Windows 10 Delete Duplicate Printers

[ltaylor]

Hi,

 

We had a problem where multiple duplicate printers were appearing for users. This issue was initially down to our print server showing up twice in HKLM:\SOFTWARE\WOW6432Node\Microsoft\Windows NT\CurrentVersion\Print\Providers\Client Side Rendering Print Provider\ as PrintServer and PrintServer.local. Deleting both of those is halfway to resolving the issue but after that you need to delete the horde of printers that have been added. If I delete them all manually and restart then it's absolutely fine and the duplicate's don't reappear but I'm struggling to find a way to bulk delete them. I've tried various scripts that claim to do it, I've tried Group Policy but I'm wondering if thinking it's something local as even the local admin account has the same issue.

 

Does anyone have any ideas on how to bulk delete all the printers so that group policy simply redeploy them properly next time a student logs on.

 

Any help would be appreciated.

 

Thanks

[skell]

Wouldn't a Delete All Printer GPP solve this?

[ltaylor]

Unfortunately it didn't do anything. All the printers still remained.

[Zourous]

I created this script a while back that delete printers and drivers but on a per PC basis. Have a look to see if it will do what you are looking for.

 

http://www.edugeek.net/forums/how-do-you-do/108186-deleting-printer-drivers-windows-7-a.html

 

I think it works on W10, just have to "run as admin"

Edited March 15, 2017 by Zourous

[ltaylor]

I created this script a while back that delete printers and drivers but on a per PC basis. Have a look to see if it will do what you are looking for.

 

http://www.edugeek.net/forums/how-do-you-do/108186-deleting-printer-drivers-windows-7-a.html

 

I think it works on W10, just have to "run as admin"

This ended up doing what similar scripts have done and has basically ghosted all the printers but they still remain in the devices and printers section. Just so you are aware it did run fine on Windows 10 though.

[Zourous]

Very strange, can you see the printers still listed under the printer management snap-in?

[ltaylor]

The printers are not listed there but I don't think they were prior to me running your script. The drivers are still listed there.

[Zourous]

The script should delete the drivers as well, with the whole point of removing everything.

[ltaylor]

I'm just as confused as you are. Thanks for giving it a go though I appreciate it.

[Zourous]

I found a post on the net that points to these locations. It looks like the ghost printers might be stored in folder off here. If you had a test PC you try it might be worth a go?

 

c:\programData\Microsoft\Windows\DeviceMetadataCache

c:\programData\Microsoft\Windows\DeviceMetadataStore

[ltaylor]

I completely cleaned out both those folders on a test machine but the printers still remain.