How to Remove Cross-Platform Printer Drivers on a Windows NT Server

This article describes how to remove cross-platform printer drivers on a computer running Windows NT Server for clients to Point and Print. This includes instructions on removing entries from the registry and deleting the driver files from the hard disk drive.

Cross-platform drivers refer to drivers installed on the Windows NT print server for other operating system (OS) versions (for example, Windows NT 3.5x), OS type (for example, Windows 95/98), and alternate CPU OS builds (for example, Alpha and MIPS when considering Intel-processor-based installations). For additional information about cross-platform printing in Windows NT, please see the following article in the Microsoft Knowledge Base: The following procedure for removing unwanted cross-platform printer drivers involves editing the registry and deleting driver files. Be careful not to delete driver files and registry keys for the platform you are on.

WARNING: If you use Registry Editor incorrectly, you may cause serious problems that may require you to reinstall your operating system. Microsoft cannot guarantee that you can solve problems that result from using Registry Editor incorrectly. Use Registry Editor at your own risk.

1. Open the Control Panel and double-click the Services icon.
2. Click the Spooler service and then click Stop. Click Yes when prompted.
3. Start Registry Editor (Regedt32.exe) and select the following subkey:

   HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM
     \CurrentControlSet
       \Control
         \Print
           \Environments
             \<Platform>
               \Drivers
                 \Version-<x>
                   \<Printer driver>
   						

   Where:
   • <Platform> is one of the following:
     
     
     Windows 4.0 (Windows 95)
     Windows NT Alpha_AXP (Alpha)
     Windows NT PowerPC (PPC)
     Windows NT R4000 (MIPS)
     Windows NT x86 (Intel)
   • Version-<x> refers to one of the following:
     
     
     Windows 4.0, Version-0 is equivalent to Windows 95
     Windows NT x86, Windows NT Alpha, MIPS, and PPC, Version-0 is equivalent to Windows NT 3.1
     Windows NT x86, Windows NT Alpha, MIPS, and PPC, Version-1 is equivalent to Windows NT 3.5x
     Windows NT x86, Windows NT Alpha, MIPS, and PPC, Version-2 is equivalent to Windows NT 4.0
     
     NOTE: Windows NT PPC support for Version-1 began only with Windows NT 3.51.
   • <Printer driver> is the printer key that will be deleted in Step 5.
4. Make a note of all files referenced in the printer driver key that will be deleted. These files will be removed in Step 6.
   
   NOTES:
   • Do not delete the driver for the platform you are on. For example, if you are on a Windows NT 4.0 Intel platform computer, do not delete the "Windows NT x86" driver.
   • Some files may be referenced by other cross-platform printers. In this case, you should check all other related cross-platform registry keys to find out which files are in common, or simply leave the files in the directory referenced and skip Step 6.
5. Delete the unwanted cross-platform printer driver key.
6. Delete the unwanted cross-platform files on the hard drive as noted from Step 4. These files should be located in one of the following directories:
   %SystemRoot%\System32\Spool\Drivers\W32alpha\version
   %SystemRoot%\System32\Spool\Drivers\W32mips\version
   %SystemRoot%\System32\Spool\Drivers\W3ppc\version
   %SystemRoot%\System32\Spool\Drivers\w32x86\version
   %SystemRoot%\System32\Spool\Drivers\Win40\version
   
   Where the version corresponds to the version-x number from Step 3.
   
   For example, Windows 95 drivers are located in the directory %SystemRoot%\System32\Spool\Drivers\Win40\0 and Windows NT 4.0 Alpha drivers are located in %SystemRoot%\System32\Spool\Drivers\W32alpha\2.
7. In Control Panel Services, select the Spooler service and click Start.