Win7 Pro, an HP Officejet AIO self-installed (plug & play) on USB a few weeks ago. Then the printer was disconnected to send to an "out of office" employee and a different HP - just a color Officejet printer - was plugged in USB & also self-installed. The old printer was "deleted" from the "Devices & Printers" but every time the user logs in, the old printer returns like a ghost, its image greyed-out. I have tried - to no avail - to remove it completely. I've gone into "print server properties/drivers" and tried o remove the "driver & package" - it fails claiming the AIO is still in use, which of course it isn't. I saw a post somewhere that said to remove the USB port in Device Mgr - then reboot - that didn't work either. HP says since it installed plug & play - without their software - they cannot advise what to do. So what CAN I do to get rid of this ghost? Thanks.

In your search box type print management or go to control panel, administrative tools, then printer management. All the printers should be listed there under print servers. You should be able to remove the printer by right clicking and selecting delete and once the printer is removed you can try removing the driver as well. Regards ~G

I'll try it when I'm there next week. Thanks.

Be sure the user has set the current printer as the default printer. Delete\remove the ghost AIO. Reboot. immediately.

Tried that several times & has not worked. I'll be trying previous suggestion next week. Thanks.

Run msconfig and click on the startup tab. Scroll through the entries and see if you can find one related to your old printer. If so, disable it from starting by unchecking the box next to it. Jerry