Windows 8 Ghost Printers and other ghoulies?

[Benedict_Arnold]

Anyone know how to exorcise ghost printers and other devices in Windows 8 for good? It's driving me nuts. Every time I think I've deleted them they come back, It's like herpes (I imagine) or Simon Cowell (and I leave you to decide which you think is more odious).

 

[AnotherJoe]

Boot windows in safe mode.

Remove any ports that are assigned in printer properties.

Uninstall the printer.

 

[Benedict_Arnold]

BTDT, they keep coming back!

It's a bug that was in 7, continued in the "wonderous" new world of 8.

Only thing I can think of now is a complete PC refresh, which is going to be a major PITA.

Windows 8 sucks. I'm about to introduce my "touchscreen" to a brick!

 

[AnotherJoe]

control panel -> system and security -> administrative tools -> print management

Go into printservers (probably the name of your pc), and delete any ports, then printers, then drivers that relate to the old printer - in that order.

Then go into custom filters and remove any reference to the old printer in all printers, all drivers, printers not ready, printers with jobs.

Reboot.

 

[Benedict_Arnold]

I found this on line this morning, it might help:

I suggest cleaning the printer queue to check the result.

1. Stop the Spooler service first
2. Navigate to C:WindowsSystem32spoolsv.exe, Right click -> select Properties -> Click on Security Tab -> Advanced -> Owner. Take ownership of the file and give full permission to the file.
3. Once done, close everything and try to start the service again.|
4. Open command prompt with Admin. Type the following command

del /Q C:WINDOWSsystem32spoolPRINTERS*.*

5. Once done, try to start the spooler in Services

After that, please remove and re-add the local printer to test the issue.