Installing a printer can be problematic sometimes and you may feel scratching your head when you see so many complicated error codes on the screen. For those who have no knowledge about what these error codes are all about, will not be able to reach a solution on their own.
So if you are also struggling with such error codes with your printer, keep on reading to find their solutions.
Common Error Codes and Their Meaning
Some of the common error codes that you may get while installing or using a printer are:
Error 0x00000bc4
– Operation Could Not Be Completed Error 0x00000bc4. No Printers Were Found. This error code appears when you try to add a network printer from a print server.
Operation failed with error 0x000006be
– Can’t add printer. Print Spooler crashes. This error code implies when you have failed to add your printer or the print spooler service has crashed.
Operation could not be completed error 0x0000007a
– This error is shown when you try to print a test page using your printer.
Before finding how to fix them, let’s see what the reasons behind their occurrence are.
Causes of Printer Error Codes
- If the driver installed for the printer is not compatible with the operating system.
- The user of the printer doesn’t have administrative rights.
- While installing the printer driver, you have selected the incorrect or corrupt port.
- The printer driver installed is incorrect or is of outdated version.
- The system settings have been wrongly configured.
- There are lopsided entries in the Windows registry.
- The print spooler is not working properly.
- If the printer installation has failed on Windows 10, Windows may be the culprit.
And there can be several other unknown causes that are not letting you use the printer in the best possible way. So whatever is the reason, if you are dealing with “printer driver was not installed or unable to install a printer, operation could not be completed” error, there are some general troubleshooting
methods that can be used to fix them all. You can try them one by one if you are not aware of what is leading to the error code and check what works for you.
Solutions To The Most Common “Operation Could Not Be Complete” Error Codes
1. Update the Printer Driver
If you are facing any error codes while installing your printer, it might be due to the corrupt or outdated driver already installed on your device.
You need to simply remove all the obsolete printer drivers from your device and get the latest version installed by visiting the official website of the manufacturer.
2. Print Spooler Service
If the print spooler service got stuck or is crashing in-between, you may not be able to add printer windows 10. For this, you need to ensure that the spooler is running and there is no issue with it. You can even try to manually start the print spooler service as follows:
- Open the ‘Run’ dialog box by pressing the Win+R keys on the keyboard.
- In the text field, type services.msc and press ‘Ok’.
- A list will show up, double-click the ‘Print Spooler’ and the Properties dialog box will appear.
- Click on ‘Start’ if the service status is showing as stopped.
- The ‘Startup type’ must be set as‘Automatic’, press ‘Ok’ to confirm.
Thereafter, reboot your device and check if you’re able to work with the printer.
3. Remove the Printer Keys
The next step you can take if you can’t install the printer driver is to delete the conflicting registry entries. Now, this can be critical as if you do it incorrectly, it can cause serious issues. So you need to be ready with the backup of the registry before you get into the process of deleting them:
- Firstly, stop the print spooler service and delete all the contents of the given folders:
C:\Windows\System32\Spool\Printers
C:\Windows\System32\Spool\Drivers\w32x86
- Press Win+R together to initiate the Run dialog box.
- Type Regedit in the run box and click ‘Ok’ as that will launch the Registry Editor Dialog box.
- Now search the registry key as per your operating system.
For 32-bit:
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Control\Print\Environments\Windows NT x86\Drivers\Version
For 64-bit:
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Control\Print\Environments\Windows x64\Drivers\Version
- After selecting the folder, you will get to see the printer registry entries in the right pane.
- Right-click the entries and select ‘Delete’ from the options. Doing this will delete all the registry entries
- Once you have deleted the registry entries, start the ‘Print Spooler’ service, reboot your device and check if you are able to print normally.
4. Verify the Print Process Files
In case you’re unable to install a printer or if the handle is invalid, there can be some files missing from your systems. You just have to copy the required files from another system (one that is working and has those files)
- In the search box of the start menu, type services to go to ‘Services.msc’.
- Stop the print spooler service from the services section.
- Copy all the files from the given location of the working PC to the same location of the other device that is facing installation issues with the printer
C:\Windows\System32\spool\prtprocsx64
Now, generate a registry entry for the print process that you have just copied:
- Log in to the ‘working’ computer, go to the Search box and type Regedit to open the “Registry Editor”.
- Go to the following path:
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CURRENTCONTROLSET\CONTROL\PRINT\ENVIRONMENTS\WINDOWS X64\PRINT PROCESSORS - Right-click the Print Processors folder to navigate to the Export section.
- Save it on an external drive, launch the Registry Editor on ‘other’ system, and go to the same path mentioned before.
- Go to File, select Import, and import the registry file saved previously.
5. Run the Printer Troubleshooter
Windows 10 provides an in-built troubleshooter to fix the printing issues like the selected printer could not be found or if you are not able to install the printer driver. Run the printer troubleshooter from the Settings from the Update and Security section. Follow the instructions shown on the screen and then check if your device is free from the issues.