Stubborn shared printer won't delete

[caffrey]

We had a few printers in our library that we replaced with a new networked one. Previously they were connected to one pc and shared via local group policy (deployed printers).

Problem is on two machines (out of six) one of the old printers refuses to budge, giving "access is denied" when trying to delete it. Tried everything I can think of (print management, stopping spooler etc.)

Any other tricks I can try?

[sted]

log onto the pc and remove it from the registry

 

hkey users\.default\printers

[cromertech]

Try with command prompt (as admin for win 7)

 

Command Line Printer Control

[caffrey]

Thanks for the advice, unfortunately tried those too, altho i've had success!

 

Another key to look out for is :-

 

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Control\Print\Environments\Windows NT x86\Drivers\Version-3\PRINTDRIVERNAME

 

(Stop spooler first)

 

Then delete the old driver - seems to have worked. Seems like I couldnt remove the printer because apparently the drivers were still in use on the old machine even though they had been removed.

 

Thanks again

[Michael]

There is a spooler cleaner in the 2003 Resource Kit. I'm not sure whether or not this is compatible with Windows Server 2008 R2 or Windows 7, but certainly worth a look. There may be a newer version?

 

I've used it on XP machines many times.

[caffrey]

Cheers, i'll check it out, never had any issues with xp machines - but windows 7 is a whole different kettle of fish it seems....

[Michael]

It is and it isn't. I've finally optimised/tweaked my 7 GPOs and it's taken me a number of months to get it just right. They weren't serious problems, just tweaks that make the experience that little bit better.

 

Like many people, I made the change from XP to 7 and skipped Vista, so yes, there are some differences between 2003 R2 and 2008 R2.