You shouldn't have to reboot....
http://www.coribright.com/windows/Article%20One.htm
--
Cari (MS-MVP)
Printing & Imaging
"Farhan Ata Arain" <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote in message
news:(E-Mail Removed)...
> Hi,
>
> My XP SP2 is not detecting any new printer attached. Both parallel and USB
> ports are not being detected. When I connect the printer and reboot, its
> like nothing at all has happened. The PC sits there finished booting, calm
> and quiet. They were being detected and installed some time ago. I suspect
> it might be a window corruption.. or some registry problem. Is there any
> way to refresh the windows registery so that it will start picking up
> printers again? Other devices like memory stick, external hard disk etc.
> are being picked up and working fine with USB.
>
> Thanks,
>
> Farhan
>
>