Dear Microsoft support team,
My printer stays offline and cannot be connected (the "connect" is in gray color). I try to remove it from control panel but not successful. The status is now freezing "offline" and "removing device". Please help.
SB
April 10, 2025
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I cannot remove printer in windows 10.
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Hello SahatayaBoonmakitimasak, my name is Farah and I'm an Independent Adviser. I can help you regarding this problem
Follow those steps:
- Right click on the Printer, and click on See whats printing.
- If there was any print jobs there, select them and delete them.
- Right click on the Printer again, and click on Properties, and Go to Drivers tab
- Find your Printer and select it, then choose remove driver
- If those options above are not possible to do, skip and do this next:
- Type in Start Menu "Services.msc" and open it
- search for Printer Spooler service, once found, right click on it and restart it.
Feel free to ask back any questions and let us know how it goes. I will keep working with you until it's resolved
Cheers!
Farah
Follow those steps:
- Right click on the Printer, and click on See whats printing.
- If there was any print jobs there, select them and delete them.
- Right click on the Printer again, and click on Properties, and Go to Drivers tab
- Find your Printer and select it, then choose remove driver
- If those options above are not possible to do, skip and do this next:
- Type in Start Menu "Services.msc" and open it
- search for Printer Spooler service, once found, right click on it and restart it.
Feel free to ask back any questions and let us know how it goes. I will keep working with you until it's resolved
Cheers!
Farah
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Dear Farah,
Thank you very much for your support. Your advice can help to clean up the "offline" status but not removing the device. I cannot use the printer nor re-installing it.
Please help, thank you.
Sahataya.
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Press Windows Key and type Print - choose Print Management - under All drivers - remove the corresponding printer driver, and under All Printers - Remove the Printer.
Regards
Jegan
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Hello Sahataya,
Clearing the offline status should be done by step 2,
The steps afterwards will remove the driver and the printer.
Have you deleted the driver as in step 4? did you receive any error messages when deleting or when restarting the printer spooler service?
Regards
Farah
Clearing the offline status should be done by step 2,
The steps afterwards will remove the driver and the printer.
Have you deleted the driver as in step 4? did you receive any error messages when deleting or when restarting the printer spooler service?
Regards
Farah
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Dear Farah,
I did all the steps but still cannot remove the printer. There was no error message neither when deleting or when restarting the printer spooler service. It still cannot be removed. The printer icon turns gray and its status is "removing device".
Sahataya.
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Hello Sahataya,
Could you open Device manager, then click on View > show hidden devices.
You'll see a new device category called print queues, there you find all installed printers on your device.
Please try deleting the stuck printer from there.
If it didn't workout, we can try removing it from the registry. I Personally would leave registry solutions as a last resort.
Please let me know hot it goes.
Farah
Could you open Device manager, then click on View > show hidden devices.
You'll see a new device category called print queues, there you find all installed printers on your device.
Please try deleting the stuck printer from there.
If it didn't workout, we can try removing it from the registry. I Personally would leave registry solutions as a last resort.
Please let me know hot it goes.
Farah
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Dear Farah,
I can remove the stuck printer from device manager and no error message.
But it does not work, still stuck at "removing device" status. Please advise for next step.
Thank you.
Sahataya.
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Hey Sahataya,
Can you type in start menu printui /s /t2 then right click and run as an administrator
Check there if the printer still exists, if yes, remove it again.
Does the printer icon still says offline? in so, double click on the print queue > click on Printer > /open as an administrator, then uncheck use offline.
You should restart the print spooler service after each try to see if it worked or not.
If still no success, post please a screenshot :)
Cheers!
Farah
Can you type in start menu printui /s /t2 then right click and run as an administrator
Check there if the printer still exists, if yes, remove it again.
Does the printer icon still says offline? in so, double click on the print queue > click on Printer > /open as an administrator, then uncheck use offline.
You should restart the print spooler service after each try to see if it worked or not.
If still no success, post please a screenshot :)
Cheers!
Farah
4 people found this reply helpful
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Great! Thanks for your feedback.
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Question Info
Last updated April 23, 2025 Views 84,670 Applies to: