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Manually Deleting the Printer Driver

If the printer driver was installed without using the installer, manually delete the printer driver.

  1. Display the printer window.
    • If the Windows 7 or Windows Server 2008 Revision 2 is running, select [Devices and Printers] from the Start menu.
      If [Devices and Printers] is not displayed, select [Control Panel] - [Hardware and Sound], and click [View devices and printers].
    • In Windows Vista/Server 2008, click [Control Panel] - [Hardware and Sound] - [Printers] from the Start menu. When [Control Panel] is displayed in Classic View, double-click [Printers].
    • In Windows XP/Server 2003, open the Start menu, then click [Printers and Faxes].
      If [Printers and Faxes] is not displayed, click [Control Panel] - [Printers and Other Hardware] - [Printers and Faxes]. When [Control Panel] is displayed in Classic View, double-click [Printers].
  2. Click the icon of the printer driver to be deleted.
  3. Remove the printer driver.
    • In Windows 7/Server 2008 R2, click [Remove device] on the toolbar.
    • In Windows XP/Vista/Server 2003/Server 2008, press the [Delete] key on the computer keyboard.
  4. From then on, follow the instructions on the pages that follow.

    When the printer driver is deleted, the icon disappears from the window.

  5. Open [Server Properties].
    • In Windows 7/Server 2008 R2, select a different printer, and click [Print Server Properties] on the toolbar.
    • In Windows Vista/Server 2008, right-click on the area that has nothing displayed in the [Printers] window, click [Run as administrator] - [Server Properties].
    • In Windows XP/Server 2003, click the [File] menu, then [Server Properties].
    • If the [User Account Control] window appears, click [Continue] or [Yes].
  6. Click the [Driver] tab.
  7. From the [Installed printer drivers:] list, select the printer driver to be removed, then click [Remove...].
    • In Windows Vista/7/Server 2008/Server 2008 R2, go to Step 8.
    • In Windows XP/Server 2003, go to Step 9.
  8. Select [Remove driver and driver package.] in the dialog box for confirming deletion target, then click [OK].
  9. In the dialog box for confirming if you are sure to remove the printer, click [Yes].
    • In Windows Vista/7/Server 2008/Server 2008 R2, the dialog box appears to reconfirm if you are sure. Click [Uninstall].
  10. Close the open windows, and then restart the computer.
    • Be sure to restart the computer.

    This completes the deletion process of the printer driver.

Tips
  • In Windows XP/Server 2003, if the printer driver is deleted in the above procedure, the model information files remain in the computer. For this reason, when reinstalling the same version of the printer driver, the driver may not be rewritten. In this case, remove the following files as well.
  • Check the "C:\WINDOWS\system32\spool\drivers\w3286" folder ("C:\WINDOWS\system32\spool\drivers\64" folder in the 64 system), and if there is a folder of the corresponding model, remove it. However, if multiple drivers are installed including the PCL KONICA MINOLTA driver, PostScript KONICA MINOLTA driver and fax driver, the model information of all drivers is deleted. To leave drivers other than the fax driver, do not remove the folder.
  • From the "C:\WINDOWS\inf" folder, remove "oem*.inf" and "oem*.PNF" ("*" included in the file name indicates a number, which differs depending on the computer environment).
    Before removing these files, open the inf file, and then check the model name described on the last few lines to confirm it is the file for the corresponding model. The number of the PNF file is the same as that of the inf file.
  • When you have deleted a file using [Remove driver and driver package.] in Windows Vista/7/Server 2008/Server 2008 R2, this operation is not required.