This might be a reason you keep seeing the printer even after you’ve removed it. The first solution to try when your PC displays a “Driver is unavailable” error is to update your printer drivers. Doing so updates the files that help your printer communicate with your computer. In this case, first get rid of the printer software and then try to remove the printer itself. If you open the Add a printer page and find old printers still listed there, edit the registry to remove leftover entries. To do this, start by creating a system restore point, and then follow the steps below.
You may need to restart your PC for any changes to take effect fully, however. Struggling with an installed component or attached peripheral on a Windows PC? A common troubleshooting fix is to update the device driver. The Windows Driver Frameworks (WDF) are a set of libraries that make it simple to write high-quality device drivers. Setting SearchOrderConfig to 0 will block drivers from updating every time Windows 10 checks for new updates.
Update the Printer Drivers and Then Uninstall the Printer
If you fail to update your drivers, it can lead to bigger problems. Apart from missing out on new features or performance upgrades, your device may be susceptible to threats such as hacks or viruses and may even stop it from working at all. In addition, if you don’t update the driver of a critical component of your computer, like the motherboard or video card, your computer may become inoperable.
- You can also enable it by clicking on the driver and selecting enable on the top of the window.
- The following PowerShell script adds the example certificate PrinterDriver.cer to both the Trusted Publishers store and the Trusted Root Certification Authorities store.
- The catalog windows 11 FS-4100DN driver file itself has to be signed with a certificate and the publisher (the issuer) of the certificate has to be trusted.
- Also, optional drivers are generally outdated and include OEM customization as opposed to the driver provided by vendors, such as Intel, Nvidia and AMD.
In Device Manager, find the device related to the driver in question, select the Properties menu, select the Driver tap and click Roll Back Driver. To check if you’ve installed any of these bad drivers, open Settings, click Update & Security, tap Windows Update and select View update history. Annoyingly, you can’t uninstall the 1968 Intel – System driver, so scroll down to find out how to fix this if you installed it. The drivers we’re talking about today have been delivered to systems via the Optional Updates section that returned in August 2020. This new section of Windows Update splits apart the system critical updates that Microsoft believes you need to install soon, and those updates that aren’t essential.
Method 2: Update Windows 10 drivers using Device Manager
Another way of automatically updating drivers for network adapters, printers, keyboards, and other components is through Device Manager. You can also uninstall or disable the device, and also view the hardware’s properties (driver version, device status, etc.), if needed.
Once the update installs, it’s a good idea to confirm that the latest version was added correctly using Device Manager. Browse our knowledge base articles for information about specific products. Follow along with the video below to see how to install our site as a web app on your home screen. It can be tricky to work out what an unknown device is, but if you already know which component isn’t working it’s an easier process of elimination. You can also look at a device’s properties to see if there are any ID codes you can google to discover exactly what it is. Additional utilities to get the most functionality out of your Brother machine are compatible with Windows 10.