Remove Printer in Windows 10

If you have a printer installed in Windows 10 that you no longer use,  it is a good idea to remove it. It can be a shared printer that is no longer accessible, or a physically disconnected printer. Today, we will review different methods you can use to remove the installed printer in Windows 10.

To remove a printer in Windows 10, you must be signed in with an administrative account.  You can remove your printer using the Control Panel, Settings, PowerShell, Printer Management, the classic Printers Folder,  Device Manager, or Power Shell. Let's review these methods.

We will start with Settings. Settings is a Universal app bundled with Windows 10. It is created to replace the classic Control Panel for both touch screen users and mouse and keyboard Desktop users. It consists of several pages which bring new options to configure Windows 10 along with some older options inherited from the classic Control Panel. In every release, Windows 10 is getting more and more classic options converted to a modern page in the Settings app. At some point, Microsoft might remove the classic Control Panel completely.

To remove a printer in Windows 10, do the following.

1. Open the Settings app.
2. Go to Devices -> Printers & scanners.
3. On the right, click on the printer you want to rename and then click on the button Remove device.
4. Confirm the operation and you are done.

Remove a printer with the Control Panel

1. Open the classic Control Panel app.
2. Go to Control Panel\Hardware and Sound\Devices and Printers.
3. Right-click on the printer you want to remove, and select Remove device from the context menu.
4. Confirm the operation.

The Printers Folder

The classic Printers folder is hidden in Windows 10. For many advanced users it provides a familiar GUI. If you like that folder, you can use it to manage your printers.

1. Press the Win + R keys to open the Run dialog. Type the command shell:PrintersFolder into the Run box.
2. In the Printers folder, right-click on the printer you want to remove, and select Remove device from the context menu.
3. Confirm the operation.

Tip: See the article Create Printers Folder Shortcut in Windows 10 to learn more about the shell:PrintersFolder command.

Remove a Printer using Print Management

Windows 10 includes the Printer Management MMC span-in that offers extended options to manage your local and network printers. See Backup and Restore Printers in Windows 10. It can be used to remove a printer.

1. Press the Win + R keys on the keyboard and type printmanagement.msc into the Run box.
2. On the left side of Printer Management, select Printer Servers and expand it to the local print server item.
3. Click on the Printers item on the left.
4. Right-click on the printer you want to remove in the middle pane of the snap-in, and select Delete from the context menu.
5. Confirm the operation.

Using Device Manager

1. Press Win + X keys together on the keyboard and click Device Manager.
   
   Tip: you can customize the Win + X menu of Windows 10.
2. In the device tree, find your printer under Print queues.
3. Right-click on it and select Uninstall device from the context menu.
4. In the next dialog, click on the button Uninstall to confirm the operation.

 

Remove a printer using PowerShell

1. Open PowerShell as Administrator. Tip: You can add "Open PowerShell As Administrator" context menu.
2. Type or copy-paste the following command:

   Get-Printer | Format-Table Name,Shared

   The command will print a table with your printers and their sharing status.

3. Type the following command: Remove-Printer -Name "Printer name". Substitute the "Printer Name" portion with the actual name of the printer you want to remove.

Using printui.exe

Windows 10 comes with a special tool, printui.exe, that provides the ability to manages a printers using a command line. This is particularly useful when you add or remove a printer from a group of users using a login script or a scheduled event.

To remove a printer using printui.exe, execute the command as Administrator:

printui.exe /dl /n "Microsoft Print to PDF"

Replace "Microsoft Print to PDF" with the actual name of the printer you want to remove.

To learn more about printui.exe, press the Win + R keys on the keyboard and type printui /? into the Run box.

That's it!

Related articles:

• Rename Printer in Windows 10
• Add Shared Printer in Windows 10
• How to Share a Printer in Windows 10
• Backup and Restore Printers in Windows 10
• Open Printer Queue With a Shortcut in Windows 10
• Set Default Printer in Windows 10
• How to stop Windows 10 from changing the default printer
• Open Printer Queue in Windows 10
• Create Printers Folder Shortcut in Windows 10
• Clear Stuck Jobs from Printer Queue in Windows 10
• Create Devices and Printers Shortcut in Windows 10
• Add Devices and Printers Context Menu in Windows 10
• Add Devices and Printers To This PC in Windows 10