All printing functions stopped after failed Epson XP-312 installation  

Many thx guys - but new version of nightmare now.

Followed TVeblen's suggestion (already cleaned pc) - d/l cleanspl.exe - wouldn't run - other than on Win NT 4.0/5.0 - not on my version 6.1.

So tried new Ms PrinterFixIt - MicrosoftFixit50979 which ran completely. (Previous versions tried - MicrosoftFixit.Printing.LB.196313811635166538.1.1.Run /MicrosoftFixit.Printing.RNP.31313517747372337.1.1.Run) couldn't get past checking spooler and just hung.

Result : only printer Samsung ML-2165 disappeared from Printers. So re-installed.

But *nothing now prints* , not even first time. Jobs get stuck in print queue. After removal of queue, fails to print again from Word. Printer Troubleshooter test page also gets stuck in queue.

PC restarts don't change anything - print jobs still get stuck.

Previous to PrinterFixit the Samsung did print at least the once.

Any ideas now ? (Am temporarily exhausted from googling)

P.S. TVeblen seemed on right trail - my problem, like others' problems, resulted from trying to install a new printer/printer driver and consequent damage to the spooler service. This seems not uncommon.

Just to be clear:
You stopped the Print Spooler service > then deleted all of the files in \spool\printers > then restarted the service?

Try this:
(Assuming you are running Home Premium)
Go to Devices & Printers > click on any printer (ex: XPS Doc Writer) > in the menu bar click on Print Server Properties > Then click on the Drivers Tab > and see if you can find the problem printer listed.
If it is, delete it's driver there.

Then if it were me I would clean out \spool\printers again.

Also:
Yes I see now that cleanspl.exe does not run on W7. Sorry about that.
But this is something else to try:
cleanspl.exe for windows vista
It lets you do manually what cleanspl.exe did automatically.

EDIT: you should always create a new System Restore Point before doing any steps that we might suggest here (or make any change to your system). That way, if something goes wrong you have a path back.

Thx for advice.

1.Tveblen - cleaned out Spool/Printers files - only one *.spl file there - made no diff.

BTW in dir:

spool/prtprocs

were these files:

jnwppr.dll
ssj1mpc.dll
winprint.dll

Looked at manual removal you suggested -

regedit showed in

Print Processors dir arere

ssj1MPC/ssj1MPC.dll
winprint/winprint.dll

Didn't touch these files though.Should I?

2. Slartybartt

Have attached files requested

Many thanks again guys

Thx slartybartt/gandalf

Getting closer to solution.

When I opened Devices and Printers this morn., "Unspecified" was gone. BUT when I tried to print again, [which again did not work], it *reappeared* and there is no option to Remove it as with the Printers. So I am not reposting pic here - it's the same as before.

In Device Management, I could not uninstal Huawei etc. - it would not obey command. It appears however to have successfully Disabled the device - the icon has changed. The related program was uninstalled some time ago and is no longer visible anywhere, incl. Your Uninstaller.

PS Dunno if relevant, but in procexp 4 progs -

lsass.exe
crss.exe
lsm.exe
winlogon.exe

still show - "Error opening process" - a phenomenon wh. has accompanied printing probs.

Many thx again

A bit of a tangent - but you never know with these things:

The Huawei device is related to your smartphone. It will probably be in a problem state until you plug the phone into a USB port.

If you installed software to connect your phone then that probably belongs there. If you didn't then that could be a Windows installed driver to use the USB "device".

You might experiment with that to see what the functionality is - even see if you can print with the phone plugged in and that ! icon gone away. Stranger things have happened.

But in the end probably a tangent.

Is the Samsung ML-2160 a multi-function printer? Probably.

The unspecified device could be the ML-2160 Fax or Scanner. Or even the Printer. What it seems like from your description is that one of those drivers is 'failing' when you go to use the printer. Windows can't identify the device without the proper driver so it gets dumped in the Unspecified bin.

I'm speculating: but it could be that the Samsung driver(s) were corrupted by the bad Epson install.
Do all of the functions of the Samsung work?