Installed printer missing from printer list

Question

Win7 home premium 64bit.

I installed an old Zebra Eltron printer that I use for shipping labels.  Since my HP computer has no parallel ports, I had to use a BUSlink USB to Parallel cable to get the printer installed.  I found that the 64bit Vista drivers worked and the printer works as normal.

Now I need to adjust some settings on the printer, yet when I pull up the hardware/Printer page, the printer is MISSING!  It's probably hidden behind the IEEE1284 controller (that is listed on the hardware page) but the printer itself is not on this page.

How do I find this 'missing' printer?

Answer 1

Launch notepad  (or any application that uses the print dialog components that ship in Wndows)

File print

Select the printer

Right click

Properties

If selections are grayed out launch notepad using Run as administrator

Devices and Printers places devices that are the same device all under one UI representation of the device.  Look for fly out menu items for other devices in that UI.

Printers are "hidden" devices in device manager but you can select the show hidden items to see them there and the printer properties is accessible from that UI as well.

Answer 2

Hidden devices! 18 years of Windows experience, and I've never known that this options exists in DM. But the trick of accessing Notepad's print dialog to get to the printer defaults is what really solved my problem. Thanks, Alan! (My own question was answered by referring to this thread.)