DeletePrinterDriver function

Article
01/07/2021

The DeletePrinterDriver function removes the specified printer-driver name from the list of names of supported drivers on a server.

To delete the files associated with the driver in addition to removing the specified printer-driver name from the list of names of supported drivers for a server, use the DeletePrinterDriverEx function.

DeletePrinterDriver deletes a driver only if no version of the driver is in use for the specified environment. DeletePrinterDriverEx can delete specific versions of the driver.

Syntax

BOOL DeletePrinterDriver(
  _In_ LPTSTR pName,
  _In_ LPTSTR pEnvironment,
  _In_ LPTSTR pDriverName
);

Parameters

pName [in]: A pointer to a null-terminated string that specifies the name of the server from which the driver is to be deleted. If this parameter is NULL, the printer-driver name will be removed locally.
pEnvironment [in]: A pointer to a null-terminated string that specifies the environment from which the driver is to be deleted (for example, Windows x86, Windows IA64, or Windows x64). If this parameter is NULL, the driver name is deleted from the current environment of the calling application and client machine (not of the destination application and print server).
pDriverName [in]: A pointer to a null-terminated string specifying the name of the driver that should be deleted.

Return value

If the function succeeds, the return value is a nonzero value.

If the function fails, the return value is zero.

Remarks

Note

This is a blocking or synchronous function and might not return immediately. How quickly this function returns depends on run-time factors such as network status, print server configuration, and printer driver implementation factors that are difficult to predict when writing an application. Calling this function from a thread that manages interaction with the user interface could make the application appear to be unresponsive.

The caller must have the SeLoadDriverPrivilege.

The DeletePrinterDriver function does not delete the associated files, it merely removes the driver name from the list returned by the EnumPrinterDrivers function.

Before calling DeletePrinterDriver, you must delete all printer objects that use the printer driver.

Requirements

Requirement	Value
Minimum supported client	Windows 2000 Professional [desktop apps only]
Minimum supported server	Windows 2000 Server [desktop apps only]
Header	Winspool.h (include Windows.h)
Library	Winspool.lib
DLL	Winspool.drv
Unicode and ANSI names	DeletePrinterDriverW (Unicode) and DeletePrinterDriverA (ANSI)