How to Remove Unused Printer Drivers and Packages in Windows 10 and 11

Before you remove anything​

Allow about 15 minutes, with extra time if a restart or driver download is needed. Prepare the following:

• Administrator access. Viewing printers does not require elevation, but deleting driver packages requires administrator privileges.
• A recovery installer. If there is any chance you will need the printer again, obtain its compatible driver from the manufacturer before deleting the existing package.
• A short maintenance window. Finish outstanding printing before removal. If troubleshooting requires restarting the Print Spooler, coordinate with anyone using printers shared by this PC.
• A record of the printer configuration. Note the printer name, exact driver name and connection information before removing a queue. Screenshots are useful for recording settings you might need to restore. Microsoft recommends Windows Update or the printer manufacturer as driver sources; printer vendors also specify administrator access for package removal.

Treat this as targeted cleanup, not an instruction to delete every unfamiliar entry. Keep any driver whose purpose or dependencies you cannot establish. On a work or school PC, ask the administrator before removing an organization-provided printer.

Windows 10 lifecycle note: These instructions still cover its printer-management interface, but Microsoft ended ordinary free Windows 10 support on October 14, 2025. The availability of this procedure does not change the operating system’s support status.

1. Check which printers use the driver​

Start with the printer-to-driver mapping, not the driver’s apparent age or manufacturer name. Microsoft’s Get-Printer command lists installed printers and printer connections; its output can be used to inspect individual printer properties without changing them.

• Open Start, type Windows PowerShell, and open it.
• Run this read-only command:

Get-Printer | Format-List Name, DriverName, PortName

• Review each entry:
• Name identifies the printer queue.
• DriverName is the name to compare with the driver you intend to remove.
• PortName helps distinguish connections and similarly named queues.

Microsoft’s printer-management interfaces expose the printer’s driver and port as separate properties; do not assume that the displayed printer name is also the driver name.

• Copy the results into your maintenance notes. Identify every queue that reports the target driver.
• If you want to narrow the display, replace the placeholder below with the exact driver name, keeping the quotation marks:

 Get-Printer |
 Where-Object { $_.DriverName -eq 'Exact driver name here' } |
 Format-List Name, DriverName, PortName

This filters the inventory; it does not uninstall anything.

Use the results to make a conservative decision:

• If a printer you still need uses the driver, keep the driver.
• If every matching queue belongs to a retired printer, remove those queues in the next section.
• If there are no matches, treat the driver as a cleanup candidate—not permission to bypass a later “in use” error.

On a shared or managed computer, have the administrator review dependencies beyond your own inventory before proceeding. The aim is to identify an unused driver, not to force an active driver out of Windows.

2. Remove only the retired printer queues​

Warning: Removing a queue takes away that configured printing destination. Before continuing, preserve any settings you need and make sure you have a way to reinstall it. Do not remove a working printer merely to make its driver eligible for deletion.

First let wanted jobs finish. If a retired queue contains unwanted jobs, open it and cancel those jobs deliberately:

• Windows 11: Settings > Bluetooth & devices > Printers & scanners > select the printer > Open print queue.
• Windows 10: Settings > Devices > Printers & scanners > select the printer > Open queue.

Right-click an unwanted job and select Cancel. Canceling a job is not a backup of it; retain the original document if you might need to print it later. These queue paths and cancellation steps are documented by Microsoft.

Windows 11​

• Open Settings > Bluetooth & devices > Printers & scanners.
• Select the retired printer.
• Select Remove.
• Confirm removal if prompted.

Windows 10​

• Open Settings > Devices > Printers & scanners.
• Select the retired printer.
• Select Remove device.
• Confirm removal if prompted.

Repeat only for the unwanted queues identified in your inventory. Microsoft documents these separate Windows 10 and Windows 11 removal paths.

Run the driver-name filter from the previous section again. If a needed queue still appears, stop and retain the driver. If only another retired queue remains, review and remove that queue before moving on.

3. Open Print Server Properties​

You can open the driver-management dialog through Settings or use its direct shortcut.

Open it through Settings​

• Go to the printer settings page:
• Windows 11: Settings > Bluetooth & devices > Printers & scanners.
• Windows 10: Settings > Devices > Printers & scanners.
• Under Related settings, select Print server properties. Microsoft’s Windows 11 instructions also refer to the link as Printer server properties.
• Select the Drivers tab.

Open it directly if the link is difficult to find​

• Press Windows key + R.
• Enter:

printui /s /t2

• Press Enter.

This shortcut opens Print Server Properties at the driver-management tab. Zebra documents it as an alternative to navigating through Settings, including on Windows 10 Home systems without the Print Management tool. You do not need to install that separate console for this procedure.

4. Remove the unused driver and its package​

Warning: Package removal is the more complete cleanup option. Before confirming, check the exact driver name against your inventory and ensure that you have a compatible replacement if you might need to reinstall it. Do not proceed if the driver belongs to a printer you still use.

• In Print Server Properties, select Drivers.
• If Change Driver Settings appears, select it and approve the administrator prompt.
• Under Installed printer drivers, select the exact driver you intend to delete.
• Select Remove.
• Choose Remove driver and driver package, then select OK.
• Confirm the removal if Windows asks.
• In the Remove Driver Package dialog, review the information, then select Delete.
• Read the result. Select OK and close the dialog after successful removal.

The driver-and-package option is the vendor-documented route for package cleanup. Remove driver only is a different choice; do not select it if your intention is to remove the package too. OKI and Canon both document the driver-and-package removal sequence, including elevation where required.

If Windows reports a failure, record the message rather than assuming the operation completed. In particular, do not treat a partially completed removal as confirmed package deletion.

Follow any restart prompt or model-specific instruction. OKI, for example, explicitly requires a restart in its removal procedure. If Windows says the driver is in use, both OKI and Brother recommend restarting and retrying rather than immediately resorting to manual file deletion.

5. Verify the cleanup and check your remaining printers​

Use two checks: confirm the removal result, then confirm that the printers you kept still work.

• Reopen Print Server Properties > Drivers.
• Check that the selected driver no longer appears.
• If you want a second view of registered printer drivers, open Windows PowerShell and run:

Get-PrinterDriver | Format-List Name, PrinterEnvironment

Microsoft documents Get-PrinterDriver as a read-only inventory command that does not require administrator credentials. It lists installed printer drivers; use the package-removal dialog’s result to establish whether the package-removal operation succeeded.

• Test a printer you retained. Print a short document from Notepad, selecting that printer explicitly. If several important queues were potentially affected, test each one rather than relying on the default printer alone. Microsoft uses printing from a text editor as a way to isolate printing problems.

Your success criteria are specific: the intended driver is absent, package removal completed without an error, and retained printers still produce output. An empty driver list is not the goal.

Troubleshoot blocked removal without forcing deletion​

“The specified printer driver is currently in use”​

Start by repeating the dependency check. If any needed queue still reports the driver, leave it installed.

If all related retired queues have been removed:

• Save your work.
• Restart Windows.
• Reopen Print Server Properties > Drivers.
• Retry removal of the same driver.

A restart-and-retry is explicitly documented by Brother and OKI for failed driver removal. If it still fails, capture the exact driver name and complete error message for the printer vendor or administrator. Do not keep removing unrelated printers to see whether the error disappears.

Print Server Properties reports a spooler problem​

Warning: Restarting the Print Spooler interrupts printing managed by that Windows instance. Finish or deliberately cancel jobs first, and notify anyone using printers shared by this PC.

Microsoft documents this service restart procedure for Windows 10 and Windows 11:

• Press Windows key + R.
• Type services.msc and press Enter.
• Locate Print Spooler.
• Right-click it and select Restart.
• After the service restarts, reopen Print Server Properties and retry.

Leave the service running when you finish. If it repeatedly stops or cannot restart, stop the cleanup and troubleshoot that failure first; repeated driver-removal attempts are not a substitute for a functioning spooler.

Remove is unavailable, or Windows denies access​

If Change Driver Settings is available, select it before trying Remove. Package deletion requires administrator privileges. On an organization-managed device, ask the administrator to perform or approve the removal rather than changing permissions or security settings.

The driver reappears after reconnecting the printer​

A connected printer can be installed automatically by Windows. Therefore, a driver appearing again after reconnection does not by itself prove that the earlier removal failed. If the printer is retired, leave it disconnected while verifying cleanup. If you still need it, expect to retain an appropriate driver rather than repeatedly deleting it.

Restore a printer if you removed something you still need​

Use reinstallation as the recovery path; do not attempt to reconstruct driver files manually.

• Reconnect the local printer, or make sure the network printer is available.
• Open Printers & scanners:
• Windows 11: Settings > Bluetooth & devices > Printers & scanners, then Add device.
• Windows 10: Settings > Devices > Printers & scanners, then Add a printer or scanner.
• Select the correct printer and complete setup. For a company-provided connection, use the administrator’s approved installation method.
• If Windows cannot supply the required driver, use the compatible package obtained from the printer manufacturer. Follow its installation instructions. Adding a driver through the Add Printer Driver Wizard alone does not recreate the printer queue—Microsoft explicitly distinguishes adding the driver from installing the printer.
• Compare the restored configuration with your notes, then print a short test document. If installation succeeds but printing still fails, provide support with the printer model, driver name, connection type, removal error if any, and the result of the Notepad test.