When attempting to connect or add a network printer or shared printer (both printer on print server or shared via PC) in Windows operating system, including Windows 10, Windows 8 and Windows 7, the addition of printer failed with the following error message:

Add Printer

Connect to Printer

Windows cannot connect to the printer.

When clicking “More details”, it shows “Operation failed with the error 0x000003eb”.

Cannot Add and Connect to Printer

There problem continues to happen even though you have deleted and removed any existing printers, and ensure that all the printer ports are deleted. However, when the printer is connected to the computer via USB cable or connect directly via IP address, the printer can be added properly and works fine.

The problem happens likely due to corruption or misconfiguration of printer drivers. To resolve the issue, try the following steps:

  1. Delete the problematic from “Devices and Printers” or “Printers & scanners” (in Windows 10) so that it’s removed from the system.
  2. Run Print Management (PrintManagement.msc), which also accessible from Control Panel -> Administrative Tools -> Print Management.
  3. Expand Print Servers and then your computer name.
  4. Go to Drivers, and delete the printer drivers which are linked to the problematic printer, faulty printer or non-existent printer, or residue drivers from previous install.

    Print Management

  5. For printer which is a network printer, go to Ports and delete any ports that are used by or linked to the problematic printer, faulty printer or non-existent printer, or port made by previous failed install. DO NOT DELETE ALL THE PORTS.
  6. Restart the computer.
  7. Install the printer again.

If the above method does not solve the issue, try the following registry trick instead (BACKUP the registry key by right click on the subkey and choose “Export” before modifying):

  1. Open Services (Services.msc), which also accessible from Control Panel -> Administrative Tools -> Services.
  2. Stop the Print Spooler service.
  3. Navigate to the following registry key:

    For 32-bit (x86) Windows:

    HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Control\Print\Environments\Windows NT x86\Drivers\Version-3

    For 64-bit (x64) Windows:

    HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Control\Print\Environments\Windows x64\Drivers\Version-3
  4. After backing up, delete all the sub-keys and their values under Version-3.
  5. Optionally, browse to the following folder in File Explorer or Windows Explorer:
    %WinDir%\System32\spool\drivers\w32x86\3

    Rename the 3 folder to another name, e.g. “old3” and etc.

  6. Start the Print Spooler.
  7. Install the printer again.
Note
To stop and start the Print Spooler service, you can also open an Admin Command Prompt, and run the followng command:

Stop:

NET STOP SPOOLER

Start:

NET START SPOOLER

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