Windows 10: Removing Printer Drivers

One thing that has always aggravated me about Windows is the difficulty of deleting printer driver packages. After I remove a printer, I open Print Management with admin credentials and remove the corresponding driver packages. I just find that to be a good maintenance practice because I've seen printing problems caused by old printer drivers that are hanging around on a machine. Often times, when I go to remove the print driver package, I get an error indicating that the driver is currently in use, even though the printer is gone. On occasion, if I stop and restart the print spooler service, I can remove the driver package. Other times, the only way I can get the driver package removed is to reboot the system after the printer is removed, and then remove the driver package. I have even seen a few cases where the driver package is in use even after the system has been rebooted, and no other printers are using the driver. There just has to be a better way.


Am I missing something? I am wondering what would be holding on to the print driver. I am also wondering what methods other people use to remove print drivers with as little hassle as possible.


Thanks in advance for any help that you can offer!


--Tom

:)

 

Hp 3520 printer can't remove

Hello,

Thank you for posting in Microsoft Community and we appreciate your interest in Windows 10.

I understand the inconvenience caused to you. I will be glad to assist you with your issue.

I suggest you to follow the below steps and check if you can uninstall the printer software from your system:

Step 1: Remove the printer from the devices list.

Remove printers and uninstall any Windows print drivers using Windows
Devices and Printers.

• 
  If your printer connects to the computer with a USB cable, disconnect the cable from the printer.
  
• 
  Turn the printer off and on again, and make sure that it is in a ready state.
  
• 
  Search Windows for devices, and then click Devices and Printers in the list of results.
  
• 
  Right-click the printer icon (
  
  ) for your printer, and then click
  Remove Device. Follow the on-screen instructions to complete the process.
  
• 
  If multiple icons exist for the printer, remove them all.
  

Step 2: Locating the List of Installed Printer Drivers and removing them.

Follow the steps below:

1. Select Device and Printers
from Control Panel.

2. Click one time on the printer which you want to uninstall, then click the
Print Server Properties button in the horizontal blue bar at the top of the window.

3. Click the
Drivers tab at the top of this window.

4. click the old printer driver you want to remove, then click the
Remove button at the bottom of the window.

5. Click the option to the left of
Remove driver and driver package, then click the OK button.

Try the above suggestion and let us know if it helps. For further assistance feel free to post your queries in Microsoft forums. We will be glad to assist you.

Thank You.

 

Unable to remove a printer gone in "Unspecified" group

An outdated, or incompatible printer driver could be causing the issue. We suggest that you update your printer driver, or
uninstall the printer driver; then, restart the computer, and have Windows install the latest driver automatically. Check the steps below:

• Press Windows key + R.
• Type devmgmt.msc and press enter.
• Locate the printer driver and uninstall it.
• Restart the computer.

Keep us posted.

 

HP printer driver

Since it didn't work, we suggest that you delete the printer driver via Control Panel. Here's how:

• Open Control Panel.
  
• Go to Hardware and Sound.
• Click on Devices and Printers.
• Highlight the printer that you want to remove.
• Click on Printer server properties.
• Go to Drivers tab.
• Under Installed printer drivers, choose the name of the printer.
• Click on Remove.
• Select Apply.
• Click on OK.

Feel free to get back to us should you need further assistance.