Printer will not print from word, or Tax software

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Austin Farley

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Aug 28, 2014
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I work at the local computer repair shop in my town, Usually I don't have an issue getting things figured out but this one just has me stumped. All my google searches are just purple links at this point. So here's the scoop. A computer i'm working on will not print with word, quicken, excel, or the Proseries tax prep software. In word and excel I get a message that says Printer is not installed. In the ProSeries software, you have to go in manually to set your printer. It says there are no default printers installed. Now here's the real kicker! All of the built in Windows 7 applications such as paint, notepad and wordpad have no problem printing. at first I thought it was a printer driver issue. I've plugged in three different printers via USB and tried them via network all with the same result. I've tried clearing the print queue, restarting the print spooler, and reinstalling the printers. I've also tried MS 50979 fixit at the recommendation of a sysadmin friend. still no dice. I really don't want to reload windows on this puppy again because her proseries tax software is THE BIGGEST PAIN to reinstall. I've also already done scans with MBAM and ADW. I'm genuinely not sure where to go from here guys!

Heres the computer info: Gateway, Windows 7 x64
printers i've tried, Brother 2170w, HP Deskjet3520, HP Laserjet 1300

EDIT: Also I'm brand new to the Tom's Hardware Forums. I've found so many answers here so I think I'll return the favor for as many of you as I can :)
 
Solution
Darkbreeze
Well, the only other thing I can think to do is go into device manager and in view select show hidden devices.

Go down to and right click and uninstall, including drivers (Check any applicable boxes) for everything listed under each of the following categories and then reboot and reinstall the OEM drivers.

Ports, Print Queues, Printers, any Storage Controllers related to the printer name or model number. I would then go through, prior to rebooting, each and every category and uninstall every single device listed but greyed out unless you know for certain it's a device still currently used by the computer and it doesn't have a double entry. Previously installed hardware and software "devices" that for whatever reason leave behind...
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JeckeL

JeckeL

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Jul 19, 2009
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This may seem like a stupid question but do you have a default printer set? If you have printers installed but none of them are selected as the default a lot of different software will freeze or throw errors when you try to print. Where are you getting the drivers for the printers, are they auto-installing from windows update or are you getting them from the manufacturer websites?

First I would uninstall all printers (unless there are any you need to leave on there), then go into registry and navigate to HKEY_Current_User\Printers\Connections and delete any entries for the printers you just deleted then restart, reinstall and see if they'll print
 
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Austin Farley

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Aug 28, 2014
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I have run an SFC already, I have a default set and I have tried to use different printers as a default. I don't trust the microsoft drivers so I grab the manufacturer drivers. I didn't try the registry key so we'll see there.
 
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JeckeL

JeckeL

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Go into devices and printers, right click on the printer, go to printer properties then the Advanced tab. Under driver make sure it's showing whatever driver that you installed and not Generic Drive, Remote EasyPrint driver, etc... (you might even want to click New Driver and download a driver through windows, but that's up to you)

What kind of user accounts are on the computer, are they all local users or is it part of a domain? And is the software installed directly on the computers hard drive? You're not connecting remotely to anything, or connecting to any sort of VPN?
 
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Austin Farley

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No it's just connected locally on a local network and on a USB printer. Just took a look and the correct driver is there.
 
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Austin Farley

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Aug 28, 2014
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That doesn't seem to get anywhere either. This is why as an IT guy I hate printers from environment I don't manage.
 
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JeckeL

JeckeL

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Jul 19, 2009
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Yea this is a pretty puzzling problem... in Services, is print spooler running? Might want to try and create a new administrator user account and see if you can install/print while logged on as that user
 
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Austin Farley

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Aug 28, 2014
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Tried both. I also read about trying to disable UAC on the computer as that has solved this issue for some people. that doesn't work either.
 
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Darkbreeze

Darkbreeze

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Jun 24, 2014
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Well, the only other thing I can think to do is go into device manager and in view select show hidden devices.

Go down to and right click and uninstall, including drivers (Check any applicable boxes) for everything listed under each of the following categories and then reboot and reinstall the OEM drivers.

Ports, Print Queues, Printers, any Storage Controllers related to the printer name or model number. I would then go through, prior to rebooting, each and every category and uninstall every single device listed but greyed out unless you know for certain it's a device still currently used by the computer and it doesn't have a double entry. Previously installed hardware and software "devices" that for whatever reason leave behind echoes or just plain leave an entire profile behind can cause issues.
 
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