No devices or printers show in Control Panel/Devices and Printers

sometimes the printer is there, sometimes not, I was trying to do a scan from the control panel (used to use the scanner wizard in XP, is that gone?) and again, the printer does not show.
 
It's a canon MP600, it works fine, I never noticed a problem till I tried to use the wizard to do a scan. 
A search shows this is a common problem.....
but the solutions vary a lot and few seemed to result in success. 
 
Decided to search further, found a Devices and Printers "start", that opens showing every device.... 
has the scan set up I was looking for

confused, what is the difference between the two locations for this folder and why do they not show up when accessed in the control panel?

Solutions to the Problem No devices or printers show in Control Panel/Devices and Printers


Just a thought.
I would check the status of the Print Spooler Service.

Click on the Start button and select Control Panel, Administrative Tools, Services.
Locate Print Spooler in the list.
Check that it has started and that the StartUp type is Automatic.
I suspect that it may have stopped and that just starting it will not solve the problem.
You may need to show hidden files.
Type Folder Options in the search box above the Start button and select View, Advanced Settings and verify that the box before "Show hidden files and folders" is checked and "Hide protected operating system files"
is unchecked.
You may need to scroll down to see the second item.
You should also make certain that the box before "Hide extensions for known file types" is not checked.
Now access Windows Explorer and select c:\windows\system32\spool\printers.
Normally this folder should be empty but there is a problem when files with “spl” and “shd” extensions stick there.
Delete the files and restart your computer.
This might resolve
your problem.


Click here to download the registry repair application


Another Safe way to Repair the problem: No devices or printers show in Control Panel/Devices and Printers:

Click here to download the registry repair application .

How to Fix No devices or printers show in Control Panel/Devices and Printers with SmartPCFixer?

1. Download SmartPCFixer . Install it on your system.  Click Scan, and it will perform a scan for your computer. The junk files will be shown in the list.

2. After the scan is done, you can see the errors and problems need to be fixed. Click Fix All.

3. The Fixing part is finished, the speed of your computer will be much higher than before and the errors have been removed.


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