Computer Printer Repair

Fix Printer Problems

Fix Cannot Delete Network Printer Error

Problem :

I've been trying to remove a connection to a network printer (which I believe was installed via domain group policy) and am unable to delete the printer.


Solution :

Remove network printers from Windows using registry

Step 1: Click on Start, Run and then type in regedit and press Enter. This will open the registry editor.

regedit

Step 2: Navigate to the following key in the registry

HKEY_CURRENT_USER – Printers – Connections

Here you should now see a list of all network printers with the server name first, then a comma, and then the name of the actual printer.

remove printer from registry

Go ahead and click on the printer in the left menu and press the Delete button or right-click and choose Delete. But that’s not all! You have to delete the printer from one more location in the registry:

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE – SYSTEM – CurrentControlSet – Control – Print – Providers – LanMan Print Services – Servers – Printers

Now under the Printers key, you should be able to expand it and see the name of the print server that actually hosts the printer you want to delete. Go ahead and expand the print server key and delete the printer from the list.

cannot delete printer

Now close the registry editor and reboot your computer. The undeletable network printer should now be gone.

1 comment:

Kimbob said...

Wow. Wouldn't it be easier if microsoft just looked in to whatever ridiculous error they coded in to their system that causes that and... I don't know... fixed it?

Nah. Never going to happen. Better that we have to constantly jump through hoops at a system level in order to accomplish the simplest tasks.

I love that every time my printer goes offline I have to delete the printer and reinstall it from scratch to my computer to make it work. Of course, now that I can't even DELETE a printer without completely reconfiguring my registry, I've found that it's easier to grab a pen and a blank sheet of paper.

Microsoft. Where incompetence isn't just the norm, it's a standard to be achieved.

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