Can't remove network printer

W10 Tweaker said:

Sorry, I'm stuck out of town waiting for my GF at a medical appointment. I only have my phone here.

I trust that both PCs are connecting wirelessly, correct?

Were you able to use this printer before, how long ago, what hardware or updates including OS has changed since?

Have you tried anything else to restore use of that printer?

Tried to install newly downloaded drivers after uninstalling the present drivers?

Uninstall the printer completely?

I have a wired network of 3 computers. I've been using these 2 printers with this same setup for years and never had this problem. Every once in a while I've had to remove the printers in Devices/Printers and then choose "add printer" to reinstall them.

Since both printers work just fine on my upstairs computer where they're plugged in, I haven't uninstalled and reinstalled or checked for later drivers. I'd be surprised if that were the problem, but I can if needed.My Canon 920 works fine on the downstairs computer it's only the 410 that's the problem. I rarely print from downstairs on the 410, but 1 specific file needs to go to that printer.

Both computers are on Win 10 version 1909, since 2004 version was problematic. The only things I've tried are listed in this post. I wish I knew how to totally uninstall all printers and start all over. That would be easy.

delete driver: have you tried deleting after starting PC in safe mode?
but maybe do first:
Control Panel>right click on printer>printer properties>tab ports>is your printer checked on WSD port?
Maybe a change helps:
Control Panel>add printer>choose TCP/IP>fill IP number>change printer name>take drivers already on PC>set the "new" printer as default Required is off course that the printer obtains a fixed IP number from de DHCP of the router.
It solved for me an issue. See also: SOLVED: What is the Difference between a TCP/IP Printer Port and a WSD Printer Port – Up & Running Technologies, Tech How To's

GerryPeters said:

I wish I knew how to totally uninstall all printers and start all over. That would be easy.

From the same Admin-level PowerShell console as above, the following cmdlet should remove ALL network printers, leaving locally configured ones alone:

Get-WMIObject Win32_Printer | where{$_.Network -eq 'true'} | foreach{$_.delete()}

If you want you can use VBS instead of PowerShell, for example these two scripts from Reddit (which I saved for convenience a long time ago in case they disappeared).

RickC said:

1. Right-click on Start and choose Windows PowerShell (Admin).

2. When the console appears, enter Get-Printer.

3. That should show all printers, both local and network... including pseudo-printers like 'XPS Document Writer' and any 'print to PDF' redirectors.

4. If your network printer appears then make a note of both the printer name in the first column and the printer driver name in the fourth column (DriverName).

5. Enter Remove-Printer -Name "blah_blah_blah" (where "blah-blah-blah" is the name of your network printer - first column).

6. Enter Get-Printer again to check it has been removed.

7. Enter Remove-PrinterDriver -Name "blah-blah-blah PCL 6" (where "blah-blah-blah PCL 6" is the printer driver name).

That should be it removed.

(The last command is for if other printer removal methods have created corrupted links between the components - for example, by removing registry entries pointing to the location of the printer drivers' .INF files. Similarly, if your network printer doesn't appear in the printer list - step 3 - then you may have to manually remove the components.)

Hope this helps...

I sure appreciate your instructions and have tried several variations, with no success. So here is the long PowerShell text. let mekwo what I'm doing wrong - you're the best

PS C:\WINDOWS\system32> Get-PrinterName ComputerName Type DriverName PortName Shared Publishe d---- ------------ ---- ---------- -------- ------ --------OneNote for Windows 10 Local Microsoft Software Pri... Microsoft.Of... False FalseMicrosoft XPS Document Writer Local Microsoft XPS Document... PORTPROMPT: False FalseMicrosoft Print to PDF Local Microsoft Print To PDF PORTPROMPT: False FalseFax Local Microsoft Shared Fax D... SHRFAX: False False\\PROSTUDIO\Canon MX410 ser... PROSTUDIO Connection Canon MX410 series Pri... USB004 True False\\PROSTUDIO\Canon MX920 ser... PROSTUDIO Connection Canon MX920 series Pri... USB001 True FalsePS C:\WINDOWS\system32> Remove-Printer -Name \\PROSTUDIO\Canon MX410 serRemove-Printer : A positional parameter cannot be found that accepts argument 'MX410'.At line:1 char:1+ Remove-Printer -Name \\PROSTUDIO\Canon MX410 ser+ ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ + CategoryInfo : InvalidArgument: (:) [Remove-Printer], ParameterBindingException + FullyQualifiedErrorId : PositionalParameterNotFound,Remove-PrinterPS C:\WINDOWS\system32> Remove-Printer -Name <\\PROSTUDIO\Canon MX410 ser>...At line:1 char:22+ Remove-Printer -Name <\\PROSTUDIO\Canon MX410 ser>...+ ~The '<' operator is reserved for future use. + CategoryInfo : ParserError: (:) [], ParentContainsErrorRecordException + FullyQualifiedErrorId : RedirectionNotSupportedPS C:\WINDOWS\system32> Remove-Printer -Name <\\PROSTUDIO\Canon MX410 ser>...At line:1 char:22+ Remove-Printer -Name <\\PROSTUDIO\Canon MX410 ser>...+ ~The '<' operator is reserved for future use. + CategoryInfo : ParserError: (:) [], ParentContainsErrorRecordException + FullyQualifiedErrorId : RedirectionNotSupportedPS C:\WINDOWS\system32> Remove-Printer -Name \\PROSTUDIO\Canon MX410 ser...Remove-Printer : A positional parameter cannot be found that accepts argument 'MX410'.At line:1 char:1+ Remove-Printer -Name \\PROSTUDIO\Canon MX410 ser...+ ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ + CategoryInfo : InvalidArgument: (:) [Remove-Printer], ParameterBindingException + FullyQualifiedErrorId : PositionalParameterNotFound,Remove-PrinterPS C:\WINDOWS\system32>

@GerryPeters

I made a mistake interpreting your results... it looks like the device has 6 'printers', not 5 (I missed the 'OneNote for Windows 10' pseudo-printer that was enumerated... my bad >>>> I blame the awful text formatting.).

However, my advice about your Canon printer devices is the same.

Hope this helps...

RickC said:

OK, bit of a mess... but I think we can fix that.

The first part shows that you have 5 print devices:


Unfortunately, PowerShell's output has concatenated the printer names for devices 4 and 5, your Canon printers... and this has led to subsequent errors.

No problem. In future, redirect PowerShell's output so it is formatted better. So, for example, instead of just Get-Printer, use Get-Printer | Format-List Name,DriverName. This will pipe the results into a formatted table where the full printer name can be seen.

Easier still, use PowerShell's ability to use wildcards, for example: Remove-Printer -Name "*Canon*" to remove all Canon printers.

You can test this out by using Remove-Printer -Name "*Canon*" -WhatIf to see what it will do.

Hope this helps...

(PS - From the output you supplied, it looks like both Canon printers are connected via USB to a Windows device then shared from it, i.e. via USB pseudo-ports 4 and 1. I don't have much experience of this sort of configuration actually working well in practice. In my experience sharing USB-connected printers over a network is (horribly) problematic. Perhaps get yourself USB-to-ethernet print servers (e.g. like these) and save yourself the hassle of having to have a Windows device always-on just for its printer connectivity. I replaced an entire office-full of 'Windows-shared' USB printers with these types of adapters and reduced calls to the Hell Desk to a fraction... and they were remotely monitorable/configurable/manageable via their own web interface [i.e. IP address].)

I couldn't delete the MX410 for some strange reason, so I deleted all Canon printers and that did work. I now have the network printer installed and working fine. - Great help - thanks