How to Completely Remove a Printer from Windows 11 & 10

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A comprehensive guide to removing local and networked printers

Co-authored by Nicole Levine, MFA Reviewed by Stan Kats

Last Updated: July 1, 2026 Fact Checked

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• Removing in Settings
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• Removing in Control Panel (Win 10)
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• Removing in Print Server Properties (Win 11)
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• Removing in Print Server Properties (Win 10)
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• Removing in Print Management
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• Removing in CMD
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• Removing in PowerShell
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• Removing in Device Manager
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• Removing in Regedit
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• Uninstalling the Printer App
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• Video

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When you add a printer to Windows 10 or 11, the printer and its driver are stored on your computer until you remove them. If there are printers you've installed by accident or no longer need, there are many ways to remove printers from your computer. In this article, we'll teach you several ways to completely remove printers you've installed on your Windows PC. If your printer still shows up after removing it from Settings or Control Panel, we'll also show you how to permanently delete the printer and its driver from other places on your computer.

Quick Steps to Remove Printers from Windows 11

1. Open the Start menu and click Settings.
2. Click Bluetooth and devices.
3. Click Printers & scanners.
4. Select a printer and click Remove.
5. If you still see evidence of the printer, try uninstalling the driver in Device Manager or the Registry Editor.

Steps

Method 1

Method 1 of 10:

Removing a Printer in Settings

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1. 
   1
   Open your Windows Settings. To open your Settings, press Windows key + i, or select Settings in the Start menu.
2. 
   2
   Click Bluetooth and devices. If you're using Windows 11, you'll see this option in the left panel. On Windows 10, click Devices instead.
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3. 
   3
   Click Printers & scanners. This displays a list of installed printers.
4. 
   4
   Select the printer you want to remove. This opens the settings for the selected printer.
5. 
   5
   Click Remove or Remove device. This removes the installed printer from Windows.

   • If you get an error, stop the print spooler, then try again. To stop it, type services.msc into the search bar and press Enter. Right-click Print Spooler and select Stop.
   • If the printer continues to appear when you're trying to print, try using the Device Manager method or the Registry Editor method next.
   • If you installed an app to manage your printer, be sure to uninstall it so there's no trace of your printer left on your PC.
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Method 2

Method 2 of 10:

Removing a Printer in Control Panel (Windows 10)

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1. 
   1
   Open the Control Panel. If you're using Windows 10, you can remove a printer using the Control Panel. To open the Control Panel, press the Windows key, type control, and click Control Panel in the search results.
2. 
   2
   Click View devices and printers. You'll see this under the "Hardware and sound" heading. This will display a list of connected devices and installed printers.

   • If you don't see this option, click Devices and Printers instead.
3. 
   3
   Right-click a printer and select Remove device. If prompted, click Yes to confirm. This will remove the printer from your Windows 10 PC.

   • If you get an error, stop the print spooler, then try again. To stop it, type services.msc into the search bar and press Enter. Right-click Print Spooler and select Stop.
   • If the printer continues to appear when you're trying to print, try using the Device Manager method or the Registry Editor method next.
   • If you installed an app to manage your printer, be sure to uninstall it so there's no trace of your printer left on your PC.
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Method 3

Method 3 of 10:

Removing a Printer in Print Server Properties (Windows 11)

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1. 
   1
   Open your Windows Settings. To open your Settings, press Windows key + i, or select Settings in the Start menu.
2. 
   2
   Click Bluetooth & devices. It'll be in the left panel.
3. 
   3
   Click Printers & scanners. It's in the right panel. A list of installed printers will appear.
4. 
   4
   Click Print server properties. It's the only option under "Related settings." A dialog window will open.
5. 
   5
   Click the Drivers tab. On this tab, you'll see a list of all installed printer drivers.
6. 
   6
   Select your printer's driver and click Remove…. A confirmation message will appear.
7. 
   7
   Select "Remove driver and driver package" and click OK. This completely removes the printer driver from your PC.

   • If you get an error, stop the print spooler, then try again. To stop it, type services.msc into the search bar and press Enter. Right-click Print Spooler and select Stop.
   • If the printer continues to appear when you're trying to print, try using the Device Manager method or the Registry Editor method next.
   • If you installed an app to manage your printer, be sure to uninstall it so there's no trace of your printer left on your PC.
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Method 4

Method 4 of 10:

Removing a Printer in Print Server Properties (Windows 10)

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1. 
   1
   Open the Control Panel. To open the Control Panel, press the Windows key, type control, and click Control Panel in the search results.
2. 
   2
   Click View devices and printers. You'll see this under the "Hardware and sound" heading. This will display a list of connected devices and installed printers.
3. 
   3
   Click your printer once, then select Print Server Properties. When you click the printer once to select it, some buttons will appear at the top of the window. Print Server Properties is one of those buttons.
4. 
   4
   Click the Drivers tab. On this tab, you'll see a list of all installed printer drivers.
5. 
   5
   Select your printer's driver and click Remove…. A confirmation message will appear.
6. 
   6
   Select "Remove driver and driver package" and click OK. This completely removes the printer driver from your PC.

   • If you get an error, stop the print spooler, then try again. To stop it, type services.msc into the search bar and press Enter. Right-click Print Spooler and select Stop.
   • If the printer continues to appear when you're trying to print, try using the Device Manager method or the Registry Editor method next.
   • If you installed an app to manage your printer, be sure to uninstall it so there's no trace of your printer left on your PC.
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Method 5

Method 5 of 10:

Removing a Printer in Print Management

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1. 
   1
   Open the Print Management panel. If you're using Windows 10 or 11 Pro or Enterprise and are managing network printers, you can use the Print Management tool to remove installed printers. This won't work on Home editions of Windows. To open Print Management:

   • Press Windows key + R.
   • Type printmanagement.msc.
   • Click OK.
2. 
   2
   Expand the "Print Servers" section. You'll see this in the left panel.
3. 
   3
   Expand the print server that the printer is connected to. Several options will appear.
4. 
   4
   Click Printers under the print server's name. All connected printers will appear in the right panel.
5. 
   5
   Right-click a printer and select Delete. Alternatively, if you're using Active Directory, select Remove from directory instead. This removes the printer.
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Method 6

Method 6 of 10:

Removing a Printer in Command Prompt

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1. 
   1
   Run Command Prompt as an administrator. To do this, type cmd into the Windows search bar, right-click Command Prompt, and select Run as administrator.

   • You can use these steps to remove an installed printer in Windows 10 or 11 with simple commands.
2. 
   2
   Type wmic printer get name and press ↵ Enter. This returns a list of installed printers. Take note of the name of the printer you want to remove.
3. 
   3
   Type printui.exe /dl /n "Printer_Name" and press ↵ Enter. Replace "Printer_Name" with the name of the printer you want to remove. This removes the printer from Windows.

   • If you get an error, stop the print spooler, then try again. To stop it, type services.msc into the search bar and press Enter. Right-click Print Spooler and select Stop.
   • If the printer continues to appear when you're trying to print, try using the Device Manager method or the Registry Editor method next.
   • If you installed an app to manage your printer, be sure to uninstall it so there's no trace of your printer left on your PC.
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Method 7

Method 7 of 10:

Removing a Printer in PowerShell

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1. 
   1
   Run PowerShell as an administrator. To do this in Windows 11, right-click the Start menu and select Terminal (Admin). In Windows 10, right-click the Start menu and select Open PowerShell as an administrator.

   • You can use these steps to remove an installed printer in Windows 10 or 11 with simple commands.
2. 
   2
   Type Get-Printer | Format-Table and press ↵ Enter. This displays a list of connected printers in an easy-to-read table format. Make note of the name of the printer you want to remove in the "Name" column.
3. 
   3
   Type Remove-Printer -Name "Printer_Name" and press ↵ Enter. Replace "Printer_Name" with the name of the printer you want to remove. This removes the printer from Windows.

   • If you get an error, stop the print spooler, then try again. To stop it, type services.msc into the search bar and press Enter. Right-click Print Spooler and select Stop.
   • If the printer still appears, you may need to remove the driver as well. To do, run the command Remove-PrinterDriver -Name "Printer-Name".
   • If you installed an app to manage your printer, be sure to uninstall it so there's no trace of your printer left on your PC.
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Method 8

Method 8 of 10:

Removing a Printer in Device Manager

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1. 
   1
   Open Device Manager. If you removed an installed printer on Windows 10 or 11 but it still shows up when you try to print, you may be able to get rid of it permanently by uninstalling its drivers in Device Manager. To open this tool, right-click the Start menu and select Device Manager.
2. 
   2
   Click the View menu and select Show hidden devices. This ensures all devices are displayed.
3. 
   3
   Expand the "Printers" section. If you don't see this section, expand "Print queues" instead. Any installed printers will appear here.
4. 
   4
   Right-click a printer and select Uninstall device. A confirmation message will appear.
5. 
   5
   Select "Delete the driver software for this device" and click Uninstall. This completely removes the printer from Windows 10 and 11.

   • If you get an error, stop the print spooler, then try again. To stop it, type services.msc into the search bar and press Enter. Right-click Print Spooler and select Stop.
   • If you installed an app to manage your printer, be sure to uninstall it so there's no trace of your printer left on your PC.
   • If your printer still appears when you try to print, try removing it from the registry.
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Method 9

Method 9 of 10:

Removing a Printer in the Registry Editor

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1. 1
   Open the Registry Editor. If you've already removed a printer and its driver but still see it in some places on Windows 10 or 11, you can fix the issue by removing it from the registry. To open the Registry Editor, type regedit into the Start search, then press Enter.
2. 2
   Navigate to the printer environments key. The easiest way to do this is to copy this path and paste it into the address bar at the top of the Registry Editor: Computer\HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Control\Print\Environments.
3. 3
   Select your version of Windows. In most cases, you'll want to select Windows x64 under the "Environments" folder heading in the left panel. If you're using a 32-bit version of Windows, select Windows x86 instead.

   • To find out if your Windows PC is 64-bit or 32-bit, check out our guide to finding the bit count of your computer.
4. 4
   Expand the "Drivers" folder and find your printer's entry. Your printer driver may appear under any of these subfolders (e.g., Version-3 or Version-4), so check any that appear. Just look for the name of your printer and select its folder entry.
5. 5
   Right-click the printer driver and select Delete. This removes the printer's driver from your computer.
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Method 10

Method 10 of 10:

Uninstalling the Printer App

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1. 
   1
   Open your Windows Settings. If you used an app to manage your printer, you can uninstall it so it no longer appears in the Start menu. To open your Settings, press Windows key + i, or select Settings in the Start menu.
2. 2
   Select Apps. It's in the left panel on Windows 11. On Windows 10, click the Apps icon.
3. 3
   Click Installed apps (Windows 11) or Apps & features (Windows 10). A list of installed apps will appear.
4. 
   4
   Uninstall your printer's app. Follow these steps to remove your printer's application:

   • On Windows 11, click the three-dot menu ••• on your printer and select Uninstall.
   • On Windows 10, click your printer's app, then click the Uninstall button.
   • If you get an error, stop the print spooler, then try again. To stop it, type services.msc into the search bar and press Enter. Right-click Print Spooler and select Stop.
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