{"id":1185,"date":"2012-10-19T15:06:41","date_gmt":"2012-10-19T09:36:41","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/198.58.113.91\/blog\/?p=1185"},"modified":"2019-07-03T18:21:52","modified_gmt":"2019-07-03T18:21:52","slug":"fix-devices-and-printers-completely-empty-windows-7","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.winhelponline.com\/blog\/fix-devices-and-printers-completely-empty-windows-7\/","title":{"rendered":"Fix Devices and Printers Folder is Completely Blank in Windows 7"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>When you open Devices and Printers applet, it may show up as an empty folder although the devices are correctly connected and their drivers are intact. This can be due to several reasons, and the possible causes (with appropriate fixes) are discussed in this post.<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.winhelponline.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/archived\/w7-dev-empty-1.png\" width=\"587\" height=\"430\" \/><\/p>\n<p>We&#8217;ve observed that Devices and Printers folder can appear blank if one of these is true:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Print Spooler Service is not running<\/li>\n<li>Bluetooth Support Service is not running<\/li>\n<li>Missing DLL registrations.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>Use these steps to resolve the problem.<!--more--><\/p>\n<h2>Step 1: Enable the Print Spooler and Bluetooth Support Service<\/h2>\n<ol>\n<li>Click Start, type <code><b>services.msc<\/b><\/code> and press <kbd>ENTER<\/kbd><\/li>\n<li>Double-click <b>Print Spooler<\/b> and set its start type to Automatic<\/li>\n<li>Click <b>Start<\/b> to start the service, and click OK.<\/li>\n<li>Double-click <b>Bluetooth Support Service<\/b> and set its start type to Manual<\/li>\n<li>Click <b>Start<\/b> to start the service, and click OK.<\/li>\n<li>Exit the Services MMC.<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n<p><i><b>Did you get any error messages when enabling the above services? Post it in the Comments section of this article.<\/b><\/i><\/p>\n<p>Open Devices and Printers page to check if the problem persists. You may even try restarting Windows and checking it again.<\/p>\n<p>If the issue continues to occur, proceed to the next step.<\/p>\n<h2>Step 2: Registering the DLLs<\/h2>\n<p>Click Start, click All Programs, click Accessories, right-click Command Prompt, and then click <b>Run as administrator<\/b>.<\/p>\n<p>Type the following command and press <kbd>ENTER<\/kbd><\/p>\n<pre>regsvr32\u00a0 \"%ProgramFiles%\\Internet Explorer\\ieproxy.dll\"<\/pre>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.winhelponline.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/archived\/w7-dev-empty-2.png\" width=\"550\" height=\"168\" \/><\/p>\n<p>You should see this message now.<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.winhelponline.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/archived\/w7-dev-empty-3.png\" width=\"381\" height=\"154\" \/><\/p>\n<h2>Step 3: Fixing the XML Registration<\/h2>\n<p>Download <b><a href=\"https:\/\/www.winhelponline.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/archived\/msxml6.zip\">msxml6.zip<\/a><\/b>, unzip the archive and run the enclosed REG file. This should restore the missing MSXML6 DLL registration entries.<\/p>\n<p>Restart Windows and check if <strong>Devices and Printers<\/strong> opens correctly.<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.winhelponline.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/archived\/w7-dev-empty-4.png\" width=\"587\" height=\"430\" \/><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>When you open Devices and Printers applet, it may show up as an empty folder although the devices are correctly connected and their drivers are intact. This can be due to several reasons, and the possible causes (with appropriate fixes) are discussed in this post. We&#8217;ve observed that Devices and Printers folder can appear blank &#8230; <a title=\"Fix Devices and Printers Folder is Completely Blank in Windows 7\" class=\"read-more\" href=\"https:\/\/www.winhelponline.com\/blog\/fix-devices-and-printers-completely-empty-windows-7\/\" aria-label=\"Read more about Fix Devices and Printers Folder is Completely Blank in Windows 7\">Read more<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[9],"tags":[441],"class_list":["post-1185","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-windows-7","tag-registry"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":1260,"url":"https:\/\/www.winhelponline.com\/blog\/print-spooler-service-error-2-error-3-windows-7\/","url_meta":{"origin":1185,"position":0},"title":"Fix Print Spooler Service Error 2 and Error 3 in Windows","author":"Ramesh","date":"October 22, 2013","format":false,"excerpt":"When you open Devices and Printers applet, none of your printers may be listed. Running the Printer Troubleshooter may show that the Print Spooler service isn't running, and attempts to start the Print Spooler service manually via Services MMC or using the Microsoft Printer Troubleshooter Fix-It may turn out to\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Windows&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Windows","link":"https:\/\/www.winhelponline.com\/blog\/category\/microsoft\/windows\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.winhelponline.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/archived2\/spooler-err3-2.png?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":5884,"url":"https:\/\/www.winhelponline.com\/blog\/cancel-stuck-print-job-queue-clearing-spool-folder\/","url_meta":{"origin":1185,"position":1},"title":"How to Cancel or Delete a Stuck Print Job and Clear Paper Jam","author":"Ramesh","date":"November 4, 2017","format":false,"excerpt":"Everyone would have experienced this. When printing documents, the printer may get stuck in the middle for some reason or the other. This also causes the print job to get stuck in the queue, and canceling the jobs via Printer properties doesn't help. Even if you switch off your printer\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Windows&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Windows","link":"https:\/\/www.winhelponline.com\/blog\/category\/microsoft\/windows\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"cancel all print job documents","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.winhelponline.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/11\/spooler-print-jobs-queue-cancel.png?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.winhelponline.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/11\/spooler-print-jobs-queue-cancel.png?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.winhelponline.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/11\/spooler-print-jobs-queue-cancel.png?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.winhelponline.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/11\/spooler-print-jobs-queue-cancel.png?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x"},"classes":[]},{"id":31021,"url":"https:\/\/www.winhelponline.com\/blog\/device-and-printers-in-windows-11\/","url_meta":{"origin":1185,"position":2},"title":"How to Open &#8220;Device and Printers&#8221; in Windows 11","author":"Ramesh","date":"December 19, 2022","format":false,"excerpt":"In Windows 11 22H2 and up, when you double-click \"Devices and Printers\" from the classic Control Panel, it redirects you to the Settings \u2192 Bluetooth & devices page. You may wonder how to access the classic Device and Printers Control Panel applet. Open \"Device and Printers\" in Windows 11 In\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Windows 11&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Windows 11","link":"https:\/\/www.winhelponline.com\/blog\/category\/microsoft\/windows\/windows-11\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"open Devices and Printers using Device Manager Action menu","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.winhelponline.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/12\/open-devices-and-printers-devmgmt.png?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.winhelponline.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/12\/open-devices-and-printers-devmgmt.png?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.winhelponline.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/12\/open-devices-and-printers-devmgmt.png?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.winhelponline.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/12\/open-devices-and-printers-devmgmt.png?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x"},"classes":[]},{"id":1364,"url":"https:\/\/www.winhelponline.com\/blog\/print-spooler-error-1053-windows-7\/","url_meta":{"origin":1185,"position":3},"title":"Fix Print Spooler Error 1053 in Windows 7","author":"Ramesh","date":"April 27, 2014","format":false,"excerpt":"When you start the Print Spooler service in Windows 7, error 1053 may occur:Windows could not start the Print Spooler on Local Computer.Error 1053: The service did not respond to the start or control request in a timely fashion.To resolve the problem, use these steps:1. Open Services MMC (services.msc)2. Double-click\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Windows 7&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Windows 7","link":"https:\/\/www.winhelponline.com\/blog\/category\/microsoft\/windows\/windows-7\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.winhelponline.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/archived2\/w7-spooler-error-1053.png?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":1191,"url":"https:\/\/www.winhelponline.com\/blog\/fix-spooler-service-error-1068-dependency-failed\/","url_meta":{"origin":1185,"position":4},"title":"Print Spooler Error 1068 &#8220;The dependency service or group failed to start&#8221;","author":"Ramesh","date":"March 3, 2006","format":false,"excerpt":"When you attempt to start the Print Spooler service (via services.msc), one of the following error messages may appear, and the Print Spooler service fails to start: Could not start the Print Spooler service on Local Computer. Error 1075: The dependency service does not exist or has been marked for\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Windows&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Windows","link":"https:\/\/www.winhelponline.com\/blog\/category\/microsoft\/windows\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"spooler 1068 dependency","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.winhelponline.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2006\/03\/spooler-error-1068-dependency.png?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.winhelponline.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2006\/03\/spooler-error-1068-dependency.png?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.winhelponline.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2006\/03\/spooler-error-1068-dependency.png?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x"},"classes":[]},{"id":78255,"url":"https:\/\/www.winhelponline.com\/blog\/print-spooler-1297-privilege-error\/","url_meta":{"origin":1185,"position":5},"title":"Print Spooler Error 1297: Privilege does not exist","author":"Ramesh","date":"April 3, 2025","format":false,"excerpt":"When you try to add a new printer or a scanner, the following error code may appear: Error 1297: A privilege that the service requires to function properly does not exist in the service account configuration. This happens if the Print Spooler service is unable to start. If you start\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Windows 10&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Windows 10","link":"https:\/\/www.winhelponline.com\/blog\/category\/microsoft\/windows\/windows-10\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Print Spooler service error 1297","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.winhelponline.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/04\/spooler-1297-error.png?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.winhelponline.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/04\/spooler-1297-error.png?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.winhelponline.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/04\/spooler-1297-error.png?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.winhelponline.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/04\/spooler-1297-error.png?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x"},"classes":[]}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.winhelponline.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1185","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.winhelponline.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.winhelponline.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.winhelponline.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.winhelponline.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1185"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.winhelponline.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1185\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.winhelponline.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1185"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.winhelponline.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1185"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.winhelponline.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1185"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}