Windows 7, unable to add printer.

[dkduvall]

I have an issue I have been pulling my hair out over (what's left of it that is.....)

This is a factory installation of Win 7 on a Toshiba Tecra A10 laptop.
No printer drivers exist on this machine because I keep getting the following errors.

When the machine is first started, the print spooler service comes up and stays running until you try to add a printer, it then reports that it cant add a printer because the print spooler service isn't running, try restarting the spooler or re-starting the machine to correct the issue.

Tried both. (Neither makes any difference)

Then after restarting the service, and once again clicking the add printer button I get the following error.

Windows can't open Add printer. Operation could not be completed (error 0x000006be).


NOTE. There are NO printers installed on this machine. As I stated earlier it's a fresh factory load on a new machine.

[Siddharthr]

Well I think your printer drivers are corrupt. Please remove the printer drivers and reinstall the printer again in your machine.

How to Remove a printer from Windows 7

1. "Start" button, type PRINTER in the search box and Enter.
2. Deleted the Icon of installed printers from your machine.
3. Right-click on the blank part of the window, and choose "Run as administrator"->"Server Properties".
4. On the Drivers tab, select the listed printers and click the Remove button. Please then select Remove driver and driver package.
5. Open Start menu, input APPWIZ.CPL in the Search box and press ENTER to launch "Programs and Features".
6. Try to remove all related printer software.

If the issue is not resolved, I suggest that you clear the printing sub system.

[dkduvall]

Turns out that it was missing the Microsoft Document Imaging Writer and Shared Fax Ports from the list contained in the HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Control\Print\Monitors Registry Key.

Which should only contain:

Local Port
Microsoft Document Imaging Writer Monitor (IF Office is Installed)
Shared Fax Ports (IF Office is Installed)
Standard TCP/IP Port
USB Monitor
WSD Port

I did a repair install on Office, and it corrected the problem.

NOTE: The XPS Writer and Fax Services either were never installed, or had been deleted.

So the end result was that the Printing subsystem was indeed hosed, causing the problem.