Remove or Uninstall a Printer Driver from Windows 10

by Elsie Otachi

If you connect to different printers across several locations all the time, you’ll probably not use all of the printers installed on your device – probably just once or twice. However, your device ends up with many printers installed on it without you realizing it.

Thankfully, you can remove any printer you’re no longer using, except it doesn’t completely get erased from your device – the printer driver remains in your device’s inventory in case you need it again.

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    If you’re sure you won’t need it, you can remove or uninstall old, 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 ways you can remove printer drivers in Windows 10:

    Uninstall Printer Software Using Settings

    If you don’t need a particular printer anymore, you can 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’ll have to manually remove the leftover software.

    Note: The steps above only remove the printer from the list, so you’ll need to remove any leftover printer software or related applications.

    Remove Printer Driver From Print Server Properties

    If you’re still seeing an old printer, or one that you previously uninstalled, appearing on the Printers & Scanners page, you can remove or uninstall the printer driver and driver packages.

    Uninstall Printer Driver Using Control Panel

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

    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 can use the Print Management console to completely remove printers you no longer use, and their drivers.

    The Print Management dialog shows you the printers and current print jobs on your device. Before you delete the old printer driver though, make sure it’s not being used by any other printer.

    Delete Old Printers Via Registry Editor

    If you open the Add a printer page and find old printers still listed there, edit the registry to remove leftover entries. To do this, start by creating a system restore point, and then follow the steps below.

    Find the registry key: 

    HKEY_CURRENT_USERSOFTWAREClassesLocal SettingsPrintersRoamed

    Next, go to this key: 

    HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINESYSTEMCurrentControlSetControlPrintPrinters

    Some subkeys may still have references to your old printer, so you can clear the following as well:         

    HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINESYSTEMCurrentControlSetControlPrintEnvironmentsWindows NT x86DriversVersion-3 HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINESYSTEMCurrentControlSetControlPrintEnvironmentsWindows x64DriversVersion-3   HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINESYSTEMCurrentControlSetControlPrintEnvironmentsWindows x64DriversVersion-4

    Once this is done, exit the Registry Editor.

    Uninstall Printer Using Command Prompt

    If you’re a fan of command lines, the Command Prompt is another tool you can use to delete a printer and remove related drivers and apps.

    Remove a Printer Using PowerShell

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

    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 find inbox and third-party driver packages, which were installed and stored in the folder even before the driver itself got installed.

    Each of the subfolders in the store holds a driver package and corresponding .inf file, but it’s a bit difficult to find the specific driver package you’d like to remove.

    The good news is you can use a third-party tool to explore the Windows driver store and completely remove the old printer driver once for all. It’ll also save you lots of space that would otherwise have been occupied by junk files.

    What Happens When Drivers Are Deleted?

    A device driver is a piece of software that tells your computer’s operating system how to communicate with the device it’s connected to.

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

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

    However, if you delete the driver, you can undo the deletion using System Restore, from the previous restore point created when you deleted the driver from your computer.

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

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