Solved Local printer won't remove completely

[SuperdaveC]

I had a HP Deskjet Ink Advantage 3525 installed. After trouble scanning to my PC I decided to uninstall and then reinstall printer.

I tried removing it from Devices and Printers, now there is a ghost image with exclamation mark remaining behind. If I try to remove that I get "Access is denied, unable to remove device".

When I go to uninstall a Program there are the following:
-HP Deskjet 3520 series Basic Device Software
-HP Deskjet 3520 series Help
-HP Deskjet 3520 series Product Improvement Study
-HP Deskjet 3520 series Setup Guide,
If I try to uninstall any of them I got access denied.

I then tried the following:

-I ran CMD, launched PRINTUI /S /T2 and removed printer driver from there.
-I looked in the registry under
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Control\Print\Environments\ Windows NT x86\ Drivers\Version-3\
and
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Control\Print\Printers\,
there was nothing there.

In frustration I deleted the printer's folder in Program Files, now if I try to uninstall under uninstall a program the Windows Installer just hangs.

I still have the ghost image and can't find anything else to try.

Any suggestions will be welcome.
Thanks

 

[Ranger4]

Welcome to Windows Seven Forum.

Did you disconnect the printer from your computer before uninstalling the software from Programs & Features. Try that & see if it helps.
You could also try reinstalling the printer software as you have deleted it from Program Files & then try what I have suggested in disconnecting the printer & then uninstalling the software.

 

[TVeblen]

Deleting the Folder from Windows Explorer was not a good idea. The Windows installer will not find the folder to uninstall it and therefore will fail. Is it still in your recycle bin? If so, restore it.

To completely remove the printer, or it's phantom, you could try and uninstall it's driver from Print Server Properties.

• Open Devices & Printers > click on any printer to select it > in the top menu bar click "Print Server Properties > Go to the Drivers Tab > if found, select the name of the offending printer > click Remove.

 

[SuperdaveC]

Hi, thanks for the answers.
When I ran CMD, launched PRINTUI /S /T2 and removed printer driver from there, I believe I did remove it's driver from print server properties. When I click on the printer in devices and printers now, there isn't a print server properties available.

Deleting the folder was pretty stupid, I agree. I can't install the printer, it fails with "The software required for your printer could not be installed". I also restored the folder, but no joy with uninstalling or reinstalling printer software.

Is there any other place in the registry I can look? I would hate to reinstall windows just to fix my printer!

 

[TVeblen]

To see Print Server Properties you click to select ANY printer - it does not need to be the printer you are working on.
You need to be sure there is no driver installed for that printer.

In the Registry - you can use the FIND function and run a search for keys that contain the unique printer name. I would use "Deskjet" and then look for the 3525 to identify it as the correct key, then delete all keys it finds. (Use the F3 key to find the next entry).

Then I would do the same on the C: drive in Windows Explorer. And delete everything that comes up.

Of course, backup the Registry before starting and don't empty the Recycle Bin before restarting the PC to be sure nothing has been gummed up.

If the printer software still exists in ADD/REMOVE PROGRAMS you can delete it's entry there too.

 

[SuperdaveC]

When I tried to backup the registry it wouldn't allow me, to make a long story short I started to suspect something seriously wrong somewhere and tested my HDD - it failed.
So I guess I just won myself a new HDD.
Thanks for the help.

 

[TVeblen]

That is interesting. Please let us know if a new hard drive solves this for you.

 

[SuperdaveC]

When I tried to clone my drive it gave me a read sector failure, so there was definitely something wrong.
Anyway, reinstalled on new drive, reinstalled printer and everything still working correctly as of now.

 

[TVeblen]

Fascinating. Perhaps the sectors that were damaged contained the driver files.