whole thing sounds pretty bizarre. I am going to suggest that you try one more thing.
Open Help and Support from the start menu. Search for “automatic discovery.” Then, check the topic “Enable or disable network discovery.” By default, network discovery should be “off.”
Hope that this helps.
I have a similar problem. I cannot remove some printers from my Windows 7 Control Panel//Devices and Printers list. Some that I can remove show up on my next start up and even if I am able to remove them, they show up on my available printers list in MS Word. How can I clear all old printers and drivers everywhere? When I try to remove the print drivers using the above procedure, there are some drivers that I cannot remove because “they are in use”.
Follow the guide exactly. It also sometimes helps to reboot after uninstalling a print driver. Then go back in and attempt to remove the driver.
The “in use” issue can sometimes be solved if you go to devices and printers, right click on the printer icon and choose “Printer Properties.” Navigate to the “Ports” tab and uncheck the “Port” box. Then, check the “FILE:” port and hit OK. Then use the guide to remove the printer.
Finally, if you are on a network where multiple printers are installed and you’re not using them: search for “Enable or disable network discovery” in Windows Help and Support. Follow the instructions to disable network discovery if it is turned on. The default is “off.” When it is turned on, network printers may automatically populate “Devices and Printers.”
Let us know how this works out.
I have tried the above and finally am to this point. Now when I delete from here it says Driver HP LaserJet 4100 Series PCL6 (x64) is in use. It is used on:….
and wont let me delete.
Angela,
Try these steps:
Make sure that there are no jobs in the print queue. To do that in Windows 7/8, go to the devices and printers folder, right click the printer and select “see what’s printing.” With Windows XP, go to the printer folder and double-click the printer. Remove any jobs from the print queue and try to remove the printer.
If that doesn’t work:
Right click on the LJ4100 icon in the printer folder and select “printer properties.” Select the “ports” tab. Select the “LPT1:” checkbox, and then OK.
Now try removing the printer.
The printer was deleted and physically removed from my office. So an icon does not exist. There are still print jobs in a queue (somewhere). But no way to delete the print jobs.
we physically removed the printer from my office after deleting it from the printer folder. So it has jobs queued in it but no way to clear them. Any suggestions?
I was able to remove the print jobs by clearing them through my print option under file on my internet. Thanks so much. The rest of it went great once I did that.
We are glad that your problem is solved. Thanks for visiting our Web site and make sure to spread the good word and check back often!
If you cannot remove a printer driver because it “is currently in use”, then restert the print spooler service and excactly the moment when it’s back running: click to remove the printer driver (this has tobe prepared as far as possible).
You may need 1-10 tries to do this in exactly the right moment.
Thank you for the additional input.
Hi there, have a Lenovo laptop, it recently made some updates to windows 8, since then my epson sx235w printer has not worked, I contacted epson and they said to uninstall and reinstall again, which ive done and it still doesnt work, help im not a computer buff at all and dont know what im doing
Are you printing via USB or network? If printing via network, check the IP address of the printer from the control panel or test print. Then, go into the printer folder, right click on the printer and select “printer preferences.” Try printing a test page. If that doesn’t work, go to the ports tab, edit the port it is connected to and make sure that the IP address matches. You can change it to match from the control panel on the printer. Some printers also include a utility to repair the IP address if you are using the printer on the network.