Remove a Broken Printer Driver and Reset the Spooler

The driver list shows every package ever installed, including ones for printers that are gone. **Get-PrinterDriver** names the version and the INF behind each.

Get-Printer | Select-Object Name,DriverName,PortName,PrinterStatus
Get-PrinterDriver | Select-Object Name,Manufacturer,DriverVersion,InfPath
Get-Service Spooler | Select-Object Status,StartType

Deleting files in the PRINTERS folder while the service runs fails or corrupts the queue. Stop the service first, then delete the files, then start it.

Stop-Service Spooler -Force
Get-ChildItem "$env:systemroot\System32\spool\PRINTERS" | Select-Object Name,Length
Remove-Item "$env:systemroot\System32\spool\PRINTERS\*" -Force
Start-Service Spooler

**printui /s /t2** opens the driver store view where a package can be removed with its files. Remove-PrinterDriver does the same from PowerShell.

Remove-Printer -Name 'HP LaserJet 1020' -ErrorAction SilentlyContinue
Remove-PrinterDriver -Name 'HP LaserJet 1020' -ErrorAction SilentlyContinue
printui /s /t2
Get-PrinterDriver | Select-Object Name,InfPath

A driver that refuses to uninstall leaves an oemXX.inf entry. pnputil removes it at the store level, which is what the print UI cannot reach.

pnputil /enum-drivers | Select-String -Pattern 'Printer|Print' -Context 0,4
pnputil /delete-driver oem42.inf /uninstall /force
Get-WindowsDriver -Online | Where-Object ClassName -eq 'Printer' | Select-Object Driver,ProviderName,Date

Add the printer again with the vendor package, not the generic one, then print a test page. A single driver entry for one printer is the goal.

Add-PrinterDriver -Name 'HP LaserJet 1020'
Add-Printer -Name 'HP1020' -DriverName 'HP LaserJet 1020' -PortName 'USB001'
Get-Printer | Select-Object Name,DriverName,PrinterStatus
Start-Process "$env:systemroot\System32\printui.exe" -ArgumentList '/k /n HP1020'

Print three jobs and watch the folder. Files that remain after a successful job mean the spooler cannot delete them, which points at permissions on the folder.

1..3 | ForEach-Object { Start-Process notepad -ArgumentList '/p' } 2>$null
Get-ChildItem "$env:systemroot\System32\spool\PRINTERS" | Select-Object Name,Length
Get-WinEvent -LogName 'Microsoft-Windows-PrintService/Admin' -MaxEvents 10 -ErrorAction SilentlyContinue | Select-Object TimeCreated,Id,Message