I borrowed this from a Partner Level Support post;
This can happen if some printers listed under 'Hidden devices' are
triggering the Add New Hardware Wizard. To resolve the issue we will need to
remove all these hidden printers.
Here are the steps to do:
1. Physically disconnected the printer.
2. Restart your computer. If the New hardware wizard opened, cancel it.
3. Delete all printers in 'Printers and Faxes'.
4. Enable Device to show hidden and non-connected devices. To do so, use the
steps below:
a. Click Start, click Run and type "cmd"(without quotes). Click OK. This
opens the command prompt.
b. Type the following command in the command prompt, and then press ENTER:
"set devmgr_show_nonpresent_devices=1" (without the quotation marks)
Note: To avoid typo error, please copy the above command to the Command
Prompt. To do so, you will need to enable the Quick Edit mode. Please see
the following article:
Q317591 HOW TO: Enable and Disable the QuickEdit Mode for DOS
http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;EN-US;Q317591
c. Type the following command in the command prompt, and then press ENTER:
"start devmgmt.msc" (without the quotation marks)
d. Click "Show hidden devices" on the View menu in Device Manager. Now you
can see devices that are hidden or not connected to the computer.
Please delete devices that are under Unknown or Other Devices branch.
Please also delete all devices related to printers and Parallel ports.
When you finished, close Device Manager. Type "exit" (without the quotation
marks) at the command prompt. Note that when you close the command prompt
window, Window clears the devmgr_show_nonpresent_devices=1 variable that you
set in step 2 and prevents ghosted devices from being displayed when you
click "Show hidden devices".
For more information about showing hidden devices, please see:
Q315539 Device Manager Doesn't Display Devices Not Connected
http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;EN-US;Q315539
5. Restart the computer, the Add new hardware wizard will open to install
the Parallel Port. Please install it. Restart your computer when finished.
6. Physically connected the printer and power on the printer. This time, the
computer should detect your printer. Please finish installing the driver and
restart. The new hardware wizard should not appear.
If the issue still exists, please uninstall all printer drivers:
1. Click Start, Control Panel, Add/Remove Programs and then uninstall all
printer related programs.
2. Click Start, Printers and Faxes. Delete all printers there. To do so,
right-click each printer and click Delete.
3. Manually remove the driver. To do so, click the File menu, click Server
Properties. On the Drivers tab, click each printer driver there, and then
click Remove.
4. Restart your computer. Run services.msc to start the Printer Spooler
service (if it is not started).
5. Attach your printer and power it on. Windows XP should re-detect your
printer and install the driver. If not, please install the printer driver
that is supplied by your printer manufacturer.
For additional information, please see:
Q135406 Steps to Manually Remove and Reinstall a Printer Driver
http://support.microsoft.com/support/kb/articles/q135/4/06.asp
--
Regards,
Dave Patrick ....Please no email replies - reply in newsgroup.
Microsoft MVP [Windows NT/2000 Operating Systems]
Gavin said:
Hello all.
I have a computer that prompts the user that "New Hardware Found"
everytime he (re)boots his computer. Even though I installed the printer
using the Administrator profile it still tries to reinstall. Even logging in
as an administrator prompts the "Found New Hardware" message.
Any help please. I've tried using a differnt USB cable, a different USB
port, and even using a printer cable over the USB cable; I still have had no
luck.
