You'll often need to remove and reconnect your printer to fix a problem. Clearing out old, unused devices also helps tidy up the list of connected devices in Windows 11 and 10.
You can remove any connected printer from Settings. If that doesn't work, you can use Command Prompt and a few other tools to get rid of the device completely. This article walks you through several ways to remove printers from a Windows computer.
1. How to remove a printer from Windows through Settings
You can easily add or remove devices in the Settings app. Here's how:
1. Press Win + I to open Settings.
2. Open the Bluetooth & devices tab on the left.
3. Scroll down and click Printers & scanners. This lists every device connected to your computer.
4. Click the device you want to remove.
5. Click the Remove button in the top right corner, then click Yes to confirm.
If you run into an error, stop the Print Spooler service in Services and try again!
2. Uninstall the software to fully remove the printer
If a device you removed still shows up, you can uninstall the printer driver associated with it to get rid of it completely. You can remove the driver from the Apps & features tab in Windows 10 and 11.
To remove a printer driver:
- Press Win + I to open Settings.
- Click the Apps tab on the left. The app list can take a few seconds to appear, so wait until all apps are listed.
- In the App list, scroll through or search for the device's driver.
- When you find it, click the three-dot menu.
- Select Uninstall, then click Uninstall again to confirm.
- Wait for the driver to uninstall, then look for any other drivers or software associated with the device and remove them.
- After uninstalling, restart your PC.
3. Remove a printer with Control Panel
You can use the classic Control Panel to manage your devices. Removing a printer from here works if it wasn't properly removed during the uninstall process.
To remove a device with Control Panel:
1. Press Win + R to open Run.
2. Type control and click OK to open Control Panel. You can also search for the app using the Windows search bar.
3. In Control Panel, go to Hardware and Sound.
4. Next, click Devices and Printers.
5. Under Printers, locate and select the device you want to remove.
6. Right-click the printer and choose Remove Device.
7. Click Yes to confirm.
4. Remove a printer with Print Server Properties
Sometimes removing a device doesn't fully remove its driver, and that can cause your machine to stop working properly. In that case, you can use the Print Server Properties dialog to remove the installed printer driver.
To remove an installed driver:
1. Press Win + R to open Run.
2. Type control and click OK.
3. In the Control Panel window, go to Hardware and Sound > Devices and Printers.
4. Select any available printer and click Print server properties.
5. Open the Drivers tab in the Print Server Properties dialog.
6. Under Installed printer drivers, select the driver you want to uninstall and click Remove.
7. Next, select the Remove driver and driver package option.
8. Click OK to confirm and remove the driver.
9. Restart your PC to finish removing the driver.
5. Uninstall a printer with Device Manager
Device Manager lets you manage all the peripheral and internal devices connected to your system. You can use it to troubleshoot Windows problems, update drivers, add new devices, and remove connected devices.
To remove a device with Device Manager:
1. Press Win + X to open the WinX menu.
2. Click Device Manager in the context menu.
3. In Device Manager, click View and choose Show hidden devices.
4. Next, expand the Printers section to find your device.
5. Right-click the printer and choose Uninstall device.
6. Select the Delete the driver software for this device option and click Uninstall.
7. If the Printers section isn't available, expand the Print queues section and repeat the steps to remove the device.
8. Close Device Manager and restart your computer to finish the uninstall.
6. How to uninstall a printer with Command Prompt
If you prefer Command Prompt to the traditional graphical interface, you can remove a device from your PC with the dl command.
To remove a device with Command Prompt:
- Press Win and type cmd into the Windows search bar.
- Right-click the Command Prompt option and choose Run as administrator.
- In the Command Prompt window, type the following command to see all the printers installed on your PC:
wmic printer get name - To remove a device, type the following command:
printui.exe /dl /n "Your_Printer_Name" - In the command above, replace Your_Printer_Name with the name of your printer.
- Press Enter to run the command.
7. Remove a printer driver with Print Management
Print Management is a Windows utility that controls printing devices, drivers, ports, and servers. You can use it to remove a printer driver from your Windows computer. The Print Management utility isn't available in the Home edition of Windows.
To remove a printer driver with Print Management:
1. Press Win + R to open Run.
2. Type printmanagement.msc and click OK to open Print Management.
3. On the left, expand the Print Servers. section.
4. Click your Local Printer server name to expand it.
5. Next, select Printers to see all installed devices.
6. On the right, select the printer you want to remove and right-click it.
7. Choose Delete and click Yes to confirm.
8. Remove a printer driver with PowerShell
Alternatively, you can remove the driver package with PowerShell instead of Print Management. It's also a faster way to remove multiple devices at once on a Windows computer.
To remove a printer driver with PowerShell:
- Press the Win key and type powershell.
- Right-click Windows PowerShell and choose Run as administrator.
- In the PowerShell window, enter the following command and press Enter to see the list of printers installed on your computer:
Get-PrinterDriver | Format-List Name - Once you have the list, type the following command to remove the device you want:
Remove-PrinterDriver -Name "Printer-Name" - In the command above, replace Printer-Name with the name of the printer you want to remove.
Source: Quantrimang
