Completely removing Loftware drivers from the system

Problem

When you remove your Loftware driver for a particular printer from your Windows system and install the original driver of the manufacturer, dialog boxes from the Loftware driver are still present.

In some cases, a new version of Loftware driver did not overwrite the previous version.

A problem can occur when you install printer drivers from different manufacturers on the same computer, for example when printer drivers from different manufacturers have the same printer names.

Windows uses the registry to install printers. Windows checks the registry keys for references of previous printer driver installations and compares them to the printer driver you want to install. If the printer names are the same, the wizard asks whether the driver should be replaced or if you want to use the already installed driver. If you choose to replace the driver, Windows only replaces the driver files but does not change the possibly incorrect references for these files in the system registry.

You can end up with a driver that supposedly uses the new files while in fact, it uses the old driver files.

Solution

Solution 1: (recommended)

Note: This solution does not work on Windows Home edition. You can apply Solution 2, see below.

To completely remove printer drivers:

  1. In Windows go to Settings > Devices > Printers & Scanners.

  2. Select your printer and click Remove device.

  3. Open Control Panel and enable Large icons view.

  4. Select Administrative Tools, then click Print Management.

  5. In Custom Filters click All Drivers.

  6. Right-click your printer driver, and click Remove driver package....

If the printer driver is in use, Windows cannot remove it. In this case, restart your computer and try again,

Solution 2:

After each driver installation, a Registry key with the name of the printer and its settings (including which drivers to use) remains in the registry.

Note: If you use Registry Editor incorrectly, you may cause serious problems that may require you to reinstall your operating system. Use Registry Editor at your own risk. Follow these steps to solve the problem:

  1. Find a registry key that includes the printer name, you want to install. Look in the registry branches mentioned above:

    HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\ControlSet001\Control\Print\Environments\Windows x64\Drivers\Version-3 HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\ControlSet001\Control\Print\Environments\Windows x64\Drivers\Version-4 In some cases, the same keys are located in ControlSet002 AND CurrentControlSet. Both above-mentioned keys have the same effect on the driver installation.

    In this key, all printers previously installed on this computer remain referenced even if the printer driver was deleted. The "printer" key is the same as the name of the printer in the information file (*.INF) when the driver was installed.

  2. Remove the key from all registry branches.

  3. Restart your computer.

  4. Install your new printer driver.