Tag: spooler

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How to Completely Remove a Stuck Printer in Windows (Driver Still in Use)

Scenario


You are experiencing printing issues with a printer. You reinstall it, but the problems persist. You remove it using the Control Panel and reinstall it, but the new printer is named “Printer Name (Copy 1)” and the printing issues remain.

The problems are likely caused by an incorrect driver that was previously installed. Despite uninstalling and reinstalling, Windows continues to use the faulty driver.

Procedure to Completely Remove Residual Drivers

Remove the Printer from the Control Panel

You may have already done this without any improvement, but it’s still a necessary step.

  • Go to Control Panel → Devices and Printers.

  • Right-click on the printer → Remove device.

Remove Drivers via Print Management

  • Press Win + R and type:
printui /s /t2
  • In the Print Server Properties window, select the printer driver.
  • Click Remove → choose Remove driver and driver package.

Note: If the print spooler service is stopped, the printui command will not work.

If you successfully remove the drivers, you can reinstall the printer. If the removal process fails and you receive the message “printer already in use,” proceed to the next step.

Remove Drivers via PowerShell

For cases where drivers are still locked, the next attempt is to use PowerShell in administrator mode.

  • Open PowerShell as Administrator and run:
Get-PrinterDriver

to view the list of installed drivers.

  • Then, to remove the driver:
Remove-PrinterDriver -Name "ExactDriverName"

Note: The name must match exactly as shown by Get-PrinterDriver.

If PowerShell also fails with a “driver in use” error, proceed to the final step.

Remove Drivers via the Registry

  • Open Registry Editor (regedit) as Administrator.
  • Navigate to:
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Control\Print\Environments\Windows x64\Drivers\Version-3

(or Windows NT x86 for 32-bit systems).

  • Locate the folder with the driver name.
  • Delete the driver key (folder).
  • Repeat the same step in:
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Control\Print\Monitors

if you find specific references to the driver.

  • Restart your PC.
  • Reinstall the latest version of the driver.