If you connect to different printers across several locations all the fourth dimension, yous'll probably non use all of the printers installed on your device – probably just in one case or twice. However, your device ends up with many printers installed on it without you realizing it.

Thankfully, you can remove whatsoever printer y'all're no longer using, except information technology doesn't completely get erased from your device – the printer commuter remains in your device'southward inventory in case you need information technology again.

If you're certain yous won't need it, yous can remove or uninstall one-time, obsolete or uninstalled printer drivers, and leftover driver packages or registry entries from your device.

We're going to walk you through five ways to completely uninstall printer drivers in Windows 10.

How To Remove Or Uninstall Printer Drivers In Windows 10

These are a few of the means you lot tin remove printer drivers in Windows 10:

  • Uninstall printer software using Settings.
  • Remove printer commuter from Print Server Backdrop.
  • Uninstall printer driver using Command Panel.
  • Use Print Management to remove old printers.
  • Delete old printers via Registry Editor.
  • Uninstall printer using Command Prompt.
  • Remove a printer using PowerShell.
  • Delete remnants from Windows commuter store.

Uninstall Printer Software Using Settings

If y'all don't demand a particular printer anymore, you tin follow the usual steps to uninstall a printer from Settings and then uninstall its software, especially if using a third-party utility.

If the Settings app installed other tools to manage your printer automatically, you lot'll have to manually remove the leftover software.

  • Open Settings>Devices.
  • Click Printers & Scanners.
  • Select your printer, click Remove device, and click Yeah when asked to confirm the deletion.

Note: The steps higher up only remove the printer from the listing, so y'all'll need to remove any leftover printer software or related applications.

  • Open Settings>Apps.
  • Click Apps & Features and select the printer software you'd similar to remove.
  • Click Uninstall and follow the steps to completely remove whatsoever leftover printer-related applications.

Remove Printer Driver From Print Server Properties

If you're nonetheless seeing an one-time printer, or one that you previously uninstalled, appearing on the Printers & Scanners folio, you tin remove or uninstall the printer commuter and commuter packages.

  • Open Settings>Devices>Printers and Scanners on the left pane.
  • Scroll downwards to Related settings and click Impress Server Properties. Alternatively, you can right-click Beginning>Run and type printui /due south /t2 to go to the Print Server properties folio directly.
  • Select the Drivers tab. From the listing, click on the one-time printer entry and select Remove.
  • You'll get two options in a popup – Remove driver or Remove driver and driver parcel. Select the latter and click OK.
  • If you lot get a confirmation prompt to Remove Commuter Package, click Delete.

Uninstall Printer Commuter Using Control Panel

Yous tin can remove and uninstall your printer and leftover printer driver or related apps from Control Panel using these steps.

  • Open Control Console>Hardware and Sound.
  • Click Devices and Printers.
  • Under Printers, right-click your device and click Remove device. Click Yes to confirm the action.
  • Next, go to Settings>Apps>Apps & Features and select the software yous want to remove.
  • Click Uninstall and follow the on-screen steps to completely remove the printer software.

Use Print Management To Remove Old Printers

Ideally, if you used the Print Server properties method above, it should remove and uninstall the printer driver. However, you tin utilise the Print Direction panel to completely remove printers you lot no longer use, and their drivers.

The Print Management dialog shows you the printers and current impress jobs on your device. Earlier you lot delete the old printer driver though, brand sure it'southward not being used by any other printer.

  • Open Command Console>Organization and Security.
  • Click Authoritative Tools.
  • Double-click the Print Management shortcut.
  • Nether Custom Filters, select All Printers.
  • Right-click the printer you lot want to remove.
  • Click Delete and Yes to confirm the activeness.
  • Open Settings>Apps>Apps & Features and click the printer software you lot want removed.
  • Click Uninstall and follow on-screen instructions to completely remove the printer driver.

Delete Erstwhile Printers Via Registry Editor

If you lot open the Add together a printer page and notice old printers still listed in that location, edit the registry to remove leftover entries. To exercise this, start by creating a organization restore point, and then follow the steps below.

  • Correct-click Start>Run.
  • Type regedit.exe and click OK (or press Enter on your keyboard) to open the Registry Editor.

Find the registry key: 

              HKEY_CURRENT_USER\SOFTWARE\Classes\Local Settings\Printers\Roamed
  • Right-click the printer from the correct pane, and select Delete.
  • Check printer entries and delete unwanted items by going to this central: HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Printers\Connections

Side by side, go to this key: 

              HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\System\CurrentControlSet\Command\Print\Printers
  • Click to expand the fundamental, correct-click your printer and select Delete.

Some subkeys may notwithstanding have references to your old printer, so you lot tin clear the following too: 

              HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Control\Print\Environments\Windows NT x86\Drivers\Version-iii              HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Organisation\CurrentControlSet\Control\Impress\Environments\Windows x64\Drivers\Version-3              HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Control\Impress\Environments\Windows x64\Drivers\Version-4

Once this is washed, get out the Registry Editor.

Uninstall Printer Using Control Prompt

If you lot're a fan of command lines, the Command Prompt is some other tool you tin utilize to delete a printer and remove related drivers and apps.

  • Click Start and type CMD in the search bar.
  • Click Control Prompt and select Run as administrator from the right pane.
  • In the Control Prompt window, type this command: wmic printer go proper noun and press Enter to see the list of printers on your device.
  • To uninstall the printer, type printui.exe /dl /northward "YOUR-PRINTER-NAME" and press Enter. Recollect to replace YOUR-PRINTER-NAME with your printer's full name. For example, printui.exe /dl /northward HP DJ 2600 Serial CL3 .
  • To uninstall the printer software, open Settings>Apps>Apps & Features and select the printer software yous desire to remove. Click Uninstall and follow the on-screen instructions to consummate the procedure.

Remove a Printer Using PowerShell

If you adopt PowerShell over Command Prompt, here are the steps to have to remove the printer and related software.

  • Right-click Start > Windows PowerShell (Admin).
  • Type this command: Remove-Printer –Proper noun "YOUR-PRINTER-NAME".
  • Open up Settings > Apps > Apps & Features, and click the software y'all want removed.
  • Click Uninstall and follow the directions to remove information technology completely.

Delete Remnants From The Windows Driver Store

This solution is meant to remove any remnants of drivers that may still be on your device even after deleting driver packages.

In the driver store, you'll detect inbox and 3rd-party commuter packages, which were installed and stored in the folder fifty-fifty before the commuter itself got installed.

Each of the subfolders in the store holds a driver package and corresponding .inf file, only it's a bit difficult to find the specific commuter parcel you'd similar to remove.

The good news is you can use a tertiary-political party tool to explore the Windows driver store and completely remove the old printer commuter in one case for all. It'll also save you lots of infinite that would otherwise accept been occupied by junk files.

What Happens When Drivers Are Deleted?

A device commuter is a piece of software that tells your computer's operating system how to communicate with the device it's continued to.

For example, to connect to your printer and execute the impress command, a printer driver is needed to span the gap between the two devices, and deliver the print job to you lot.

Without the printer driver, your printer is just hardware that doesn't work. Similarly, deleting the printer driver afterward deleting the printer from your computer renders it inoperative.

Yet, if you lot delete the driver, you tin undo the deletion using System Restore, from the previous restore point created when you deleted the driver from your reckoner.

Alternatively, Windows will automatically install the driver on your operating system by searching for it from its extensive library of drivers. If information technology doesn't find a suitable driver, it'll search for a driver online through Windows Update. Otherwise, yous can visit the device manufacturer's website to find the specific commuter for your printer.