Remove Old Drivers From Windows Successfully

Remove Drivers Of Old Device

If you repeatedly get errors while installing your new printer, scanner or MFD, you might need to delete the drivers of the old device from Device Manager, and start the process all over again. Windows only shows active devices in the device manager, and to remove the drivers of the old printer or scanner, you must connect the device again to the PC. If this is not possible, the invisible devices will stay hidden.

To delete the old drivers, press Pause/Break  when holding down the Windows button. If you don't see Pause button on your keyboard, not worry, most laptops don’t have it. Go to run and type ‘Keyboard’. You will see virtual keyboard on the list, click on it. This will open up on-screen keyboard. Hold Windows button on the real keyboard and press Pause button on the on-screen keyboard (now don't ask me how to do that).

This will throw up the System Properties window. Click Advanced System Settings, which is on the left side. This will open up ‘System Properties’. Click on Environment variables on the bottom right. Now click New.

In the next Window, type “devmgr_show_nonpresent_Device” next to Variable name and type the number “1” in the field next to Variable value. Close the window, click the OK button on the System Properties window and  restart the computer.

Once the computer restarts, press Pause/Break when holding the Windows button again. In the next Window, click on Device manager. In the following window, go to View and activate Show hidden devices. Now the devices that are not connected will appear, but the rogue drivers are still installed. Right-click on the concerned device in the Device Manager and uninstall it along with its drivers.