Duplicate printers appear when printing with Bonjour or ThinPrint in VMware Fusion

Products

• VMware Desktop Hypervisor

Issue/Introduction

This article provides the steps to remove unwanted printers permanently.

Symptoms:

• Duplicate printers appear when using the Bonjour or ThinPrint method of printing
• Unable to delete duplicate printers in Windows
• Duplicate printers re-appear after deleting them from the Printers and Faxes Control Panel

Environment

VMware Fusion 8.x
VMware Fusion Pro 8.x
VMware Fusion 6.x
VMware Fusion 4.x
VMware Fusion Pro 10.x
VMware Fusion 5.x
VMware Fusion 7.x
VMware Fusion 2.x
VMware Fusion 11.x
VMware Fusion 10.x
VMware Fusion 3.x
VMware Fusion Pro 11.x

Resolution

This issue occurs because when VMware Tools is upgraded or re-installed, Windows does not delete printers that were added by ThinPrint or Bonjour. If these printers are deleted using Printers and Faxes in Control Panel, they re-appear after the guest operating system is restarted.

 

To remove the printers permanently:

1. Start Notepad.
2. Click File > Print
3. From the Select Printer box, right-click the printer that you want to remove and press Delete.

Additional Information

• Printing from within a virtual machine in VMware Fusion
• Troubleshooting printer connection issues in VMware Fusion