Removing Printer Drivers

Question

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

Answer 1

Yes, Tom. As shown in Option One of the Ten Forums tutorial.

Answer 2

Greg,

Thanks for the reply and information.  I did learn a few new tricks from the links you posted.

Over the last few days I have been removing an old printer and installing a new printer (Same physical print device, just update drivers) for a handful of users.  Removing the driver package for the old printer has been giving me problems because the system sees it as still being in use.

Historically, I have always removed printers through Devices and Printers in the Control Panel, and then gone into Print Management to remove the driver package.  This morning, I decided to use Print Management to remove the printer, and then the driver package, and so far I have not had a single problem with that method.

Generally speaking, would you say that removing the printer and the driver package through Print Management is the most reliable and hassle-free method?

--Tom

Answer 3

Hi Thomas. I'm Greg, an installation specialist and 9 year Windows MVP here to help you.

You are correct that a printer works better if all of its previous drivers have been removed, and that it requires the special steps in this tutorial to do this:

https://www.wintips.org/how-to-remove-printer-d...

https://www.tenforums.com/tutorials/101274-unin...

Then always install the latest printer full software package from the manufacturer's Support Downloads web page for your exact model, after making sure it has the latest firmware installed which is critical for proper operation.

I hope this helps. If not just ask back anything else you need. I'll be standing by here to help as needed with any of the steps, and will continue to help until the problem is resolved.

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