How to remove printer driver on Windows 11

<!–

–>

On Windows 11, when you no longer connect to a printer, the peripheral will continue to be available on the computer, and even if you remove it, the process doesn’t delete the driver. Print drivers are stored on the computer in case they are needed in the future.

Although this might be a good approach to reinstall a printer without having to provide the controllers again, if you keep them on the computer will only waste space on the hard drive, and if a problem occurs and they get corrupted, they may cause other issues since the system will try use drivers that don’t work.

However, if you no longer need or want to remove a corrupted print driver, Windows 11 provides a way to uninstall it from the computer completely.

In this guide, you will learn the steps to remove a printer driver completely from Windows 11.

Uninstall printer driver on Windows 11

If you have to remove a printer and driver on Windows 11, you first need to use the Settings app to uninstall the printer and then the Print Management to delete the driver package from the computer.

1. Remove printer in Settings

To remove a printer on Windows 11, use these steps:

1. Open Settings on Windows 11

2. Click on Bluetooth & devices.

3. Click the Printers & scanners page on the right side.

4. Select the printer to open its properties.

   

5. Click the Remove button.

   

   .Windows_Software_Technology-Big-343 { display:inline-block; width: 300px; height: 600px; } @media(min-width: 500px) { .Windows_Software_Technology-Big-343 { width: 300px; height: 600px;} }

6. Click the Yes button.

Once you complete the steps, you can proceed to delete the driver from Windows 11.

2. Delete printer driver in Print Management

To completely remove the printer driver from the device, use these steps:

1. Open Start.

2. Search for Control Panel and click the top result to open the console.

3. Click on System and Security.

4. Click on Windows Tools.

   

5. Double-click the Print Management option.

6. Expand the Custom Filters branch.

7. Click on All Drivers from the left navigation pane.

8. Right-click the printer driver on the right side, and select the Delete option.

   

9. Click the Yes button.

After you complete the steps, the printer driver will no longer be available on the device. If you need to reinstall the peripheral, Windows 11 will need to download the driver again, or you will need to provide them manually.