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Saturday, 11 September 2010 11:10

How to Completely Remove Windows Vista/Windows 7 Printer Drivers

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If you right click on a printer and delete it, this doesn't remove the printer driver from the machine. Sometimes when working with print servers and testing multiple drivers there will be times when you need to completely remove a driver package from the machine so you can install a new or different one.

Windows Vista and Windows 7 has a tool called the Microsoft Management Console (MMC) built into windows which you will use to remove the drivers.

Difficulty: Moderate

Instructions

 
  1. 1

    Reboot the machine and login as "Administrator".

  2. 2
    MMC - Remove Print Driver
     
    MMC - Remove Print Driver

    Go to the start menu and start typing MMC, you will see the Microsoft Management Console shortcut appear in the start menu; click on it.

  3. 3
    MMC - Add/Remove Snap-in...
     
    MMC - Add/Remove Snap-in...

    Go up to the file menu and select Add/Remove Snap-in...

  4. 4
    MMC - Print Management
     
    MMC - Print Management

    Then scroll down in the list and select the "Print Management" snap-in and then hit "Add".

  5. 5
    MMC - Add the Local Server
     
    MMC - Add the Local Server

    At this screen you are going to want to select "Add the Local Server", hit Finish, and then hit ok.

  6. 6
    MMC - Remove Driver Package
     
    MMC - Remove Driver Package

    Then you can scroll down to your computer name, select the drivers tree and then right click on the driver you want to remove and select "Remove Driver Package".

  7. 7

    Make sure you reboot your machine before trying to add new or different print drivers.

 

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