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Users see all the printers (with same driver and installed on same port) grouped as one in Windows 7: Devices and printers

Article ID: 2015694 - View products that this article applies to.

Symptoms

On Windows 7, when you install 2 or more printers that use the same printer driver and are installed on the same port (e.g. LPT 1), you will see that all such printers are grouped as one in 'Devices and Printers'

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Cause

This behavior is by design.

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Resolution

You can work around the issue by carrying out the following steps. This will create a folder on the desktop named Printers which will include all of the installed printers seperately:

1. Open the registry editor (Regedit.exe) and navigate to:

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Explorer\Desktop\NameSpace

2. Right click on NameSpace and choose ‘New Key’

Name this new key {2227a280-3aea-1069-a2de-08002b30309d} (be sure to include the brackets)

3. In the right pane, edit the value of ‘Default’ as ‘Printers’

4. Close Registry Editor and refresh the desktop

Once you refresh the desktop, you will see a new folder called ‘Printers’ appear on the desktop which will show all of the installed printers seperately.

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Note This is a "FAST PUBLISH" article created directly from within the Microsoft support organization. The information contained herein is provided as-is in response to emerging issues. As a result of the speed in making it available, the materials may include typographical errors and may be revised at any time without notice. See Terms of Use

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