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- HP Community
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- Mobile Printing & Cloud Printing
- How do I remove a defunct printer from Android?

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11-03-2019 09:22 AM - edited 11-03-2019 09:26 AM
Over a year ago, I tossed out my very old and finally broken printer, which was an HP Officejet.
I replaced this with an HP Envy.
I have done everything that I can possibly find through your forums and elsewhere on the internet to remove the old printer from my Android phone. But, still, every time I wish to print from my Android phone, it gives me my old HP Officejet as the default option.
In Android, I've gone to Settings > … > Printing >
- Cloud Print > this correctly shows the Envy (once as a Google Cloud printer and again as a local Classic printer), as well as the save-to-Google-Drive option. No Officejet is listed there.
- HP Print Service > this correctly shows only the Envy (once as a local printer and once as a remote printer).
- Default Print Service > this correctly shows only the Envy, as a local printer.
I have gone into the HP Smart app, because a number of posts say that you can remove the old printer from there, but nope, it's not listed there (the app correctly shows only the Envy).
In fact, the only place where I find the old printer is when I try to print, and it's presented as my default printer. It is, of course, greyed out, because the printer is unavailable — it was recycled months ago.
This has been going on all these months.
I want my Envy to be the default printer, and I don't want the old Officejet to be listed at all, anywhere, ever.
How can I fix this, please?
Using Pixel 2XL with Android 10.
Solved! Go to Solution.
Accepted Solutions
11-06-2019 04:35 AM
I uninstalled the two HP apps, which were HP Smart and HP Print Service Plugin, and restarted the phone.
The listed printers were all correct, and the old defunct printer had finally gone!
I have reinstalled HP Print Service Plugin and HP Smart, restarted the phone, and the printers are still all correct.
So, it seems that the remnants were somehow in the HP apps and not in the Android system.
11-05-2019 12:12 PM
@PaddyLandau, Welcome to the HP Support Community!
Since the printer does not appear in any of the printing apps and it is not near the Android device, there may be remnants of the printer on the phone. Resetting the phone to factory settings may help.
Let me know how this goes.
If you feel my post solved your issue, please click “Accept as Solution”, it will help others find the solution. Click the “Kudos/Thumbs Up" on the bottom right to say “Thanks” for helping!
KUMAR0307
I am an HP Employee
11-06-2019 02:53 AM
Thanks for your reply, Kumar.
Doing a factory reset on the phone will take far too much time setting it up again. I'll pass on that.
If the details are remnants in my phone rather than in the HP apps, I suppose that I should ask this same question on an Android forum.
11-06-2019 04:35 AM
I uninstalled the two HP apps, which were HP Smart and HP Print Service Plugin, and restarted the phone.
The listed printers were all correct, and the old defunct printer had finally gone!
I have reinstalled HP Print Service Plugin and HP Smart, restarted the phone, and the printers are still all correct.
So, it seems that the remnants were somehow in the HP apps and not in the Android system.