Uninstall Not Uninstalling

[Alwyn42]

I have an HP Laptop 15 wirelessly attached to HP Officejet Pro 6970. Every now and again the Laptop stops being able to send documents to the printer. If I use HP Smart the laptop communicates with the printer and prints test pages, reports etc. However printing from Office 365 is impossible and the error message is that the printer is not connected. I have tried uninstalling and reinstalling the printer. This fails because the re-install fails. It seems clear to me that the uninstall is still leaving behind stuff that prevents the reinstall from happening. The only way I have found to solve the problem is by a complete, clean reinstall of the laptop: a four hour task. My questions:

1 Why might this problem be occurring when it does not happen to two other HP laptops (different models) wirlessly connected to the same printer?

2. Why does the uninstall not, in fact, uninstall. I have tried all the steps listed by an HP techie in another thread. They don't solve the problem.

3. How do I actually get the the Officejet Pro 6970 completely and cleanly uninstalled. Does HP or some third party have software that will do this?

4. I have done a complete re-installation three times in the last six weeks. That is over twelve hours of work for what should be a ten minute operation.

Thank you for your help and advice.

[sandytechy20]

@Alwyn42

Welcome to HP Support community.

Perform root level uninstallation to remove all the printer related software's.

• In Windows, search for and open Programs and Features.
• Select your HP printer.
• Select Uninstall.
• In Windows, search for and open Devices and Printers.
• In the Devices and Printers window look for your HP Printer. If you see it listed, right-click on it and choose "Delete" or "Remove Device.”
• Open up the run command with the "Windows Key + R" key combo.
• Type printui.exe /s and click OK.
• Click on Drivers tab.
• Look for HP Printer driver. If you see it click on it and click Remove at the bottom.
• Select OK.
• Remove all instances of the same.
• Select Apply and OK on the Print Server Properties windows.
• Close Devices and Printers. 
• Restart the PC again.

Download and install printer full feature driver

Click here to download the driver.

The issue could have been caused by the security settings changed on the user profile. 

You may either create a new user, login with the new user profile to install the printer or Turn off the UAC from the control panel and Restart the PC. 

Here are the steps to configure UAC settings: 

Open User Account Control Settings by clicking the Start button and then clicking Control Panel. In the search box, type uac, and then click Change User Account Control settings. 

To turn off UAC, move the slider to the Never notify position, and then click OK.  

if you're prompted for an administrator password or confirmation, type the password or provide confirmation. You will need to restart your computer for UAC to be turned off. 

I hope that helps.

To thank me for my efforts to help you, please mark my post as an accepted solution so that it benefits several others.

Cheers.

[Alwyn42]

Thank you very much for your advice. I have coped and saved your recommendations/steps and will try them the next time this problem occurs: which it will.

We seem to get the problem, always on the same laptop, and normally after a windows update. We have tried re-setting to a restore point but that never seems to complete properly. 

Your solution is far preferable to a complete re-install of the laptop, which so far is the only solution that works. It does have inconvenience that it uninstalls 100% of the hp printer software on the machine which is linked to two separate and different models but then a complete machine re installation does exactly the same thing.

Your solution begs the question why HP does not issue a proper de-installation app. Clearly using windows to uninstall is not doing the job.

[sandytechy20]

@Alwyn42

There is no application to uinstall the drivers.

However, you can user HP print and scan doctor to update the printer drivers and fix printer issues:- Click here

I hope that helps.

Cheers.

[Alwyn42]

Thank you for the suggestion. Unfortunately, whatever problem we have is way beyond the capabilities of HP Print and Scan Doctor which finds nothing wrong. When this problem occurs, programmes from HP like HP Smart can still connect to the printer. I can review Ink levels, I can print any and all printer reports. However, outside this closed sphere all other programmes say the printer is not installed. Uninstalling using Windows 10 app does NOT completely uninstall the printer and leaves so many traces behind that a fresh installation fails every time. One of you colleagues has suggested a number of steps to take in addition to using the windows app. This would seem to confirm that HP is aware that there is a problem associated with uninstalling an HP printer. Whence my wish to see HP issue uninstallation software that actually does what it is supposed to do.

[sandytechy20]

@Alwyn42

This might require remote access of the computer to fix the issue.

I request you to talk to HP support.

They might have multiple options to help you with this.

1. Click on this link - https://support.hp.com/us-en/contact-hp?openCLC=true
2. Select the country.
3. Enter the serial of your device.
4. Select the country from the drop-down.
5. Click on "Show Options".
6. Fill the web-form. A case number and phone number will now populate for you.

I hope that helps.

To thank me for my efforts to help you, please mark my post as an accepted solution so that it benefits several others.

Cheers.

[Alwyn42]

Thank you for the suggestion. I have added that to my notes of your previous suggestions/steps and will use then next time I run across the problem. Without wishing to sound like a cracked record, none of this would be necessary if HP had a proper uninstall app.

Thanks again for your help. I very much appreciate your efforts.

[sandytechy20]

@Alwyn42

You are welcome, feel free to contact us in the future if you need any assistance.

Cheers.