Changed printer name and can no longer use it

[Dave32137]

I changed the name of my printer from "HPI304CCI (HP Color LaserJet Pro 4201)" to "HP Color Laserjet Pro 4201" and I can no longer use it.  I am using Windows 11.  In the Control  Panel under Printers and Scanners, I drilled down to printer properties and that is where I changed the name.  When I returned to Printers and Scanners, the printer name did not change, and now there is a new line underneath, "Driver is unavailable".

I can't seem to find a way to undo what I did by changing the name, as I can no longer drill down to properties.  Nor can I delete the printer or reinstall it.  Nothing happens when I click on it.

Any suggestions would be appreciated.

[BeemerBiker]

Bring up the device manager.  If the printer does not show up (either one of them) then select the option to "Show hidden devices"

Uninstall the printers if both of them show up

Otherwise this may help

https://www.makeuseof.com/windows-remove-printer/

There should be nothing wrong with renaming a printer.  The only things I can think of is if there is a lot of jobs in the print queue then they will be stuck forever.  Also, it is a bad idea to rename a network printer as everyone else on the network will be upset about the renaming.

After you clear this up you should check for corrupted files

I suspect only the SFC needs to be run

How to use SFC or DISM to repair Windows

[Repairatrooper]

The name you changed looks like a standard HP Windows networking host name for a printer. (is different for every printer but the first couple of letters are pretty standard). Likely in changing the host name you broke the link between the driver and the printer. Network printer ports are often configured using host name and not IP address which keeps the printer connected if the ip address of the printer changes. 

[Dave32137 · Accepted solution]

Thank for the advise all of you have offered.  I found a location on my PC that allowed me to delete the printer (I tried so many places, I'm not sure exactly where I was).  Once deleted I was able to reinstall the printer and all is well now.

[BeemerBiker]

I have the same problem.  If I try too many things I do not know which one fixed the problem.  Sometimes it is the reboot of Windows (or my iPhone) that actually fixed the problem.

You might run that "SFC /scannow" to ensure that nothing got corrupted.