如果您一直连接到多个位置的不同打印机，您可能不会使用设备上安装的所有打印机 - 可能只使用一次或两次。但是，您的设备最终会在您没有意识到的情况下安装许多打印机。(many printers installed)
值得庆幸的是，您可以删除不再使用的任何打印机，除非它不会完全从您的设备中删除 - 打印机驱动程序保留在您设备的库存中，以防您再次需要它。
如果您确定不需要它，您可以从您的设备中删除或卸载旧的、过时的或已卸载的打印机驱动程序(old, obsolete or uninstalled printer drivers)，以及剩余的驱动程序包或注册表项。
我们将向您介绍在Windows 10中完全卸载打印机驱动程序的五种方法。
如何在 Windows 10 中删除或卸载打印机驱动程序(How To Remove Or Uninstall Printer Drivers In Windows 10)
以下是您可以在Windows 10(Windows 10)中删除打印机驱动程序的几种方法：
- 使用设置(Settings)卸载打印机软件。
- (Remove)从打印服务器属性中(Print Server Properties)删除打印机驱动程序。
- 使用控制面板(Control Panel)卸载打印机驱动程序。
- 使用打印管理(Use Print Management)删除旧打印机。
- (Delete)通过注册表编辑器(Registry Editor)删除旧打印机。
- 使用命令提示符(Command Prompt)卸载打印机。
- 使用 PowerShell 删除打印机。
- 从Windows(Windows)驱动程序存储中删除残余。
使用设置卸载打印机软件(Uninstall Printer Software Using Settings)
如果您不再需要特定的打印机，您可以按照通常的步骤从“设置”(Settings)中卸载打印机，然后卸载其软件，尤其是在使用第三方实用程序时。
如果设置(Settings)应用程序安装了其他工具来自动管理您的打印机，则您必须手动删除剩余的软件。
- 单击打印机和扫描仪(Printers & Scanners)。
- 选择您的打印机，单击删除设备(Remove device)，然后在要求确认删除时单击是。(Yes)
注意：(Note: )上述步骤仅从列表中删除打印机，因此您需要删除所有剩余的打印机软件或相关应用程序。
- 单击应用程序和功能(Apps & Features )，然后选择您要删除的打印机软件。
- 单击卸载(Uninstall)并按照步骤完全删除任何剩余的与打印机相关的应用程序。
从打印服务器属性中删除打印机驱动程序(Remove Printer Driver From Print Server Properties)
如果您仍然看到旧打印机或您之前卸载的打印机出现在打印机(Printers)和扫描仪(Scanners)页面上，您可以删除或卸载打印机驱动程序和驱动程序包。
- 打开左侧窗格中的Settings>Devices>Printers and Scanners
- 向下滚动(Scroll)到相关设置，然后单击打印服务器属性(Print Server Properties)。或者，您可以右键单击Start>Run并键入printui /s /t2直接进入打印服务器(Print Server)属性页面。
- 选择驱动程序(Drivers)选项卡。从列表中，单击旧打印机条目并选择删除(Remove)。
- 您将在弹出窗口中获得两个选项 -删除驱动程序(Remove driver )或删除驱动程序和驱动程序包(Remove driver and driver package)。选择后者并单击OK。
- 如果您收到删除驱动程序包(Remove Driver Package)的确认提示，请单击删除(Delete)。
使用控制面板卸载打印机驱动程序(Uninstall Printer Driver Using Control Panel)
您可以使用以下步骤从控制面板(Control Panel)中删除和卸载您的打印机和剩余的打印机驱动程序或相关应用程序。
- 打开Control Panel>Hardware and Sound。
- 单击设备和打印机(Devices and Printers)。
- 在打印机(Printers)下，右键单击您的设备，然后单击删除设备(Remove device)。单击是(Yes)确认操作。
- 接下来，转到Settings>Apps>Apps & Features，然后选择要删除的软件。
- 单击卸载(Uninstall )并按照屏幕上的步骤完全删除打印机软件。
使用打印管理删除旧打印机(Use Print Management To Remove Old Printers)
理想情况下，如果您使用上述打印服务器(Print Server)属性方法，它应该删除并卸载打印机驱动程序。但是，您可以使用打印管理(Print Management)控制台完全删除不再使用的打印机及其驱动程序。
“打印管理(Print Management)”对话框显示设备上的打印机和当前打印作业。不过，在删除旧的打印机驱动程序之前，请确保它没有被任何其他打印机使用。
- 打开Control Panel>System and Security。
- 单击管理工具(Administrative Tools)。
- 双击打印管理(Print Management)快捷方式。
- 在自定义过滤器(Custom Filters)下，选择所有打印机(All Printers)。
- 右键单击(Right-click)要删除的打印机。
- 打开Settings>Apps>Apps & Features，然后单击要删除的打印机软件。
- 单击卸载(Uninstall)并按照屏幕上的说明完全删除打印机驱动程序。
通过注册表编辑器删除旧打印机(Delete Old Printers Via Registry Editor)
如果您打开“添加打印机(Add a printer )”页面并发现旧打印机仍然列在此处，请编辑注册表以删除剩余条目。为此，首先创建一个系统还原点(creating a system restore point)，然后按照以下步骤操作。
- 右键单击Start>Run。
- 键入regedit.exe并单击OK（或按键盘上的Enter）打开注册表编辑器(Registry Editor)。
找到注册表项：
HKEY_CURRENT_USER\SOFTWARE\Classes\Local Settings\Printers\Roamed
- 从右窗格中右键单击(Right-click)打印机，然后选择删除(Delete)。
- (Check)通过转到以下键检查打印机条目并删除不需要的项目： HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Printers\Connections
接下来，转到此键：
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Control\Print\Printers
- 单击(Click)以展开密钥，右键单击您的打印机并选择Delete。
某些子项可能仍然引用您的旧打印机，因此您也可以清除以下内容：
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Control\Print\Environments\Windows NT x86\Drivers\Version-3 HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Control\Print\Environments\Windows x64\Drivers\Version-3 HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Control\Print\Environments\Windows x64\Drivers\Version-4
完成后，退出注册表编辑器(Registry Editor)。
使用命令提示符卸载打印机(Uninstall Printer Using Command Prompt)
如果您喜欢命令行，命令提示符(Command Prompt)是另一种可用于删除打印机并删除相关驱动程序和应用程序的工具。
- 单击开始(Start)并在搜索栏中 键入CMD 。
- 单击命令提示符(Command Prompt)并从右窗格中选择以管理员身份运行。(Run as administrator)
- 在命令提示符(Command Prompt)窗口中，键入以下命令：wmic printer get name并按 Enter 以查看设备上的打印机列表。
- 要卸载打印机，请键入printui.exe /dl /n “YOUR-PRINTER-NAME”，然后按Enter。请记住(Remember)将YOUR-PRINTER-NAME替换为您的打印机的全名。例如，printui.exe /dl /n HP DJ 2600 Series CL3。
- 要卸载打印机软件，请打开Settings>Apps>Apps & Features，然后选择要删除的打印机软件。单击卸载(Uninstall)并按照屏幕上的说明完成该过程。
使用 PowerShell 删除打印机(Remove a Printer Using PowerShell)
如果您更喜欢PowerShell而不是命令提示符(Command Prompt)，请按照以下步骤删除打印机和相关软件。
- 右键单击Start > Windows PowerShell (Admin)。
- 键入此命令：Remove-Printer –Name “YOUR-PRINTER-NAME”。
- 打开Settings > Apps > Apps & Features，然后单击要删除的软件。
- 单击卸载(Uninstall )并按照说明将其完全删除。
从 Windows 驱动程序商店中删除残余(Delete Remnants From The Windows Driver Store)
此解决方案旨在删除即使在删除驱动程序包后仍可能在您的设备上的任何驱动程序残余。
在驱动程序商店中，您会找到收件箱和第三方驱动程序包，它们甚至在驱动程序本身安装之前就已安装并存储在文件夹中。
商店中的每个子文件夹都包含一个驱动程序包和相应的.inf 文件(.inf file)，但要找到您要删除的特定驱动程序包有点困难。
好消息是您可以使用第三方工具来探索Windows 驱动程序商店(Windows driver store)并彻底删除旧的打印机驱动程序。它还将为您节省大量空间，否则这些空间将被垃圾文件占用。
删除驱动程序后会发生什么？(What Happens When Drivers Are Deleted?)
设备驱动程序是一种软件，它告诉您的计算机操作系统如何与其连接的设备进行通信。
例如，要连接到您的打印机(connect to your printer)并执行打印命令，需要打印机驱动程序来弥合两个设备之间的差距，并将打印作业交付给您。
如果没有打印机驱动程序，您的打印机只是无法工作的硬件。同样，从计算机中删除打印机后删除打印机驱动程序会使其无法运行。
但是，如果您删除驱动程序，您可以使用系统还原从您从计算机中删除驱动程序时创建的上一个还原点撤消删除。
或者，Windows将通过从其广泛的驱动程序库中搜索来自动在您的操作系统上安装驱动程序。如果没有找到合适的驱动程序，它将通过Windows Update在线搜索驱动程序。否则(Otherwise)，您可以访问设备制造商的网站以查找适用于您的打印机的特定驱动程序。
Remove or Uninstall a Printer Driver from Windows 10
If you connect tо differеnt printеrs аcross several locations all the time, you’ll рrobably nоt use all of the prіnters installed on your device – probably just once or twice. Howeνer, 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.
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.
- Remove printer driver from Print Server Properties.
- Uninstall printer driver using Control 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 driver store.
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.
- Click Printers & Scanners.
- Select your printer, click Remove device, and click Yes when asked to confirm the deletion.
Note: The steps above only remove the printer from the list, so you’ll need to remove any leftover printer software or related applications.
- Click Apps & Features and select the printer software you’d like to remove.
- Click Uninstall and follow the steps to completely remove any leftover printer-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.
- Open Settings>Devices>Printers and Scanners on the left pane.
- Scroll down to Related settings and click Print Server Properties. Alternatively, you can right-click Start>Run and type printui /s /t2 to go to the Print Server properties page directly.
- Select the Drivers tab. From the list, click on the old printer entry and select Remove.
- You’ll get two options in a popup – Remove driver or Remove driver and driver package. Select the latter and click OK.
- If you get a confirmation prompt to Remove Driver Package, click Delete.
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.
- Open Control Panel>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 you 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 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.
- Open Control Panel>System and Security.
- Click Administrative Tools.
- Double-click the Print Management shortcut.
- Under Custom Filters, select All Printers.
- Right-click the printer you want to remove.
- Click Delete and Yes to confirm the action.
- Open Settings>Apps>Apps & Features and click the printer software you want removed.
- Click Uninstall and follow on-screen instructions to completely remove the printer driver.
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.
- Right-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 right pane, and select Delete.
- Check printer entries and delete unwanted items by going to this key: HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Printers\Connections
Next, go to this key:
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Control\Print\Printers
- Click to expand the key, right-click your printer and select Delete.
Some subkeys may still have references to your old printer, so you can clear the following as well:
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Control\Print\Environments\Windows NT x86\Drivers\Version-3 HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Control\Print\Environments\Windows x64\Drivers\Version-3 HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Control\Print\Environments\Windows x64\Drivers\Version-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.
- Click Start and type CMD in the search bar.
- Click Command Prompt and select Run as administrator from the right pane.
- In the Command Prompt window, type this command: wmic printer get name and press Enter to see the list of printers on your device.
- To uninstall the printer, type printui.exe /dl /n “YOUR-PRINTER-NAME” and press Enter. Remember to replace YOUR-PRINTER-NAME with your printer’s full name. For example, printui.exe /dl /n HP DJ 2600 Series CL3.
- To uninstall the printer software, open Settings>Apps>Apps & Features and select the printer software you want to remove. Click Uninstall and follow the on-screen instructions to complete the process.
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.
- Right-click Start > Windows PowerShell (Admin).
- Type this command: Remove-Printer –Name “YOUR-PRINTER-NAME”.
- Open Settings > Apps > Apps & Features, and click the software you want removed.
- Click Uninstall and follow the directions to remove it 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 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.
