How to delete cached copies of the printer drivers

Deleting cached drivers for ALL printers

If this is a possibility, it's easier to delete the cached copies for ALL installed printers: Make a list of all the installed printers and their names (if they live on a print server) Go inside control panel => printers, delete all the printers Start => run => services.msc Stop Print Spooler

Back up the whole folder c:\windows\system32\spool\ Go inside c:\windows\system32\spool\drivers\w32x86 and delete everything there .

Start => run => services.msc Start Print Spooler Reinstall the printers

Deleting the cached drivers for HP printers

Write down the make, model and name of the printer. Go inside control panel => printers and delete the problematic printer Start => run => services.msc Stop Print Spooler

Back up the whole folder c:\windows\system32\spool\ Go inside c:\windows\system32\spool\drivers\w32x86 and delete all files that begin with "HP" (this was an HP printer)

Start => run => services.msc Start Print Spooler Reinstall the printer.

Deleting the cached drivers for a specific printer other than an HP

The instructions above for the HP printers can be applied for other makes and models, but you need to know the names of the driver files... Sometimes you can get the names of the driver files before deleting the printer: Go to control panel => printers => right click the printer => properties => look for an "about" tab or a "Device" tab or a "drivers" tab.