Author Topic: Delete a Ghost Printer from Windows 10  (Read 1241 times)

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rsutter

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Delete a Ghost Printer from Windows 10
« on: December 04, 2019, 08:21:34 PM »
Hello All,
Running Windows 10 on my Dell 8930 desktop, I recently used Word's Mail Merge to address my Christmas envelopes.  When I tried to print the envelopes, my Brother MFC-J870DW inkjet printer told me that I was using the wrong size paper.
I tried performing the same action with the same printer from a my Lenovo X1 Yoga, computer laptop, the envelopes printed normally.  I decided to delete the printer from the first computer and reinstall it.
That didn't work. 

While the entry in Printers and Scanners showed that the printer was deleting, it never finished doing so even after numerous shut downs and restarts.
I reinstalled the drivers for the printer.  This gave me the entry,  MFC-J870DW (Copy 1) and I could successfully print Mail Merged envelopes choosing that "printer" but the original MFC-J870DW just told me that the paper was the wrong size.
(I remind you that the same printer with the same envelopes printed them successfully from the laptop and (Copy 1).

I finally stumbled across the solution to removing the non-functional MFC-J870DW by performing the following actions
I went to the Windows Search Window (Windows Key + S)
Typed run
Typed printmanagement.msc
Double Clicked on All Printers
In an open area of that last screen, I right-clicked the mouse and then left-clicked Refresh

True to its name, the Refresh command refreshed the listing of printers.  That listing no longer included the entry MFC-J870DW (deleting)
I hope that others faced with a similar issue find this post useful and save themselves from the exasperation that I experienced.
Ralph Sutter


« Last Edit: December 04, 2019, 08:25:24 PM by rsutter »