Windows 7 How to remove Ghost Printers?

[Tomination]

Hi, i am currently using windows 7 home premium 64bit

I had a wireless lexmark printer (Z4290) and i removed it because of having issues, however now i seem to have two ghost printers, (Printer and Printer (copy 1)).

i keep removing them but whenever i refresh the device and printers list they just reappear, they arent like the other devices, they are sort of half transparent so thats why i coined them with the name ghost.

If anybody can tell me how to get rid of them for good i would be very happy!

Thanks, Tom

 

[Digerati]

There needs to be some improvement with the Devices and Printers applet, that's for sure. My printer is correctly identified but it's icon is transparent. It also show my SATA drive as a SCSI.

Are there any other printers on your network? Perhaps attached to other computers and shared?

What does properties say for these devices?

I recommend you remove the printers again. Check Programs and Features and uninstall any listed items that are associated with the printers, then exit Windows and shut down the computer. Unplug all USB devices (except keyboard and mouse), boot the computer, cross fingers, and see what happens.

 

[allenn]

I had this problem with an HP CM1312nfi MFP. I tried to delete the print drivers via the Control Panel\Hardware and Sound\Devices and Printers Print Servers Properties\Driver tab, but the Remove displayed a driver in use message.
I booted Win 7 Safe Mode, and I deleted all the HP folders and files that remained after I executed the Program Uninstall. Also, I deleted any remaining CM1312 drivers in C:\Windows\System32\spool\drivers\w32x86\3. Finally, removed anything in the registry relating to the CM1312. That did the trick. No more CM1312nfi printer.

You might try the delete print drivers via the Print Servers Properties.

 

[BrianW]

I had the same problem with trying to use multiple drivers to get my old printer working. When trying to remove the hardware from "Devices and Printers" wouldn't work, I also typed in "Device Manager" in the search box and deleted everything that was pertinent to that piece of hardware. So in this case if something shows up in the Printer section delected what you can there and also look for the DOT1 under Other Devices and any remark that says IEEE 1284 compatible printer and restart the process as if you were doing it from the beginning.

 

[coglan13]

I experienced this issue with ghost network wireless printers appearing after removing them in the devices and printers section. I found these ghost printers had documents pending in the spooler. Selected the printers again one by one and deleted all pending documents waiting to print. The printers were all removed permanently without me having to remove them again. Hope this helps.

 

[Digerati]

Please note the dates of threads you respond to. This thread has been dormant for 2 years! When new members dredge up and reply to old posts as you did, it raises red flags as that is the same behavior forum spammers use. So I would urge you to be pertinent.