I'm troubleshooting a print issue on a particular workstation, Windows 7 Pro. I can open Devices and Printers and access all the info, like Printer Properties, Printing Preferences, etc., from there. The computer will print. But, if Properties is accessed from within a program (i.e. Excel: Print > Properties), Properties never opens, and the Menu/Toolbars/Ribbon portion of the program hangs thereafter.
• I can still access everything about printers from Devices and Printers, and even print test pages.
• The print dialog will close, and I can still work in the main body of the program, but everything mentioned above is unresponsive.
• Can only close the program from Task Manager.
• This is computer-wide (occurs on multiple user accounts); affects Office (2007) programs, and Acrobat/Reader at the very least, if not all programs.
• Have to log out and back in to clear the issue.
• sfc /scannow found nothing to fix.
• The only errors in the event logs relate to the specific programs becoming unresponsive and having to be force-closed.
I've found topics that address this issue, but most of the solutions involve removing printers, deleting drivers, etc.
• I can't remove the printers (as local and domain admin). They are pushed from the domain via GPO/script, Windows Server 2008. I'm told I'm not allowed (by the computer).
• I have successfully stopped spoolsv, deleted everything in %Windows%/System 32/spool/drivers, started spoolsv (restarting between steps), and succeeded once in making the HP printers ask for the universal print driver. The problem went away for one print from Excel, then returned to normal.
• There's nothing listed to delete in the .../spool/PRINTERS/ and .../spool/SERVERS/ folders.
• Using printui /s /t2 command as often suggested, I can't remove anything from there because it's denied or the printers are all in use still.
• I do have access to some other, general printer-related settings, but those make no difference.
So, the question: How can I go about deleting and removing these printers to make progress troubleshooting, to at least know there isn't some issue with a print driver? Everything I find more immediately is about adding, managing, and removing printers en masse. I don't want to affect the printer setup for every other computer in the office. Everything else relies on printui and such, for all of which I'm being denied when it comes to deleting printers.
I do still have other non-printer steps to try (like reverting to a Restore Point or reinstalling programs or more thoroughly testing for infections with a battery of auxiliary AV), but I'm refraining from asking about the printer issue specifically here (beyond how to get at the printers relative to print server, domain, GPO).
