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How to Manually Delete Print Shares or Printers

Microsoft Knowledge Base Article - 102116

SUMMARY

If you are troubleshooting Windows NT or applications that are running in Windows NT, you may need to verify that a print share or installed printer has been completely deleted. The following information shows the default locations in the registry database for references to installed printers or print shares in Windows NT versions 3.1, 3.5, 3.51 and 4.0.

MORE INFORMATION

It is rarely necessary to remove a printer by altering the registry. In most cases, you can remove a printer in Print Manager or the Printer folder using the Remove or Delete Printer option. This immediately removes the printer, but internally the spooler marks the printer for deletion and does not actually delete the printer until the next time that the Spooler Service starts. Therefore, you should stop and restart the Spooler Service before attempting to recreate a printer, or before attempting to remove a printer port that a recently deleted printer was using. Also, you should close Print Manager or the Printers folder before restarting the Spooler.

In summary, if you use the Print Manager or Printers folder to remove a printer or printer port, then close Print Manager or the Printers folder, stop and restart the Spooler Service. If you reopen Print Manager or the Printers folder, and the printer or port is still present, then you should consider removing the printer or port by altering the registry.

NOTE: ALL references must be deleted to ensure complete removal of the print share or installed printer. You must also either Stop and Start the Spooler Service or shutdown and restart Windows NT for these changes to take effect.

Modifying the Registry

WARNING: If you use Registry Editor incorrectly, you may cause serious problems that may require you to reinstall your operating system. Microsoft cannot guarantee that you can solve problems that result from using Registry Editor incorrectly. Use Registry Editor at your own risk.
 

  1. Run Registry Editor (regedt32.exe).
  2. Go to the appropriate registry location mentioned below for your version of Windows NT.
  3. Delete the registry information for printer(s) and/or server(s) you want to remove.

    NOTE: It is recommended that you first save each registry key before you delete it.

The following registry paths apply to Intel-based (x86) computers. If you are running an Alpha-, MIPS-, or PPC-based computer, substitute the x86 portion of the entries below with the correct processor type (Alpha_AXP, R4000, or PowerPC). Text enclosed in angle brackets (<>) or presented in italics refers to machine- specific or printer names. "\\server name\Printer" refers to the universal naming convention (UNC) path to the specific print share.

Windows NT 4.0

If the printer is installed locally (My Computer), the printer information is located in the following registry keys:

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Control\Print\Environments\Windows NT x86\Drivers\Version-2\Printer Name

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Control\Print\Printers\Printer Name

If the printer is installed as a network printer (Network printer server or \\server name), the printer information is located in the following registry keys:

HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Printers\Connections\server name

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Control\Print\Providers\LanMan Print Services\Servers\server name\Printers\Printer Name