Why My Printer Won’t Remove in Windows

If you work with multiple printers, you might want to remove some unused or unnecessary ones. Doing this can help you avoid running into irrelevant errors that you might end up because of the old printer.

However, sometimes, Windows doesn’t let you remove the printer because there are still some print jobs running, left to complete, or stuck. 

Regardless of the reasons, we have compiled a list of possible fixes in this article that you can apply to resolve your issue.

How to Remove a Printer in Windows?

From clearing print queues to using the control panel, you can use different tools and methods mentioned below to remove the printer in your Windows machine.

However, if one method doesn’t work, you can move on to the next fix until your problem gets solved.

Clear the Print Queue

Perhaps some print jobs are still left and stuck in the print queue, which is why you cannot remove the printer. So, you have to clear the print queue first to resolve your issue. 

1. Press the Windows + R key and type the command cmd.
2. Then, press the Ctrl + Shift + Enter key to open the command prompt as administrator.
3. First, stop any ongoing printer operations by entering the command net stop spooler and then press Enter.
4.  Next, enter the following commands one by one and press Enter after each.
   del %systemroot%\System32\spool\printers\* /Q 
net start spooler
5. Restart the system and see if the problem has been fixed.

From the Settings App

You can remove the printer from the Windows built-in Settings app. Here’s how you can do it.

1. Press the Windows + I key to open the Settings app.
2. Navigate to Devices > Printers & Scanners.
3. On the right panel, select your device and click on Remove device.

Using the Control Panel

Via the control panel, you can view the list of printer devices connected to your system. Likewise, you can remove them too. Here’s how you can do it.

1. Press the Windows + R key and type control to open the control panel.
2. Navigate to Hardware and Sound > Device and Printers.
3. Under the Printers dropdown, right-click on the problematic printer and select the Printer server properties option at the top bar. 
4. Then, under the Drivers tab, select the printer you’re having trouble with and click on Remove.
   
5. Next, choose the Remove driver and driver package option and click on OK.

Using the Registry Editor

Registry Editor is a powerful way to make changes to your system configurations. If you edit it haphazardly, then it can affect your system adversely. Hence, you should back up your registry before making edits. To remove the printer using the registry editor, you can go through the following steps.

1. Press the Windows + R key and type the command regedit to open the Registry Editor.
2. Then, navigate to HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControl\SetControl\Print\Printers. 
3. Under the Printers dropdown, select your printer and right-click on it.
4. Next, select the Delete option.
5. Restart your PC and see if the printer is removed from the system.

Uninstall from the Device Manager

As the name suggests, you can configure devices connected to your system using the Device Manager. You can even use it to uninstall and remove a hidden(ghost) printer whose print queue still exists in your system after being removed physically.

1. Press the Windows + R key and type devmgmt.msc to open the Device Manager.
2. Then, under the Printers dropdown, select the problematic printer from the list. If you can’t find your device, click on View and choose the View hidden devices option from the top menu bar.
3. Right-click on it and select the Uninstall device option.
4. On the Uninstall Device prompt, click on Uninstall.

Using Windows PowerShell

You can use PowerShell to get the list of available printers and remove the problematic ones. Here’s how you can do it.

1. Press the Windows + R key and type Powershell.
2. Then, press the Ctrl + Shift + Enter key to open PowerShell as administrator.
3. Now, type Get-Printer | Format-Table -AutoSize to get the list of all printers.
4. Next, type Remove-Printer -Name "Microsoft Print to PDF". Here, replace  Microsoft Print to PDF with your printer’s name.

How to Remove a Printer on Mac?

Removing printers on Mac is an easy process. To remove a printer on Mac,

1. Click on the little Apple icon on the top-left corner of the window, 
2. Then, navigate to System Preferences > Printers & Scanners.
3. Now, select the printer you want to remove and click on the little minus icon.
4. On the window prompt, click on the Delete printer button to confirm.