Thinkpads Forum

This is weird. This week, I noticed that all of my defined printers disappeared.

I made a point of not shutting down clean, thinking it would save my environment without printers. Instead, I just powered off, then rebooted and the printers reappeared.

Yesterday, I forgot and shutdown.
Now my printers seem gone for good.

I have backups, if someone could tell me where the printers are stored inside Windows.

Typically (not always), you can delete a printer, but that does not delete the driver. So just try re-adding the printers. With luck, the drivers will be there and be re-used. I would first do a normal shutdown, and then do a cold start.

Now, I have not seen printers "disappear", so scan for spyware before re-adding. ... JDH

jdhurst wrote:Typically (not always), you can delete a printer, but that does not delete the driver. So just try re-adding the printers. With luck, the drivers will be there and be re-used. I would first do a normal shutdown, and then do a cold start.

Now, I have not seen printers "disappear", so scan for spyware before re-adding. ... JDH

I know the drivers are still here, just the Defined Printers (accessed via Control Panel) window/object is empty.
Are the defined printers in a folder somewhere or in the registry, so I can just restore that place and be done?
I don't remember all the printeres I had, some local and some network, some here in my office, some in other offices..

Also, I run Spyware scans every Friday. Yesterday's didn't find anything...

Go into Printers and Faxes. Then select File -> Server Properties. Click on the Drivers tab, and you should see all your printers. That should allow you to make notes and re-add them fairly easily.

That said, I repeat: I don't believe a printer has ever "disappeared" on me (many machines and client machines), so my guess is that something is wrong with your system.
... JDH

jdhurst wrote:Go into Printers and Faxes. Then select File -> Server Properties.

Pop-up error message from "Print Server Properties" saying:
Server properties cannot be viewed. The print spooler service is not running.
The Print Spooler service was stopped.
I started it and all my printers re-appeared!
You're a genius!
THANK YOU!!!

Well, I thought it was fixed...

I can see all 9 on my printers in the Printers and Faxes folder.
But, if I try to print anything, that window/program hangs until I kill it.
Then, once one print function hangs, I can no longer view the Printers and Faxes folder - until a reboot.