How to delete printer drivers

j17sparky · 06-01-2009, 01:54 PM

Got a weird one today.

A printer has decided it will only print text upto a certain font size, above that and it just ignores the text and prints out a blank page.

It would seem its to do with the printer driver as when i reinstalled the driver on the print server and connected with my own PC all was well. I have tried to delete the drivers from the local PC but they are locked as they are in use. Renaming the folder they are in works but does not solve the problem.

Can anyone suggest anything as i have half a dozen PCs which cant print and i dont fancy rebuilding them for something as daft as this.

kmount · 06-01-2009, 02:08 PM

If you change the driver server side, the new driver will magically appear on the clients after a while or reboot normally.

j17sparky · 06-01-2009, 02:22 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by kmount

If you change the driver server side, the new driver will magically appear on the clients after a while or reboot normally.

Opps didnt mention, rebooting didnt work

kmount · 06-01-2009, 02:41 PM

Reboot and look in the event viewer under System for "Print" entries talking about driver installations.

There is a manual way of cleaning the drivers out if you want to look at that afterwards?

DaveP · 06-01-2009, 03:32 PM

Try this:

After logging on locally at the workstation as administrator stop and restart the Spool Service then clear any print jobs still in the queue. Stop and start spool service again.

Go to Printers and Faxes, right click in the white space [without selecting any printers, or faxes]

Select Server Properties. Then select the Drivers tab. Delete any drivers no longer required. Once the drivers have been deleted then delete the printer[s]

Hope it works.

I should have said: I have used this to delete a printer from a workstation where the shared server queue no longer existed: I could not find any other way of removing the printer/drivers.

mattx · 06-01-2009, 04:10 PM

Try the clean spooler on the admin bar [ see below ] - it's a GUI tool that restores the print spooler to its original state. It deletes all print jobs, printers, printer drivers, and spool files on a specified local or remote server / PC.

gshaw · 07-01-2009, 07:45 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by mattx

Try the clean spooler on the admin bar [ see below ] - it's a GUI tool that restores the print spooler to its original state. It deletes all print jobs, printers, printer drivers, and spool files on a specified local or remote server / PC.

+1 for cleanspl, did the trick perfectly to clean out broken HP drivers a while back. Just don't delete the TCP/IP monitor driver

bollo318 · 22-01-2009, 02:37 PM

gshaw
I presume you had this trouble. I've just done the same on a machine, I used cleanspl but without realising the consequences I deleted the TCP/IP monitor and now I'm stuck. How do I reinstall it?

Quote:

Originally Posted by gshaw

+1 for cleanspl, did the trick perfectly to clean out broken HP drivers a while back. Just don't delete the TCP/IP monitor driver

gshaw · 22-01-2009, 02:48 PM

Yup had the duff batch of 2430 drivers a while back, caused no end of trouble - finally sorted now tho

As for the TCPIP Monitor Driver I would guess reinstalling the TCPIP stack from network connections should get it back...

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06-01-2009, 01:54 PM	#1
j17sparky Join Date: Oct 2006 Location: Teesside, England Posts: 1,439 Thanks: 15 Thanked 65 Times in 49 Posts Rep Power: 21	How to delete printer drivers Got a weird one today. A printer has decided it will only print text upto a certain font size, above that and it just ignores the text and prints out a blank page. It would seem its to do with the printer driver as when i reinstalled the driver on the print server and connected with my own PC all was well. I have tried to delete the drivers from the local PC but they are locked as they are in use. Renaming the folder they are in works but does not solve the problem. Can anyone suggest anything as i have half a dozen PCs which cant print and i dont fancy rebuilding them for something as daft as this.

06-01-2009, 03:32 PM	#5
DaveP Join Date: Oct 2006 Location: Home Counties Posts: 644 Thanks: 20 Thanked 29 Times in 11 Posts Rep Power: 16	Try this: After logging on locally at the workstation as administrator stop and restart the Spool Service then clear any print jobs still in the queue. Stop and start spool service again. Go to Printers and Faxes, right click in the white space [without selecting any printers, or faxes] Select Server Properties. Then select the Drivers tab. Delete any drivers no longer required. Once the drivers have been deleted then delete the printer[s] Hope it works. I should have said: I have used this to delete a printer from a workstation where the shared server queue no longer existed: I could not find any other way of removing the printer/drivers. Last edited by DaveP; 06-01-2009 at 03:36 PM.. Reason: Add content/clarify post.

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How to delete printer drivers

06-01-2009, 02:08 PM	#2
kmount Join Date: Feb 2007 Location: Northamptonshire Posts: 2,732 Thanks: 118 Thanked 320 Times in 297 Posts Rep Power: 72	If you change the driver server side, the new driver will magically appear on the clients after a while or reboot normally.

06-01-2009, 02:41 PM	#4
kmount Join Date: Feb 2007 Location: Northamptonshire Posts: 2,732 Thanks: 118 Thanked 320 Times in 297 Posts Rep Power: 72	Reboot and look in the event viewer under System for "Print" entries talking about driver installations. There is a manual way of cleaning the drivers out if you want to look at that afterwards?

06-01-2009, 04:10 PM	#6
mattx Join Date: Jan 2007 Posts: 3,218 Thanks: 54 Thanked 197 Times in 140 Posts Rep Power: 73	Try the clean spooler on the admin bar [ see below ] - it's a GUI tool that restores the print spooler to its original state. It deletes all print jobs, printers, printer drivers, and spool files on a specified local or remote server / PC.

22-01-2009, 02:48 PM	#9
gshaw Join Date: Sep 2007 Location: Essex Posts: 546 Thanks: 24 Thanked 20 Times in 19 Posts Rep Power: 12	Yup had the duff batch of 2430 drivers a while back, caused no end of trouble - finally sorted now tho As for the TCPIP Monitor Driver I would guess reinstalling the TCPIP stack from network connections should get it back...

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How to delete printer drivers