Cleaning up Windows Server printers

September 15, 2023

Hue Truong

Today, I had to write some PowerShell scripts to clear out printer queues on a Windows Server 2022. I created these scripts with a -WhatIf command to test their functionality without actually executing them. If I were to use them as intended, I would remove the -WhatIf command.

Get all printers and delete all of them

$printers = Get-Printer

foreach ($printer in $printers) {
    Write-Output "Printer Name: $($printer.Name)"

    # Delete printer
    try {
        Remove-Printer -Name $printer.Name -WhatIf
        Write-Output "Would delete printer: $($printer.Name)"
    } catch {
        Write-Output "Failed to delete printer: $($printer.Name)"
    }
}

I wouldn’t recommend running this script as it deletes all printer queues on the server. The PowerShell code below uses a regex pattern to remove printers that begin with “PATTERN”.

Get all printers and delete printers matching pattern

$printers = Get-Printer

# Define the regex pattern for "PATTERN" followed by any characters
$pattern = '^PATTERN.*'

foreach ($printer in $printers) {
    # Check if the printer name matches the pattern
    if ($printer.Name -match $pattern) {
        Write-Output "Printer Name: $($printer.Name)"

        # Delete printer
        try {
            Remove-Printer -Name $printer.Name -WhatIf
            Write-Output "Would delete printer: $($printer.Name)"
        } catch {
            Write-Output "Failed to delete printer: $($printer.Name)"
        }
    }
}

Next, I can use the PowerShell script below to remove the standard TCP/IP ports.

Get all printer ports and delete the standard TCP/IP ports

# Get all printer ports
$ports = Get-PrinterPort

# Define the regex pattern for an IP address followed by an optional underscore and two digits
$pattern = '^([0-9]{1,3}\.){3}[0-9]{1,3}(_[0-9]{2})?'

foreach ($port in $ports) {
    # Check if the port name matches the IP address pattern
    if ($port.Name -match $pattern) {
        Write-Output "Port Name: $($port.Name)"

        # Delete port
        try {
            Remove-PrinterPort -Name $port.Name -WhatIf
            Write-Output "Would delete port: $($port.Name)"
        } catch {
            Write-Output "Failed to delete port: $($port.Name)"
        }
    }
}

Finally, I exported a list of printer drivers so that I can manually removed printers I want to keep.

Get printers driver names and save to printerdrivers.csv

Get-PrinterDriver | select Name | Export-Csv printerdrivers.csv -NoTypeInformation

After making changes to printerdrivers.csv, execute the PowerShell script below to uninstall printer drivers.

Remove printer drivers from printerdrivers.csv

# Import the CSV file
$printerDrivers = Import-Csv -Path 'printerdrivers.csv'

# Loop through each printer driver in the CSV file
foreach ($driver in $printerDrivers) {
    # Try to remove the printer driver
    try {
        Remove-PrinterDriver -Name $driver.Name -WhatIf -ErrorAction Stop
        Write-Output "Would have removed printer driver: $($driver.Name)"
    }
    catch {
        Write-Output "Failed to remove printer driver: $($driver.Name)"
    }
}

That’s all there is to it.

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