You will frequently need to unplug or remove and reinstall your printer in order to conduct troubleshooting. Other times, eliminating outdated and inactive devices aids in maintaining the order of your connected device list in Windows 11 and 10.
Any connected printer can be unplugged from the Settings panel. If it doesn’t work, you may also uninstall the printer using the Command Prompt and other methods. Here, we’ll go over the many methods for removing a printer from Windows systems.
1.Using Windows Settings to Disable a Printer
In the settings, adding or removing printers is simple. This is the procedure.
- For Settings to open, press Win + I.
- In the left pane, select the Bluetooth & Devices tab.
- Click on Printers & Scanners as you scroll down. The printers that are linked to your computer will all be listed here.
- Then, select the printer device you wish to delete.
- To complete the action, click the Remove button in the top right corner and then select Yes.
2. Deleting the Printer by Removing the Printer Software
If the deleted printer still appears, you can totally uninstall it by removing the printer driver linked to the device. In Windows 10 and 11, the driver can be eliminated by using the Apps & Features menu.
How to uninstall the printer drivers:
- For Settings to open, press Win + I.
- In the left pane, select the Apps tab. Wait until all of the apps are listed because it can take a few seconds for the app list to populate.
- You can browse or perform a search for the printer driver under the App list.
- Select the three-dot menu when you have located the printer driver.
- To complete the procedure, select Uninstall and then click it once more.
- Wait for the driver to be removed before looking for and removing any further drives or program linked to the printer.
- Restart your computer after the removal is complete.
3. Using the Control Panel, remove the printer.
To manage your printer, use the standard Control Panel. This is useful if the printer wasn’t properly uninstalled during the process.
Utilizing the Control Panel, delete the printer:
- By pressing Win + R, you can access the “Run” program.
- Enter control and press OK to launch Control Panel. The Windows search bar can also be used to look for the software.
- Navigate to Hardware and Sound in the Control Panel.
- After that, select “Devices and Printers.”
- Find and select the printer device you want to uninstall under the Printers section.
- Remove Device by right-clicking on the printer.
- To confirm the action, click Yes.
4. How to Terminate the Print Spooler
Try to stop the Print Spooler service before removing the printer if Windows is unable to do so due to an error. The crucial printer function known as “Print Spooler” transmits print jobs from your PC to the printer. It occasionally interferes, though, and prevents you from uninstalling the printer.
- Putting an end to the print spooler service
- By pressing Win + R, you can access the “Run” program.
- To launch the Services snap-in, enter services.msc and press OK.
- Find the Print Spooler service in the Services pane.
- Right-click on Print Spooler and select Stop.
- Reduce the Services window’s size.
- Try to uninstall your printer device by opening the Windows Settings panel, going to Bluetooth & other devices > Scanners and Printers, and then clicking on it.
- Reopen the Services window after removing the printer.
- Start the print spooler with a right-click.
- The printer spooler service has to be restarted. If it is disabled, your computer can see a printer spooler service that is not running.
5.Using the Print Server Properties in Windows, remove the printer.
The drivers may occasionally remain after you remove the printer device, which can result in your printer not functioning. In this case, you can uninstall the installed printer drivers using the Print Server Properties dialogue.
To remove the printer drivers:
- By pressing Win + R, you can access the “Run” program.
- Type in the text control, and then click OK.
- Go to Hardware and Sound > Devices and Printers in the Control Panel window.
- Click on Print Server Properties after choosing any available printer.
- Launch the Print Server Properties dialogue and select the Drivers tab.
- Select the printer driver to be removed from Installed Printer Drivers and click Remove.
- Then select Remove driver and driver package.
- To complete the process and uninstall the driver, click OK.
- To finish removing the drivers, restart your computer.
6. Using the Device Manager to Remove the Printer
All the external and internal devices attached to your system can be managed using Device Manager. Use the device manager to update drivers, add new devices, troubleshoot your Windows system, and uninstall any attached devices.
Using Device Manager, uninstall the printer:
- Press Win + X to open the WinX menu.
- Device Manager should be selected in the context menu.
- Select Show hidden devices under View in Device Manager.
- To view your printer, expand the Printers section next.
- By right-clicking on the printer, you can uninstall it.
- Click Uninstall after selecting the Delete the driver software for this device option.
- Expand the Print Queues section and repeat the procedure to remove the printer if the Printers section is not there.
- To finish uninstalling, close Device Manager and restart your computer.
7. Using the Command Prompt to Uninstall a Printer
The dl command can be used to remove the printer from your PC if you prefer Command Prompt to the standard UI.
Uninstall the printer using Command Prompt:
- CMD is entered in the Windows search bar by pressing Win.
- To run as administrator, right-click the Command Prompt option and choose “Run.”
- To examine all the printers installed on your PC, enter the following command in the Command Prompt window:
wmic printer receives a name
Type the following command to remove a printer: /dl /n “Your_Printer­_Name” printui.exe
- Replace “Your Printer Name” with the name of your printer in the command.
- To carry out the command, press Enter.
The Different Methods in Windows 10 and 11 to Remove a printer
Using Windows’ Settings panel, it’s simple to delete a printer. However, if the deleted printer keeps coming back, you can totally remove it by using the software to delete printers, the print server properties, or Command Prompt.