A Guide on Removing a Printer Driver from Windows 11

|

|

The post provides a step-by-step guide on how to remove a printer driver in Windows 11. Even though Windows retains printer drivers for future reuse, the post advises that unnecessary or corrupted drivers are best removed and replaced with new ones. The process involves removing the printer through the System Settings pane, and then deleting…

This post shows students and new users steps to delete or remove a printer driver in Windows 11.

When you remove a printer in Windows, the removal process doesn’t delete the printer’s drivers. The drivers will remain installed on the computer so that they can be reused if needed in the future.

When you get a similar printer, simply connect it to Windows, and it should start working with the same previously installed drivers. Windows comes with some pre-installed printer drivers for the most popular printers. That’s why some popular printers automatically work when connected to Windows 11.

Although installing a printer with currently installed printer drivers is a good approach, some drivers may not work as well as others. If there’s a problem with the current printer drivers or they are corrupted, it’s better to simply delete them and install new ones working with a printer.

Why install it on your computer if you no longer need a printer driver? Why waste space or have drivers you’re not going to use again?

How to remove a printer from Windows 11

As mentioned above, one can easily delete a printer driver from Windows. If a printer driver is not used again, you can simply delete it from your computer, and the steps below show you how.

First, you must remove the printer you will no longer be removing. Below is how to remove a printer from Windows 11.

Windows 11 has a centralized location for the majority of its settings. Everything can be done, from system configurations to creating new users and updating Windows from its System Settings pane.

To get to System Settings, you can use the Windows key + I shortcut or click on Start ==> Settings, as shown in the image below:

Alternatively, you can use the search box on the taskbar and search for Settings. Then select to open it.

Windows Settings pane should look similar to the image below. In Windows Settings, click Bluetooth & devices, then select the Printers & Scanners tile on the right pane of your screen, shown in the image below.

Next, click on the tile of the printer you want to delete from Windows. If you have multiple printers installed on your PC, they should all be listed on this page.

Once the printer detail pane opens, click the Remove button to remove the printer from Windows.

How to delete a printer driver in Windows 11

Now that the printer has been removed, you can delete the drivers associated with the printer.

To delete a driver, open the Control Panel in Windows 11

Then go to the System and Security category.

Click Windows Tools.

On the Windows Tool page, click and open Print Management.

Expand the Custom Filters branch and select All Drivers from the left navigation pane.

Locate the printer driver on the list, right-click, and select Remove Driver Package.

Click Yes when prompted to confirm the removal.

That should do it!

Conclusion:

This post showed you how to remove a printer driver from Windows 11. Please use the comment form below if you find any errors above or have something to add.

Like this:



One response to “A Guide on Removing a Printer Driver from Windows 11”

  1. Riley Avatar
    Riley

    What does it mean if the “remove” button isn’t there when you open up the printer in settings?

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.